H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (31 October 2018) – Trend Micro and NTT DOCOMO Collaborate to Provide New Solution for 5G Era; Delta Electronics Q3 net profit hits record high

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (31 October 2018) – Trend Micro and NTT DOCOMO Collaborate to Provide New Solution for 5G Era; Delta Electronics Q3 net profit hits record high

Companies

• Trend Micro and NTT DOCOMO Collaborate to Provide New Solution for 5G Era (BW)
• Nintendo’s Switch Struggles to Keep Up With Sony’s Older PS4 (Bloomberg)
• Sony Stock Surge Gives New CEO the Hottest Start in 23 Years (Bloomberg)
• China’s Top Netflix-Style App Deepens its Bets on In-House Shows (Bloomberg)
• Delta Electronics Q3 net profit hits record high (FT)
• Netmarble to buy back shares worth W200b (Investor)
• IRESS advances in online super advice space (SR); Industry fund, IRESS begin automated advice journey (FS)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Baidu Sales Forecast Misses Estimates as China’s Economy Slows (Bloomberg)
• Huge opportunities in current adversity, says Jack Ma in final shareholder letter as Alibaba executive chairman (SCMP)
• Samsung Refuses to Play Chicken With Capex (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• How Facebook Failed To Build A Better Alexa (Or Siri) (Forbes)
• Fortress Facebook Is Suddenly Vulnerable; One of the best corporate success stories of the last decade now faces a lot that could go wrong. (Bloomberg)
• InvestorPlace highlights Ensemble Capital’s Netflix pricing power analysis (II)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Overthrowing Lazada, Shopee leads e-commerce in Vietnam (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Big Blue’s takeover of Red Hat could produce an über-cloud; The $34bn deal is yet another sign that open-source software revolutionaries have triumphed (Economist); IBM hopes to stay relevant with Red Hat deal: Ageing behemoth aims to reboot itself and survive in changing tech world (FT)
• Cloud Growth Slowdown Looms, Suggesting Tech Boom Near Peak (Bloomberg)
• How Github, and open source software, helps solve social issues with code (Age)
• Innovations count most for AI startups: Q&A with Xilinx president Victor Peng (Digitimes)

Life

• The Story of Milton Hershey – The Sweetest Place on Earth (IF)
• Podcast #453: Leadership in Turbulent Times (AOM)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (30 October 2018) – Secrets of people who stay happy in the worst circumstances; The Surprising Power of The Long Game

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (30 October 2018) – Secrets of people who stay happy in the worst circumstances; The Surprising Power of The Long Game

Companies

• Sony to pour $5.3bn into image sensor production; Japanese company prepares for ‘internet of things’ era with 30% boost to spending (Nikkei)
• China’s finance ministry calls out Xiaomi over accounting errors (Reuters)
• 3 points on Meituan’s unique position in digital China (TIA)
• ASB Bank taps Bravura to introduce new digital offerings for clients (Verdict)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Alibaba’s Ant Financial Invests Undisclosed Series B+ Round In Chinese Clothes Rental Platform MSParis (CMN)
• Bust Looms Over $60 Billion Splurge by Korean Chip Giants (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• In two sessions, $200 billion of FANG market cap up in smoke (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Family and parenting platform QinBaoBao scored RMB hundreds of millions Series C as demand for quality education rises; The founder believes that building a platform is not enough, the app only needs good products. (KRA)
• Top Chinese Online Brokers Prepare to Face Off in U.S. Market (Bloomberg)
• Wingtech Technology: all you need to know about Chinese firm behind audacious US$3.6 billion takeover of Dutch chip maker Nexperia (SCMP)
• I’ll see you and raise you – maybe not in China as Beijing blocks multiple mobile poker gambling apps (SCMP)
• The digital decorators; A slew of startups offering digitised interior design options has hit the market in the past few years, hoping to bring order, efficiency and predictability to the legacy industry (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• These 6 Software Stocks Could Be Takeover Targets After Red Hat Deal (Barron’s)
• Expedia CEO Insists That Online Travel Agencies Aren’t Over (Skift)
• Warren Buffett’s Firm Invests Millions in Fintech; Move is a departure from company’s usual penchant for blue-chip companies in steady businesses (WSJ)
• S. to Restrict Chinese Chip Maker From Doing Business With American Firms; Washington raises the stakes in a battle with Beijing over intellectual property (WSJ)
• Restaurants Shrink as Food Delivery Apps Get More Popular; More patrons want to eat at home, and so food chains are renovating their spaces. (Bloomberg)
• LexisNexis Owner Leads $38 Million Investment in Quid (Bloomberg)
• Walmart’s Jet Helps Blue Apron’s Biggest Problem: Planning Ahead (Bloomberg)

Life

• Secrets of people who stay happy in the worst circumstances; In the face of setbacks, some people seem to fall apart, while others find ways to move forward and continue to get things done. Are there things you can do to be resilient? (FastCo)
• The Surprising Power of The Long Game (Farnam Street)
• Zeno of Citium: Being Stoic (DL)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (29 October 2018) – One of New Zealand’s oldest banks has appointed Bravura Solutions’ Sonata as the core administration platform for 500,000 retail and employer members

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (29 October 2018) – One of New Zealand’s oldest banks has appointed Bravura Solutions’ Sonata as the core administration platform for 500,000 retail and employer members

Companies

• The Cloud-Gaming Battle Is Coming, and Sony Has Its Game Face On (Bloomberg)
• Xiaomi’s ‘internet of things’ arm pushes into Japan; Lumi United finds local partner to sell sensors for offices and shops (Nikkei)
• One of New Zealand’s oldest banks has appointed Bravura Solutions’ Sonata as the core administration platform for 500,000 retail and employer members (FS)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Alibaba-Net-a-Porter Is New Front in China’s Luxury War; Cartier-owner Richemont wants to improve the prospects of its e-commerce business in the world’s largest luxury market (WSJ)
• Alibaba counters Amazon in Southeast Asia with high-tech stores; Local arm Lazada knows Asian consumers better than US rival does, exec says (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s Byton eyes IPO to fund expansion: Automobilwoche (Reuters)
• China’s Tech Investment Mania Ebbs-For Now; Investors newly cautious about Chinese technology firms, despite underlying confidence in sector’s growth potential (WSJ)
• Asian chip share rout provides strong indication of a tough 2019 (Nikkei)
• Grab looks to avoid a price war with ride-hailing rival Go-Jek as it focuses on safe, reliable services (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• IBM to acquire software company Red Hat for $34 billion (Reuters); IBM Chases Amazon Into Cloud With $33 Billion Red Hat Purchase (Bloomberg); IBM and Red Hat Are Much Better Together; The two make a more compelling cloud-computing alternative as a combined force than they ever could on their own. (Bloomberg)
• Expedia acquires Pillow and ApartmentJet to conquer the short-term rental market (Techcrunch)
• The Economic Value of Artificial Intelligence (WSJ)
• Dyson Gets Swept Up in Electric-Vehicle Revolution; The company’s investment in cordless technology puts it in a unique position to take advantage of its supply-chain expertise. (Bloomberg)

Life

• Execution is Everything (25iq)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 October 2018) – Innodisk Enters Alliance with Subsidiaries and Partners to Bring AIoT into the Spotlight + Anxiety is a sign of creativity. Here’s how artists cope

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 October 2018) – Innodisk Enters Alliance with Subsidiaries and Partners to Bring AIoT into the Spotlight + Anxiety is a sign of creativity. Here’s how artists cope

Companies

• Innodisk Enters Alliance with Subsidiaries and Partners to Bring AIoT into the Spotlight (PRNW)
• Synnex cooperates with Ecovacs to promote smart cleaning robots in Taiwan (Digitimes)
• IRESS launches ‘next generation’ customisable client portal (PA)
• Brisbane brain scanner start-up EMvision to list on ASX with new CEO (AFR)
• High product demand lifts ViTrox’s 3Q net profit by 25% (Edge); ViTrox’s near term earnings outlook priced in (Star)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Cartier Meets Tmall in Richemont-Alibaba Online Luxury Tie-Up (Bloomberg, Reuters)
• TSMC enhances backend CoWoS technology (Digitimes)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple News’s Radical Approach: Humans Over Machines (NYT)
• Netflix’s Audience Is Multiplying. But So Is Its Debt. (NYT); Netflix’s Firing Culture Works for Netflix; Sure, the fast-growing tech company probably hurt some feelings, but the grown-ups it hires can handle it. (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft overtakes Amazon as second most valuable U.S. company (Reuters, MW)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Shenzhen government takes control of China’s leading chip maker Tsinghua Unigroup (SCMP)
• China’s ByteDance leapfrogs Uber to becomes world’s most valuable startup (Techcrunch, Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Apps Installed On Millions Of Android Phones Tracked User Behavior To Execute A Multimillion-Dollar Ad Fraud Scheme (BFN)
• As Internet Stocks Plunge, ‘Old Tech’ Finds New Friends (Bloomberg)
• Fortnite Creator Epic Games Valued at Nearly $15 Billion (WSJ, Reuters)
• Forget Amazon and Google. Chip Stocks Are the Problem. (Barron’s)

Life

• Anxiety is a sign of creativity. Here’s how artists cope (qz)
• Thinking in Bets, Lessons from Howard Marks, and Few Insights on D-Mart (SN)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 October 2018) – Uniqlo parent goes digital as it faces Amazon; Fast Retailing founder looks to the future of fashion

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 October 2018) – Uniqlo parent goes digital as it faces Amazon; Fast Retailing founder looks to the future of fashion

Companies

• Uniqlo parent goes digital as it faces Amazon; Fast Retailing founder looks to the future of fashion (Nikkei)
• Popular Japanese video game Monster Strike raked in US$7.2 billion in five years and is the top-grossing mobile app of all time (SCMP)
• Bilibili partners with Tencent on anime and games (Technode)
• Naver to invest W80b in subsidiary Snow (Investor)
• Koh Young America Delivers Record Results in 3Q 2018; The high conversion rate of new customers to Koh Young solutions and the company’s consistent growth reflects the industry’s confidence in the Koh Young True 3D technology and its Smart Factory (iconnect)
• Foxconn slumps as worries build over trade war, iPhone margins (FT)
• Sinbon posts record EPS (Taipei Times)
• ASX-listed Citadel Group has partnered with Crime Stoppers Australia to digitise the way in which crimes can be reported from members of the public to the law enforcement community. (IDM)
• Tech stocks tumble on Bursa Malaysia (Star)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Net-A-Porter turns to Alibaba to sell more $2,500 bags in China (CNN)
• The U.S.-China Trade War Means Alibaba Is Producing Its Own Chips; The e-commerce company will design semiconductors to help support its cloud and AI businesses. (Bloomberg)
• Inside Samsung’s Bid to Challenge Apple With 5G, Folding Phones (Bloomberg); Samsung Electronics: Seoul trader It is too soon to call the end of boom/bust cycles in semis (FT)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon: push marketing: Care is needed in navigating privacy concerns about customer data (FT); Amazon’s ad initiative is a useful add-on item (Reuters)
• Alphabet’s Waymo begins charging passengers for self-driving cars (FT)
• Facebook has a secret plan to clone Tik Tok (TIA)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Aikucun, a Chinese online distribution platform that connects fashion brands and professional online shoppers to help brands reduce their inventories, has secured US$110 million in series B+ round of funding (CMN)
• Hong Kong halts e-wallet auto top-ups after user reports of missing funds (SCMP)
• Grofers vs BigBasket: Tale of two strategies; Going deep versus going wide: Which will trump the other as online grocers BigBasket and Grofers battle to corner market share? (Forbes)
• Uber Eats reveals its plan to conquer the rest of India (TIA)
• OnlinePajak secures $25m funding to improve Indonesia’s tax landscape (TIA)
• India’s Rickshaw Revolution Leaves China in the Dust; There are more e-rickshaws in India than battery-powered passenger cars in China (Bloomberg)
• From supermarkets to super-apps, Southeast Asian tech start-ups are looking to China not Silicon Valley (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Uber aims to be ‘Amazon of transportation’: Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi targets 1bn users and the ‘end of car ownership’ (FT)
• Ben Thompson on Business and Tech (Ep. 52) (Medium)
• 3 metrics that matter when evaluating early-stage SaaS startups (TIA)
• AMD Chief Lisa Su Says the Trade War Is an Opportunity (Barron’s)
• S. tech funds turn to Visa, Paypal as FANGs fade (Reuters)
• Autodesk CIO Says AI Helps Human Worker Productivity; Employees pursue new responsibilities as AI-based assistant tackles customer inquiries (WSJ)
• Hotel-search company Trivago is raising profitability targets and reducing advertising spend in a bid to offset lower revenues from its main customers Booking Holdings and Expedia Group. (WSJ)
• Expedia, which owns travel aggregator websites like Hotels.com, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com, is starting to see the benefits of buying HomeAway three years ago. (Bloomberg)
• Intel’s Still Dancing as the Chip Party Dies (Bloomberg, Reuters)
• Your next doctor’s appointment might be with an AI; A new wave of chatbots are replacing physicians and providing frontline medical advice-but are they as good as the real thing? (TR)

Life

• When Sales Isn’t Just Selling: Advice for Founders in Early Markets (a16z)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 October 2018) – At 34, Akiko Naka Gone From Goldman to Failed Artist to Startup Queen in Wantedly + Escaping the Two Foes of Happiness

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 October 2018) – At 34, Akiko Naka Gone From Goldman to Failed Artist to Startup Queen in Wantedly + Escaping the Two Foes of Happiness

Companies

• At 34, Akiko Naka Gone From Goldman to Failed Artist to Startup Queen in Wantedly (Bloomberg)
• China’s Top Selfie Touch-Up App Isn’t Looking So Pretty For Investors; This year, Meitu’s Hong Kong-listed shares have dropped more than 60% since hitting their peak in January, wiping out $4.4 billion in market capitalization. Investors appear to be increasingly disenchanted with Meitu’s future prospects, as the Xiamen-based company struggles to fend off rising competition and rein in mounting losses. (Forbes)
• Chinese Automotive Marketplace TuanChe Files $150M US IPO (CMN)
• Who dares wins: Catch or Kogan.com? (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Alibaba Used Shoppers’ Data to Invent a Spicy Snickers Bar; The e-commerce giant is vacuuming up data from people shopping, searching and sharing online and providing it to companies like Mars. (Bloomberg)
• Alibaba vs. Amazon: The Battle Of Disruptive Innovation Beyond Traditional E-Commerce (Forbes)
• China’s Pause on Videogame Approvals Expected to Drag Into Next Year; The halt, in place since March, is said to have cost companies such as Tencent and NetEase roughly $1.4 billion in lost revenue (WSJ)
• Tencent teams up with ParknShop, Yonghui Superstores in latest bid to shake up China’s bricks-and-mortar retail market (SCMP)
• Did Pony Ma just crowdsource Tencent’s future R&D direction? (SCMP)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Megacap FAANG Bloc Collapses as Growth Stocks Lead Sell-Off (Bloomberg)
• The Problem with Facebook and Virtual Reality (Stratechery)
• Facebook Ad Demand May Be Waning, and Analysts Are Worried (Barron’s)
• Microsoft’s Cloud Strategy Pays Off; Even with deceleration, Azure’s growth remains robust as sales rise 76% in the fiscal first quarter (WSJ, Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Stirring up the hornet’s nest, travel startup Mafengwo accused of copying reviews from rivals; Chinese travel website faces public scrutiny in the lead up to an imminent fundraising. (KRA)
• Fujifilm Holdings will sell a Chinese plant that makes lenses for automotive cameras to smartphone industry supplier O-film Tech as competition squeezes profit margins in a field primed for growth (Nikkei)
• Workers in Japan to be able to receive salaries via smartphones; Digital money options will make it easier to compensate foreign workers (Nikkei)
• Dailyhunt: Betting on vernacular video; By harnessing the power of video on its app and using machine learning to serve personalised content, news aggregator Dailyhunt plans to touch 200 million users in 2020 (Forbes)
• Uber Rival Grab Challenges China’s Tech Giants With Mastercard Deal; The ride-hailing firm is launching a new payment card after ousting Uber from Southeast Asia (WSJ)
• Smartphones emerge as bright spot for Indian manufacturing (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• A fascinating interview with SingularityNET CEO Ben Goertzel; What is exponential impatience? And how can we teach robots empathy? (e27)
• Does virtual reality need a dash of magic? ‘We’ve been waiting a long time for VR to enter everyday life’ (FT)
• Investors Are Craving Food Delivery Companies; Runup in valuations is reminiscent of meal-kit bubble, some market watchers say (WSJ)
• Artificial Intelligence Faces Age-Old IT Challenge: Data Standardization; ‘AI starts with data, and if the data is lousy … ‘ (WSJ)
• Chip Stocks Extend Worst Rout in Decade as Slowdown Fears Mount (Bloomberg)
• Algorithms to Boldly Go Where No Scientist Has Gone Before; Researchers tend to cluster and mine the same familiar territory. AI can overcome that tendency and point to new questions. (Bloomberg)
• Lyft Acquires Blue Vision Labs To Elevate Its Moves In Self-Driving (Crunchbase)
• Cloud Stocks Dip, Dragging SaaS Valuations Down (Crunchbase)
• Goldman-Backed Travel Booking Start-Up GoEuro Is Said to Be Valued at Up to $1 Billion (Bloomberg)

Life

• Escaping the Two Foes of Happiness (DL)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 October 2018) – As BTS Conquers the World, K-Pop Firms Flop on the Stock Market + The Mental Habits of Effective Leaders: Farnam Street’s Interview with Jennifer Garvey Berger

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 October 2018) – As BTS Conquers the World, K-Pop Firms Flop on the Stock Market + The Mental Habits of Effective Leaders: Farnam Street’s Interview with Jennifer Garvey Berger

Companies

• Trend Micro rebrands endpoint security offering (CL)
• Nintendo Switch is headed to school (CNN)
• Chinese orders dry up for Japan’s machine tools; September bookings drop 22% as factories brace for trade war impact (Nikkei)
• Loss-making BabyTree marches on for listing hearing with the Hong Kong bourse (KRA)
• As BTS Conquers the World, K-Pop Firms Flop on the Stock Market (Bloomberg)
• Redbubble buys US competitor TeePublic for $57 million (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsunga

• Baidu to debut simultaneous machine translation in latest challenge to Google; Baidu system claims to be first with ‘anticipation capabilities and controllable latency’ The AI model is trained with data including similar sentence structures (SCMP)
• China’s Gaming Green Channel Was Just a Loophole; Most of the damage from halting approvals had been done. The latest development is merely an annoyance. (Bloomberg); China Halts Special Approval Process for New Games (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon Branded Women’s Apparel Sales Languish, Report Finds (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Pitches Facial Recognition to Monitor Immigrants (Bloomberg)
• Apple plans to launch TV subscription service globally: The Information (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese Employee Training Platform Yunxuetang Raises $50M Series C Round From YunFeng Capital (CMN)
• ByteDance ambitions in e-commerce continues with new social commerce app XinCao for younger consumers; Shortly after the release of e-commerce platform Zhi Dian, ByteDance now offers a new social commerce app called Xin Cao (KRA)
• Tech Guru Bets Drones Will be `Gold Rush in the Air’ For Japan (Bloomberg)
• Grab CEO courier stunt is disheartening; When Anthony Tan became a delivery man, he found lots of little problems, but ignored Grab’s fundamental issue (e27)
• Southeast Asian tech hubs race to become the next Silicon Valley (Nikkei)
• Billions of dollars have not helped Indian e-tailers figure out AI and big data (qz)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Uber’s Secret Restaurant Empire; The incredible growth of the food delivery business has led to some unconventional arrangements. (Bloomberg)
• MoviePass Is Getting Ditched by Its Parent Company (Barron’s)
• ‘Alexa, Buy That Stock.’ TD Ameritrade Is Offering Voice-Activated Trading. (Barron’s)
• GM’s driverless car bet faces long road ahead (Reuters)
• Artificial Intelligence Faces Age-Old IT Challenge: Data Standardization; ‘AI starts with data, and if the data is lousy … ‘ (WSJ)
• Mobileye Opens Up Driverless Tech as Tie-Up With Intel Deepens (Bloomberg)
• Payments are just the starting point for Instamojo, but does it have what it takes to evolve into a full stack online commerce enabler? (Forbes)
• The Story of Markets Told Through Semiconductors; What appeared to be a selloff in cyclical stocks prompted by fears over the economy may actually be more benign. (Bloomberg)
• Here’s How Saudi Cash Could Bring on the Global VC Crash; If startups and investors balk at the kingdom’s money, funding could grind to a halt. Just the possibility is powerful enough to end the party. (Bloomberg)
• Web performance software company Cloudflare readies IPO -sources (Reuters)
• Wealthfront to offer automated financial planning tool for free (Reuters)
• This driverless tech start-up aims to replace 15 million truckers in US and China (SCMP)

Life

• The Mental Habits of Effective Leaders: My Interview with Jennifer Garvey Berger [The Knowledge Project Ep. #43] (Farnam Street)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 October 2018) – Nidec, Schaeffler Vie for $1 Billion Asia Component Firm + How to Get 1% Better Every Day

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 October 2018) – Nidec, Schaeffler Vie for $1 Billion Asia Component Firm + How to Get 1% Better Every Day

Companies

• Nidec, Schaeffler Vie for $1 Billion Asia Component Firm (Bloomberg)
• China’s Spy-Tech Star Hikvision Needs Some Covert Help; Subsidies from Beijing are playing a bigger role in earnings amid a backlash against the surveillance industry. (Bloomberg)
• Tencent-Backed Travel Agency Tongcheng-eLong To Raise $1B In HK IPO (CMN)
• A post-IPO interview with China’s fourth largest internet company: Meituan remains optimistic amidst growing competition. (KRA)
• Loss-making Online property conveyor PEXA readies for $2b float (Age)
• Securemetric to raise RM17m from IPO (Star)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple Could Become a Multibillion-Dollar Ad Business. Here’s How (Barron’s)
• As Amazon Grows ‘Go’ Stores, Here’s Who Could Benefit (Barron’s)
• com, Qualcomm to put Alexa assistant in more headphones (Reuters)
• Money for nothing: copyright law, YouTube, and the future of music [Part II] (FT)
• Netflix adds to growing debt pile with $2 billion bond issue (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese travel platform Mafengwo denies faking reviews after social media storm (SCMP)
• PandaTV says its not dead and will file for an IPO this year (Technode)’Made in China 2025′: world’s biggest auto market wants to be the most powerful maker of electric cars (SCMP); Shenzhen’s all-electric bus fleet is a world’s first that comes with massive government funding (SCMP)
• China’s Uber for Trucks Is Said Close to Up to $1 Billion Round (Bloomberg)
• E-learning platform 17smile wins more than 10 million RMB in Series A+ by serving teachers not schools; As long as the teacher has a WeChat account, a ‘class’ can be registered and announcement can be made. (KRA)
• The bankruptcy of a major Chinese rented-flat operator backed by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun has highlighted the inherent risk of the previously high-flying sector’s heavy reliance on debt-fuelled growth (SCMP)
• China’s peer-to-peer lending system may effectively vanish in the next year. (Barron’s)
• How Asia can drive the technology revolution in property and construction (SCMP)
• GrabFood regional head Tomaso Rodriguez: Food delivery is the key pillar in path to profitability; Food delivery is the key pillar in Grab’s strategy and path to profitability. (KRA)
• An alternative history of silicon valley disruption (Wired)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• A spikier world for innovative start-ups beckons; The venture-capital game is evolving with deals declining even as their value rises (FT)
• Can Germany survive the ‘iPhone moment’ for cars? The country’s profitable carmakers are being hit quicker than expected by the adoption of electric vehicles and diesel bans (FT)
• PayPal: cash out; Digital payments company’s stock needs a youthful kick (FT)
• The unlikely winner of China’s gaming crackdown? US platform Steam, at least for now (SCMP)
• Why Basecamp still runs three completely different versions of their software (Hacker Noon)
• How Lucidchart grew to 13 million users on land-and-expand strategy (Freshworks)
• Jeff Weiner Explains The Most Important Challenge For Tech In The Next 25 Years (Linkedin)

Life

• How to Get 1% Better Every Day (James Clear)
• Hemingway, a Lost Suitcase, and the Recipe for Stupidity (Farnam Street)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 October 2018) – 21 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 October 2018) – 21 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders

Companies

• China’s Tesla Wannabe Has a Big Brother Problem; Data security concerns may cloud the outlook for aspiring electric-car maker NIO. (Bloomberg)
• Hong Kong’s Tech Dreams Are Becoming a Nightmare; A rule change was supposed to lure the hottest upstarts. But if IPOs continue to flop, investors and founders will meet elsewhere. (Bloomberg)
• 

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon Wants Alexa to Do More Than Just Play Your Music; Amazon taps developer community to create games, AI enhancements to get users to tap into Alexa’s more than 50,000 skills (WSJ)
• The challenge of making YouTube a better place (Wired)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Mafengwo accused of faking 85% of all user-generated content (Technode)
• Plunging China’s stock prices and the effect on China’s tech economy (KRA)

• Tencent Music’s public offering dilemma; China’s Spotify uncertain public offering amidst market volatility. (KRA)
• 2% rebate eyed on all items paid for by cashless means at small shops after planned 2019 sales tax hike (Japan Times)
• Japanese unicorn promises ‘robots for everyone’ in 5 years; Preferred Networks looks to challenge tech leaders like Google and Apple (Nikkei)
• How Taiwan’s Powerful PC Makers Will Overcome The Intel Chip Shortage (Forbes)
• The problem with e-wallets? There are just too many of them, say fintech experts (TIA)
• Former Grab, Go-Jek employees team up to prove demand for a chatty mobile wallet in Indonesia (KRA)
• Key challenges and opportunities in Malaysia’s e-commerce scene; Only 20 per cent of people in East Malaysia said e-commerce is more convenient and makes their lives easier (e27)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Utah Cloud Unicorn Qualtrics Files To Raise Up To $200M In IPO (Forbes)
• Trupanion Stock Sinks After Report of State Probe (Barron’s)
• MTV Owner’s Streaming Strategy: If You Can’t Beat Them, Feed Them; Viacom is making ‘The Real World’ for Facebook and planning a sequel of ‘To All the Boys’ for Netflix in push to turn its channels into studios (WSJ)
• Uber IPO: A Lot Will Ride on CFO’s Choice of Metrics, Timing; Finance chief Nelson Chai will have to decide whether Uber will go ahead or trail rival Lyft and what performance indicators to share with investors (WSJ)
• Will Tech Leave Detroit in the Dust? As IPO proposals value Uber at an eye-popping $120 billion, auto makers are racing to gain ground in everything from car sharing to driverless technology. At stake: who will control the future of transportation (WSJ)
• PayPal Has Moved on From Its eBay Breakup. But eBay Hasn’t (Barron’s)
• Early-Stage SaaS VC Slip Snaps Recovery As Public Software Stocks Soar (Crunchbase); Bessemer Updates Its Cloud Index (Crunchbase)
• Who Is Losing The Most Money? (Crunchbase)
• Tesla Short Seller Warns of ‘Massive’ Supply-Chain Disruption (Bloomberg)

Life

• 21 Lessons From Jeff Bezos’ Annual Letters To Shareholders (CBI)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 October 2018) – Innodisk forming alliance with subsidiaries, partners to tap AIoT opportunities + The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success by Albert-László Barabási

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 October 2018) – Innodisk forming alliance with subsidiaries, partners to tap AIoT opportunities + The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success by Albert-László Barabási

Companies

• Innodisk forming alliance with subsidiaries, partners to tap AIoT opportunities (Digitimes)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Tencent plays hard catch-up with Tik Tok, launching yet another short video app (KRA)
• Alibaba pledges ‘largest ever’ Singles’ Day as shopping festival marks 10th anniversary, goes international (SCMP)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Jony Ive on the Apple Watch and Big Tech’s responsibilities; Apple’s chief design officer on Steve Jobs, the $5bn new campus — and why the unforeseen consequences of tech keep him awake (FT)
• The quality of quantity at Netflix (FT)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• A closer look at China’s current community group buy fad; A new methodology to handle the high costs associated with perishable goods delivery (KRA)
• Postman, shopper, builder: In Japan, there’s a robot for that (Japan Times)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Why Disney Can Be a New-Media Powerhouse (Barron’s)
• A New Way to Rank the Risks of the Big Tech Stocks (Barron’s)
• Serverless Computing’s Innovative Approach to Software Development (WSJ)

Life

• The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success Hardcover – November 6, 2018 (Amazon)
• How we think about digital moat sources and threats (Todd Wenning, PDF)
• This is The Only Viable Strategy to Build an Audience for Your Work (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 October 2018) – CyberAgent Establishes CAAnimation Label for Original Anime + Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 October 2018) – CyberAgent Establishes CAAnimation Label for Original Anime + Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life

Companies

• CyberAgent Establishes CAAnimation Label for Original Anime (ANN)
• Murata expects ceramic parts shortages to last another 2 years (Reuters); Kyocera, Murata reportedly to expand MLCC production capacities (Digitimes)
• Line makes a big new push to turn Japan cashless (TIA); Japan’s Line invests in Thai startup for the first time (Nikkei)
• China’s One-Time Richest Woman Becomes Biggest Loser in Wealth Rout; Lens Technology’s Zhou Qunfei loses 66% of fortune this year (Bloomberg)
• China Electric Scooter Maker Raises $63 Million in Downsized IPO (Bloomberg)
• China Post’s Sichuan arm partners with e-commerce platform Pinduoduo (Technode); Meituan challenges Pinduoduo with group deal mini-program (Technode)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Meet the 18 original founders of Alibaba (e27); Cute or cult? Inside Alibaba’s curious nickname culture (Technode)
• Alibaba uncorks $290 million deal with stake purchase in wine e-tailer 1919.cn (Reuters)
• Tencent to bring WeChat and mini programs to autonomous driving (Technode, TIA)
• Struggling Tencent seeks to heal internal rifts; Once China’s most valuable company, tech giant hopes reboot ends fragmented culture (FT)
• Apple IPhone Helps Give TSMC an Instant Hit; Its latest chipmaking technology has had one of the fastest uptakes in recent history. (Bloomberg); TSMC’s Troubles Piling Up Show Risk for Global Tech; Keep an eye on inventory levels at electronics makers as this earnings season (Bloomberg); Apple chip maker TSMC’s sales outlook disappoints as global smartphone, cryptocurrency mining demand stalls (SCMP); TSMC to Remain Sole iPhone Chip Supplier, Could Provide ARM-Based Chips for Mac in 2020, Apple Car Chips in 2023 (MR)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon Wants India to Shop Online, and It’s Battling Walmart for Supremacy (Bloomberg)
• Netflix and Amazon Leave Little Room for Streaming Video Latecomers (Bloomberg); After Uber, Netflix May Be Next to Tap Starved Junk Market (Bloomberg); Netflix needs lower prices to woo India (Reuters); Netflix’s pricing power (II)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s ByteDance is taking the social media world by storm (CNN)
• Hong Kong sweeteners fail to lure Chinese tech listings; Start-ups put off by HKEX’s lengthy IPO vetting procedures and stricter scrutiny (FT)
• Ucommune makes fifth acquisition this year as it seeks to battle co-working space rival WeWork in China (SCMP)
• Small China e-commerce firms to be hit hard by US withdrawal from Universal Postal Union (SCMP)
• Myanmar’s new e-book app cracks unopened market; Top telecom MPT sees opportunity in country’s bookstore shortage (Nikkei)
• India’s Oyo aims to disrupt global hotel industry; Born entrepreneur brings high tech hospitality to budget business (Nikkei); SoftBank-backed budget hotel aggregator OYO to invest US$100M in Indonesia (e27)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Collaboration software company Atlassian is targeting growth from its core user base of IT teams, envisioning a future in which developers are on call 24/7 to handle tech outages. (AFR)
• Rent the Runway and WeWork’s deal encourages you to wear rented clothes at your rented desk (qz)
• Planned IPO will test the value of Uber’s network; With its army of human drivers, the group should be best placed to bring in new tech (FT)
• SAP: partly cloudy; Business transitions require patience (FT)
• WeWork targets Japanese big business in aggressive expansion; Push comes as large groups try to adapt to digital era with flexible work spaces; WeWork believes Japan can become one of its core international growth markets (FT)
• Can Sonos beat back the tech giants? An American maker of high-end wireless speakers battles Google and Amazon (Economist)
• Building a Smart Robot for Seniors; Danielle Ishak left Alphabet’s X in search of a home assistant the elderly might actually want. (Bloomberg)
• Square Unveils ‘Terminal’ to Rival Keypad Credit-Card Machines (Bloomberg)
• Micron to buy Intel’s stake in joint venture IM Flash Technologies (Reuters)
• De Beers eyes tech markets for synthetic diamonds future (Reuters)
• CIS demand from handset, automotive sectors set to boom in 2019 (Digitimes)
• Arm’s Neoverse will be the infrastructure for a trillion intelligent devices (VB)
• Introducing Vehicle 2.0 (Forbes)
• WarnerMedia to Launch Direct to Consumer Streaming Service in Late 2019 (Variety)

Life

• Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life (WSJ)
• Podcast #450: How to Make Time for What Really Matters Every Day (AOM)
• Man Who Bared `Enigma Network’ Has New Hong Kong Stock Alert (Bloomberg); The Huarong-CMB network: 26 stocks not to own (Webb); Huarong and China Singyes Solar Technologies (0750) (Webb); Three missing chairmen among top 10 most wanted fraud suspects in Hong Kong (SCMP)
• Elizabeth Gilbert on Love, Loss, and How to Move Through Grief as Grief Moves Through You (BP)
• How To Have More Energy: 3 Powerful Secrets From Research (Eric Barker)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 October 2018) – Innodisk breaks into NBAA-BACE to exhibit the most reliable and secured industrial storage and memory innovations for the aviation industry along with its proprietary software solutions + Nicole Krauss’s Beautiful Letter to Van Gogh on Fear, Bravery, and How to Break the Loop of Our Destructive Patterns

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 October 2018) – Innodisk breaks into NBAA-BACE to exhibit the most reliable and secured industrial storage and memory innovations for the aviation industry along with its proprietary software solutions + Nicole Krauss’s Beautiful Letter to Van Gogh on Fear, Bravery, and How to Break the Loop of Our Destructive Patterns

Companies

• Bridgestone to Transfer “PureBeta” Ultra High Purity Fine Ceramics SiC Component Operations to Maruwa (EIN)
• Ventureast strikes gold as Japan’s istyle backs content startup Incnut (VCC)
• Innodisk breaks into NBAA-BACE to exhibit the most reliable and secured industrial storage and memory innovations for the aviation industry along with its proprietary software solutions. (PRNW)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Samsung buys Spanish networks analysis firm in 5G push; Purchase of Zhilabs is part of a 3-year $22bn investment drive into new technologies; Samsung says automation based on artificial intelligence will play a key role in the introduction of new (FT)
• SoftBank voices doubts over second Vision Fund; Geopolitical risk around Khashoggi affair exacerbates concern over Son strategy (FT)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Finance makes Apple and Google forced friends (Reuters)
• Raised by YouTube: The platform’s entertainment for children is weirder—and more globalized—than adults could have expected. (Atlantic)
• Netflix: sub bubble; Streaming group’s ‘happy ending’ could yet prove just another plot twist (FT); Netflix Considers Cheaper Prices to Chase Boom in India Viewers (Bloomberg); Bill Nygren: Netflix Is a Value Stock (GF)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China Tech IPOs Face a Wall Street Check-Up (Bloomberg)
• Inside India’s E-Commerce Battle Royale (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Cree’s Strength Makes Short-Sellers’ Worst Dreams Come True (Bloomberg)
• Self-taught musicians hit the high notes on app-connected digital keyboards and string instruments (SCMP)
• Spotify takes minor stake in music distributor DistroKid (Reuters)

Life

• Nicole Krauss’s Beautiful Letter to Van Gogh on Fear, Bravery, and How to Break the Loop of Our Destructive Patterns (BP)
• Finding the Meaning Of Life In Suffering; suffering will always pursue us because we are pursuing a meaningful life. “To love is to suffer and there can be no love otherwise.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky (Medium)
• Haste Makes Waste (Morgan Housel)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 October 2018) – As interest rates rise, the venture-capital model pioneered by SoftBank and followed by the likes of Tencent is breaking down + The Woman They Turned Away who created many of technologies that we use on a daily basis

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 October 2018) – As interest rates rise, the venture-capital model pioneered by SoftBank and followed by the likes of Tencent is breaking down + The Woman They Turned Away who created many of technologies that we use on a daily basis

Companies

• Chipmaker spending cuts hurt equipment supplier Disco (Nikkei)
• Hamamatsu develops bright supercontinuum source; Japanese photonics giant delivers stable source equivalent to xenon lamps; allows high-precision measurements. (Optics)
• WiseTech buys Sydney company SmartFreight for $55 million (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Asia’s Technology Bear Isn’t Ready to Hibernate; As interest rates rise, the venture-capital model pioneered by SoftBank and followed by the likes of Tencent is breaking down. (Bloomberg)
• Singapore e-wallet NetsPay in talks with Tencent’s WeChat Pay for cross-border payments (SCMP); WeChat Pay, China’s Popular Payment Tool, Lands in U.S. (Barron’s)
• Samsung Electronics buys network analysis firm Zhilabs in 5G push (Reuters)
• Softbank pushes link-ups as insurance strategy takes shape (Reuters)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Facebook Accused of Hiding Inflated Ad Metrics Back in 2015 (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Doles Out Freebies to Juice Sales of Its Own Brands; Critics say some customer reviews disadvantage third-party merchants and could displease European regulators. (Bloomberg)
• Amazon likely to buy 7-8 percent stake in India’s Future Retail – TV (Reuters)
• Amazon’s Next Stop May Be Brazil Drugstores, Morgan Stanley Says (Bloomberg)
• Netflix Soars After Blistering Subscriber Growth Restores Faith (Bloomberg); Netflix Spoiled Us Rotten; Consumers don’t want ads and don’t want to pay up for TV. (Bloomberg); Netflix is online video’s Walmart, and its Tiffany (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• IT leasing and corporate SaaS platform Edianzu scored USD 60 million Series D funding; In China, IT equipment leasing service has a market penetration of only 4.9%. (KRA)
• China’s Huawei Takes Aim at Qualcomm, Nvidia With New AI Chips (Bloomberg)
• Chinese electric car makers, nurtured by state, now look for way out of glut (Reuters)
• China’s P2P lenders say regulation will cause industry collapse; Executives expect lender numbers to drop from more than 1,500 to as few as 50 (FT)
• Firms offer a glimpse of future business models at CEATEC, Japan’s biggest electronics trade show (Japan Times) 

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Is Uber worth as much as Alibaba? (AFR); Uber considers minority-stake investors for self-driving car unit; Ride-hailing group faces rising cost pressures ahead of IPO (FT); Uber Valued at $120 Billion in an IPO? Maybe (Bloomberg)
• Instacart Continues Funding Spree, Raises $600 Million; The grocery-delivery startup bagged nearly $1 billion from investors this year. (Bloomberg)
• Reddit CEO Says Tech Scandals Proved Him Right on User Data (Bloomberg)
• Adobe Characterizer turns you into an animated drawing with the power of AI (TNW)
• Postmates Interviews Banks for IPO; Food-delivery service is likely to go public in first half of 2019 (WSJ)
• ‘We’re Not Google’ Won’t Cut It for TomTom; It wants to be the go-to provider of high-definition maps for autonomous cars. But TomTom is lacking direction and losing customers. (Bloomberg)

Life

• The Woman They Turned Away who created many of technologies that we use on a daily basis (Medium)
• The “Get Rich Slow” Exit Strategy (Hackernoon)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 October 2018) – Trend Micro Redefines Endpoint Security with Trend Micro Apex One + Jeff Bezos: ”You have to find something where your particular life path has led you to see something in a particular way where you can pursue it and contribute to society.”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 October 2018) – Trend Micro Redefines Endpoint Security with Trend Micro Apex One + Jeff Bezos: ”You have to find something where your particular life path has led you to see something in a particular way where you can pursue it and contribute to society.”

Companies

• Trend Micro Redefines Endpoint Security with Trend Micro Apex One (BI)
• Toyota and Line to offer voice-controlled AI navigation next summer (Japan Times)
• Mitsui O.S.K. Lines joined forces with Weathernews to launch the Fleet Optimal Control Unified System (FOCUS), a project that will gather and apply ship operation data to ensure safer, more environmentally friendly ocean transport. (Ajot)
• Cochlear’s next big breakthrough: 24/7 hearing for the profoundly deaf (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Baidu leads new funding in NetEase Music (Technode)
• Alibaba steps on investment pedal in India, eyeing expanding online retail; Chinese e-commerce firm to pump in more money into Info Edge’s Zomato (Nikkei)
• SoftBank’s Son risks running short of good investments; Dull WeWork investment highlights dearth of shiny high tech targets (Nikkei)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple buys music analytics company Asaii: Axios (Reuters)
• Is Google’s search function about to end? Its push into AI suggests so. (AFR)
• Google CEO says China search engine would serve 99 per cent of queries, takes a swipe at Baidu (SCMP)
• Bond bears stalk a FANG, short Netflix debt (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China emerges as center of thriving used smartphone trade (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Cloud software firm Twilio to buy SendGrid in $2 billion deal (Reuters)
• Adobe Remains a Creative Software King (Morningstar)
• Walmart Plans Competitor to Amazon’s Video Marketplace (Bloomberg)
• Airbnb bill may limit short-term rentals in U.S. capital (Reuters)
• This Company is Fast Becoming the Warby Parker of Scrubs; Figs, a five-year-old startup has upended the medical apparel industry with direct-to-consumer scrubs and splashy marketing campaigns. This year, it’s on track to make $100 million in revenue (WSJ)
• Robot Solves a Problem Kids Can’t: Cleaning Their Rooms; Tokyo-based Preferred Networks plans to sell robots that could handle tidying up and other household tasks (WSJ)
• AI Driving Nearly All Emerging Technology, Gartner Says (WSJ)
• 5G offers world’s biggest mobile market a gateway to the industrial internet (SCMP)

Life

• Jeff Bezos: ”You have to find something where your particular life path has led you to see something in a particular way where you can pursue it and contribute to society.”
• Apple’s Jony Ive on the unpredictable consequences of innovation (Wired)
• How to Become Obsessed with Your Goals and Demolish All Your Excuses (Ascent)
• From start-up to scale: A conversation with Box CEO Aaron Levie (McKinsey)
• If Humility Is So Important, Why Are Leaders So Arrogant? (HBR)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 October 2018) – 5G will force cybersecurity to evolve, Trend Micro says + How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life by Epictetus (

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 October 2018) – 5G will force cybersecurity to evolve, Trend Micro says + How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life by Epictetus (

Companies

• 5G will force cybersecurity to evolve, Trend Micro says (GN)
• En-Japan introduces hiring tools (AIM)
• Top player Yizhibo sold to Weibo as China’s live streaming frenzy cools down (Technode)
• Afterpay, Zip await ASIC critique of buy now pay later (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Baidu demonstrates self driving buses in China as the technology moves closer to commercialisation (SCMP)
• Baidu Waimai rebrands as Star.Ele to target at higher-end food delivery market (Technode)
• Tencent hit as China’s freeze on new video game titles continues; Revenues set to suffer with approvals not expected to resume until next year (FT)
• Short Sellers Missed Tencent’s $250 Billion Party; They left a lot of money on the table as the Chinese technology behemoth slumped 44 percent from its peak. (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple buys music analytics company Asaii: Axios (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese tech fundraising under pressure amid market turmoil; Investors expect slower and smaller IPO launches as valuations shrink (Nikkei)
• India’s $5bn no-frills hotel start-up Oyo Rooms targets China; Founder says he runs world’s ‘most advanced hotel system’ but analysts warn on expansion (FT)
• Relentless selling savages ASX tech stocks (AFR)

Life

• How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life by Epictetus (Amazon)
• SFC chairman Carlson Tong exits after dishing out nearly HK$4 billion in penalties; Six-year tenture saw the former head of KPMG in mainland China casting the regulatory spotlight firmly on corporate fraud, insider dealing, poor new listings (SCMP)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 October 2018) – Delta Electronics September revenues hit record + Y Combinator’s Daniel Gross: Dreams and Determination

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 October 2018) – Delta Electronics September revenues hit record + Y Combinator’s Daniel Gross: Dreams and Determination

Companies

• GoerTek has become the first of Apple’s leading equipment suppliers to confirm plans to shift production out of the country to avoid being caught up in the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing. (Nikkei)
• Chinese Medical Cosmetology Platform SoYoung Seeks For US IPO (CMN)
• Delta Electronics September revenues hit record (Digitimes)
• Singapore-based VHQ Media purchased a 70% stake in Beijing Jupiter Cultural Media; the extension into TV dramas through the US$25.1m deal would help it leverage its strengths in movie production, special effects, post-production and 3D animation (Taipei Times)
• Afterpay, Zip await ASIC critique of buy now pay later (AFR)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Alibaba merges food delivery units Ele.me and Koubei amid price war with Meituan in China’s on-demand market (SCMP); Alibaba announces a challenger to newly-listed Meituan (memo included); New lifestyle platform is here to bring up the stakes in China’s food delivery space. (KRA)
• TSMC to be only supplier of Apple A13 chips in 2019 (Digitimes)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• How Netflix Expanded to 190 Countries in 7 Years (HBR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Indonesia’s Bukalapak connects kiosk shoppers to the web (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Where Fitbit’s Next Round of Growth Will Come From (Barron’s)
• Cokes, smokes and clicks: How Oxxo corner stores are cashing in on Mexican e-commerce (Reuters)
• A tech boom in Pittsburgh brings hope and angst (Reuters)
• French startup offers Asia an AI weapon against knockoffs; Forgery-proof tabs let consumers check authenticity, from luxury bags to wine (Nikkei)
• The Key to Autonomous Driving? An Impossibly Perfect Map; Self-driving cars may eventually work together to create nearly real-time maps. But we’re not there yet. (WSJ)
• In Fintech’s Race for Customers, Adyen Lands Gap’s EU Business (Bloomberg)

Life

• Y Combinator’s Daniel Gross: Dreams and Determination (DP)
• This Texas Finance Professor Sifts Data for Signs of Rigged Markets (Bloomberg)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 October 2018) – Trend Micro Brings Its Unified Threat Management Solution to North America + Time Horizon vs. Endurance

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 October 2018) – Trend Micro Brings Its Unified Threat Management Solution to North America + Time Horizon vs. Endurance

Companies

• Trend Micro’s four pillars of cybersecurity strategy (SB); Trend Micro Brings Its Unified Threat Management Solution to North America (BW)
• UK-based Orion Electrotech announced it is has completed the sale of a majority stake in the business to TechnoPro Holdings Inc., a Japan-based technology-focused staffing and services company (SI)
• Tencent Music will reportedly postpone IPO due to global market sell-off (CNBC)
• Chinese streaming platform NetEase signs copyright license agreement with Loen Entertainment (PI)
• Flexium revenues surge in 3Q18 (Digitimes)
• Australia’s Crime Stoppers has appointed Citadel Group to build out its safety management platform, Keep Us Safe vResponder, specifically around the needs of Crime Stoppers and its network (ZDnet)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Amazon Owes Wikipedia Big-Time; Smart speakers are taking advantage of the free labor of Wikipedia volunteers. (Slate)
• The high-risk, high-reward world of selling stuff on Amazon (CNN)
• How Amazon Is Disrupting These 6 Sectors (Barron’s)
• Netflix Isn’t Invincible (AA)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• GoGoVan CEO says whoever adopts autonomous vehicle technology first will dominate logistics; Autonomous driving technology will enable more efficient and affordable delivery of goods (SCMP)
• India’s Flipkart confident of bumper sales season; says Amazon losing relevance (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• ANGI Homeservices to Buy Handy to Dominate Home Renovations (Bloomberg)
• Bumble Owner Targets Nasdaq IPO to Become World’s Top Matchmaker (Bloomberg)
• US startup steals march on Amazon with grab-and-go shopping in Japan; Standard Cognition touts ‘much cheaper’ AI-based solution amid labor shortage (Nikkei)

Life

• Time Horizon vs. Endurance (Morgan Housel)
• Costco’s secret weapon: Food courts and $1.50 hot dogs (CNN)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 October 2018) – Altium Disrupts PCB Design + Delisting of 23 Chinese firms due to accounting fraud etc in Korea costs investors W270b

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 October 2018) – Altium Disrupts PCB Design + Delisting of 23 Chinese firms due to accounting fraud etc in Korea costs investors W270b

Companies

• Uniqlo-owner Fast Retailing to invest $885 mln in warehouse automation and teams up with logistics firm Daifuku (Reuters)
• China Lithium King Tanks in Hong Kong Debut Amid Stocks Rout (Bloomberg)
• Altium Disrupts PCB Design (EEJ)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Tencent’s Worst Investment Has Been Its Own Shares; The Internet giant has lost an annualized 85 percent over the course of its six-week-long buyback adventure. (Bloomberg)
• Tencent VC Arm Is Said to Seek a New Fund of Over $650 Million (Bloomberg)
• SoftBank in danger of over-WeWorking itself (Reuters); WeWork and SoftBank Need Each Other; One of these companies enjoys growth, the other has money. Both are heavily reliant on faith. (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• The Battle for the Home (Stratechery)
• Apple to buy part of supplier Dialog’s business in $600 million deal (Reuters)
• Apple streaming-TV service to be free for device users: report (MW)
• Chipmaker Nvidia to supply computer for Volvo’s upcoming vehicles (Reuters); Nvidia aims to woo business analysts with new software (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s grip on electronics manufacturing will be hard to break; Will the supply chain bifurcate, between East and West? (Economist)
• Music education platform Finger wins RMB 100 million Series B to expand into offline market; Finger, launched in December 2015, offers online courses of more than ten instruments. (KRA)
• Chinese lidar maker RoboSense raises US$45m in biggest fundraising round among local peers (SCMP)
• Education, enterprise-oriented services and AI are recession resistant: says the investor behind Didi & Ofo Allen Zhu (KRA)
• Infographic | GGV on investing education tech startups (KRA)
• Snapdeal 2.0 faces a new world order in Indian e-commerce (qz)
• Bridestory launches Parentstory, an online marketplace for kids activities (e27)
• Go-Jek and its tech expansion strategy in SEA; How Go-Jek uses a feedback loop process to build and collate data to understand consumers needs and launches 18 verticals. (KRA)
• Online payments still a challenge for Southeast Asia’s tech players (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Zuora Plans a Partnership With Amazon Pay (Barron’s)
• Boss Talk: Slack’s CEO Wants to Unshackle You From Email; Slack, valued at $7 billion in a recent fundraising round, has resisted going public-though that could change; Stewart Butterfield talks about how he works (WSJ)
• The untold story of Stripe, the secretive $20bn startup driving Apple, Amazon and Facebook; Patrick and John Collison have democratised online payments – and reshaped the digital economy in the process (Wired)
• Walmart Cuts Online Video Deals in Bid to Become Entertainment Hub; Retail giant teams up with MGM and a video startup in its rivalry with Amazon; first up is a remake of ‘Mr. Mom’ (WSJ)
• Snap Is Making a Big Bet on Grabbing Eyeballs With Original Content (Barron’s); Snapchat announces new scripted shows to win over users (Reuters)
• Uber’s Junk Bond Is an Entree to the Main Event (Bloomberg)
• Tech’s $900 Billion Rout Is Price of Earnings Becoming Ordinary (Bloomberg)
• Chipmaker Micron to invest $100 million in artificial intelligence companies (Reuters)

Life

• Delisting of 23 Chinese firms due to accounting fraud etc in Korea costs investors W270b (Investor)
• A proposal by HKSE that listed companies suspend share trading immediately if auditors refuse to give their financial statements a clean bill of health could lead to an increase in tensions between firms and auditors (SCMP)
• Hong Kong markets watchdog to sue 60 companies and individuals for corporate fraud in first half of 2019 (SCMP)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (10 October 2018) – Trend Micro is a AWS Marketplace vendor partner that has been instrumental in helping AWS create the latest Consulting Partner Private Offers + Borges on Turning Trauma, Misfortune, and Humiliation into Raw Material for Art

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (10 October 2018) – Trend Micro is a AWS Marketplace vendor partner that has been instrumental in helping AWS create the latest Consulting Partner Private Offers + Borges on Turning Trauma, Misfortune, and Humiliation into Raw Material for Art

Companies

• AWS Marketplace Now Empowering Authorized Partners To Create Custom Software Solutions; Trend Micro is a AWS Marketplace vendor partner that has been instrumental in helping AWS create the latest Consulting Partner Private Offers. (CRN)
• Looking for the music in Tencent Music (Midia)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• China’s Banking Showdown: WeChat vs. 3 Million Bank Tellers (Bloomberg)
• SoftBank Discusses Taking Majority Stake in WeWork; Investment could total between $15 billion and $20 billion and would likely come from SoftBank’s Vision Fund (WSJ)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• All the ways Amazon’s AI brought me the socks I am wearing right now (CNN)
• Google launched new mobile and home gadgets aimed at ensuring the voice-controlled Google Assistant is never out of shouting distance. (WSJ)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Clouds gather over Chinese tech start-ups’ convertible debt sales; What was once a sure-fire arrangement could end up with investors writing off bets (FT)
• Yunfeng, Advantech Lead $300M Round In China’s Airbnb Copycat Xiaozhu.com (CMN)
• Chinese game which simulates what it’s like to be a parent tops Steam charts, beating Grand Theft Auto (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Spotify Has Upside, but Not Where the Market’s Looking (Barron’s)
• Lyft will pay you to ditch your car. will it work? (Wired)
• Why It’s Less Hip To Be Square; The payments company, along with fintech peers, is priced for near perfection despite the likelihood of complications to its lending model (WSJ)
• Snap Is ‘Quickly Running Out of Money,’ Analyst Says (Bloomberg)

Life

• Borges on Turning Trauma, Misfortune, and Humiliation into Raw Material for Art (BP)
• Disney’s secret: marketing mindset, storytelling and trust (AFR)
• Three Ways To Use The Power Of Persuasion In Marketing (Forbes)
• The Hero In All Of Us (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 October 2018) – The Seekers Mode: What Steve Jobs And Richard Feynman Have In Common

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 October 2018) – The Seekers Mode: What Steve Jobs And Richard Feynman Have In Common

Companies

• TCL, world’s third largest television maker, eyes stake in chip equipment firm ASM Pacific (SCMP)
• Meet The Man Who Reversed The Fortunes Of No. 5-Ranked PC Brand Acer (Forbes)
• Catch Group dismisses Amazon threat as it treks towards IPO (Age)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Tencent shares lowest in 15 months, having shed US$220 billion since January (SCMP)
• China’s Tencent invests $180 million in Brazil fintech Nubank (Reuters)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Facebook launches video-call device ‘Portal’ amid data privacy concerns (SCMP); Facebook debuts smart speaker for Messenger video calls (Reuters)
• Microsoft Invests in Grab as Ride Hailer Adopts Azure Platform (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft testing new game-streaming service (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s quest for the cutting edge in surgical robotics (SCMP)
• China’s AI Industry Has Given Birth To 14 Unicorns: Is It A Bubble Waiting To Burst? (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The New Atlanta Billionaires Behind An Unlikely Tech Unicorn: Mailchimp (Forbes)
• Reddit: the rancorous rise of a social-media phenomenon (Nature)
• Square’s most steadfast bear is increasingly worried about the company’s interest in the lending business (Barron’s)
• Walmart partners with MGM to boost video-on-demand service Vudu (Reuters)

Life

• How to solve a big problem (even if you don’t know how) (Medium)
• The Seekers Mode: What Steve Jobs And Richard Feynman Have In Common (Medium)
• Einstein was an Artist: How Creativity Actually Works (Medium)
• One of the simplest rules in life is often times one of the hardest to implement: be nice to other people. You never know what they’re going through. (Ben Carlson)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (8 October 2018) – Big screen continues to be big business: Vista Cinema division, which provides software-as-a-service to large cinema chains, is used in 42,512 screens worldwide, for a 38 per cent market share + Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear: Developing strength by having power over the mind

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (8 October 2018) – Big screen continues to be big business: Vista Cinema division, which provides software-as-a-service to large cinema chains, is used in 42,512 screens worldwide, for a 38 per cent market share + Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear: Developing strength by having power over the mind

Companies

• Big screen continues to be big business; Vista provides cinema-management software for independent cinema operators and large circuits, as well as moviegoer data analytics, film distribution and other cinema-related technology services. Vista Cinema division, which provides software-as-a-service to large cinema chains, is used in 42,512 screens worldwide, for a 38 per cent market share (TB)
• Cashless wave to lift Revenue’s growth (Edge)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Saudi Arabia invests another US$45 billion with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son to pick tech winners (SCMP)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese offshore IPOs grow more reliant on shaky legal structure; Boom in tech listings built on companies that lack ownership of their operations (Nikkei)
• Educating children with storytelling, YueDuQiYuan seeks Pre-A series financing (KRA)
• AI promises jobs revolution but first it needs old-fashioned manual labour – from China; Basic Finder is among the labelling companies thriving amid the data boom, with clients including US university UC Berkeley and Chinese AI leaders SenseTime and iFlyTek (SCMP)
• Indian online car dealer Droom raises yet another US$30m (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Bob Iger’s Bets Are Paying Off Big Time for Disney (Time)
• The Internet Gave Us Great TV-Now Where’s Our Great TV Guide? The Golden Age of Television comes with too many apps and devices, and there aren’t enough tools to help you find and play the best shows (WSJ)
• Comcast’s Revenge: Never Sell Hulu; Selling its Hulu stake to Disney would help offset the cost of acquiring Sky, but Comcast has good reasons to hold on (WSJ)
• 3D printers already create human tissue, a house and smart ‘skin devices’, so what will future bring? (SCMP)
• Elastic’s Soaring IPO Stretches Valuation to $4.9 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Lasers Are Cool But Their Stocks Can’t Seem to Catch a Break (Bloomberg)

Life

• Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear: Developing strength by having power over the mind (Medium)
• One of the simplest rules in life is often times one of the hardest to implement: be nice to other people. You never know what they’re going through. (Ben Carlson)
• China First Capital (1269) and a questionable joint venture (Webb)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 October 2018) – Altium Previews “First Step” in Connecting Electronics Design to the Manufacturing Floor + The Four Words That Made Her a Billionaire

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 October 2018) – Altium Previews “First Step” in Connecting Electronics Design to the Manufacturing Floor + The Four Words That Made Her a Billionaire

Companies

• Kakao T to launch taxi-hailing service in Japan (Investor)
• Altium Previews “First Step” in Connecting Electronics Design to the Manufacturing Floor (Benzinga); Altium Announces New Cloud-Based Design Environment with Eye Towards Collaboration: Altium 365 (AAC)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Twenty years in the making: The backstory behind the new Toyota-SoftBank joint venture (Japan Times)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Secret Amazon brands are quietly taking over Amazon.com (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China ‘spy chips’ rattle global data center supply chain (Nikkei)
• Chinese robotics startup cracks the code for Western markets; Makeblock’s build and play approach to computer science is winning over educators (Nikkei)
• Haruki Atarashi never thought his company’s flagship software, Recog, which fosters communication between employees within companies, would ever evolve beyond just an internal project. (Japan Times)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Data-Center Gold Rush Boosts Eaton and Terex (Barron’s)
• Elastic closed 94% up in first day of trading on NYSE, raised $252M at a $2.5B valuation in its IPO; When you hail a ride home from work with Uber, Elastic helps power the systems that locate nearby riders and drivers. When you shop online at Walgreens, Elastic helps power finding the right products to add to your cart. When you look for a partner on Tinder, Elastic helps power the algorithms that guide you to a match. When you search across Adobe’s millions of assets, Elastic helps power finding the right photo, font, or color palette to complete your project” (Techcrunch)

Life

• Risk Management; “A regret is different than a challenge, a mishap, a period of misery, or even a disaster. Most people can deal with all kinds of nonsense that hurts today but you may not regret tomorrow. A lot of what seems risky today you won’t even remember tomorrow (Morgan Housel)
• Podcast: Michael Batnick on Big Mistakes and Finding Your Calling (NR)
• The Four Words That Made Her a Billionaire (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 October 2018) – Sinbon revenues hit record in September + Your Work Is the Only Thing That Matters (Ryan Holiday)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 October 2018) – Sinbon revenues hit record in September + Your Work Is the Only Thing That Matters (Ryan Holiday)

Companies

• Chinese travel giant Ctrip partners with Splyt to push into international ride-hailing, setting up Didi clash (SCMP)
• Mixi: This Company Had Most Lucrative Mobile Game Ever. Now It Needs a New Hit (Bloomberg)
• Sinbon revenues hit record in September, driven by increasing sales in green-energy, communication and electronics peripheral products (Digitimes)
• Info Edge’s Zomato to launch own digital wallet, aims to boost predictability of orders (BStd)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Alibaba’s Jack Ma is giving up ownership of Chinese entities – here’s what that means (SCMP)
• Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu will reward patient investors who stay with them through the headwinds (SCMP)
• Tencent has pumped billions into 300 companies. Here’s what it’s buying; The investments have long raised questions about Tencent’s strategy, esp when they target industries that appear unrelated to its main businesses of gaming and social media (CNN)
• Tencent Pair Trade That Earned a Quick 54% Now Looks Crowded (Bloomberg)
• Data explosion brings Toyota and SoftBank together; Monetizing information key to dominance in next-generation mobility services (Nikkei); Do-or-die self-driving race forces carmakers to choose allies; Toyota and SoftBank shift from partnership to capital tie-up (Nikkei); SoftBank-Backed Guardant Soars in Trading Debut After U.S. IPO (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Indonesia Set to Tighten Noose on Online Sellers Evading Tax (Bloomberg)
• Grab and Fave form strategic partnership (TIA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Why the Tinder Gold Rush Could Continue (Barron’s)
• Why voice assistants will drive e-commerce (TNW)
• Six predictions for the tech industry in 2019 and beyond; CCS Insight expects driverless cars to be banned in at least three countries by next year (FT)
• Square Pushes Further Into Lending, saying it would start letting qualified shoppers finance in-store purchases of big-ticket items (Barron’s)
• Live Nation Stock Stumbles as the Government Looks at Online Ticketing (Barron’s)
• ZipRecruiter Is Valued at $1.5 Billion in a Bet on AI Hiring (Bloomberg)
• Predicting Airfare Is a $750 Million Business (Bloomberg)
• Cloudera and Hortonworks Are a Match Made Underwater; Former hot startups settle for less than when they were private. (Bloomberg)
• Social media analytics platform Hootsuite explores sale: sources (Reuters)
• Fitbit (fit) follow up: enough upside to justify the risk ? (VAO)

Life

• Your Work Is the Only Thing That Matters (Ryan Holiday)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 October 2018) – New faces and overseas earners lead Nikkei to fresh 27-year highs; The likes of Keyence and Recruit crowd top 10 market cap list + Robert Greene’s new book: The Laws of Human Nature Hardcover – October 23, 2018

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 October 2018) – New faces and overseas earners lead Nikkei to fresh 27-year highs; The likes of Keyence and Recruit crowd top 10 market cap list + Robert Greene’s new book: The Laws of Human Nature Hardcover – October 23, 2018

Companies

• Tencent Music Won’t Have Investors Dancing in the Streets; The Tencent-backed company is looking for a $25 billion valuation in its IPO in the U.S., despite slowing revenue growth from its main business (WSJ)
• Market cheers Tencent’s US$300 million investment in Chinese video streamer Bilibili (SCMP); Hedge Funds Cheer Tencent Stake in Chinese Video Streamer (Bloomberg)
• China’s Big Brother drafted into trade war; Intel may be forced to stop selling to $39 billion Hikvision (Reuters)
• Nintendo Plans New Version of Switch Next Year; Updated console isn’t expected to adopt the OLED panels used in Apple’s iPhone X series (WSJ)
• New faces and overseas earners lead Nikkei to fresh 27-year highs; The likes of SoftBank, Docomo, Keyence and Recruit crowd top 10 market cap list (Nikkei)

• Repstronics Celebrates 15-Year Anniversary with Koh Young (iconnect)
• Innodisk Showcasing the Latest Storage and Memory Innovations at Global Gaming Expo 2018 (PR News)
• Carsales first to put goods on Reserve Bank’s New Payment Platform (AFR)
• Serko is a provider of travel and expense technology solutions to a growing number of companies including industry giant Flight Centre (MF)
• Yorkshire Building Society Group will deliver a new online mortgage application platform with technology business IRESS. (MS)
• AltiumLive to Feature Altium Designer 19 Release (iconnect)
• Modem rental firm Passpod to raise $2.6m in Indonesia IPO (KRA)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Nomura Fund Manager Dumps 4.3 Million Samsung Shares Before Earnings (Bloomberg)
• Toyota and SoftBank tie up to offer new mobility services (Nikkei, Reuters)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Microsoft’s CFO explains its M&A strategy: It loves to buy ‘communities’ like LinkedIn and GitHub; Amy Hood talked about the importance of “networked assets.” “Those types of assets are always interesting and always will be around the world (CNBC)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Despite trade war, US investors embrace unprofitable Chinese IPOs in plan for long-term gain (SCMP)
• Japan is embracing the cloud. It will embrace cashless payments, too (TIA)
• Carmakers Throw Money at the Future of Driving; Honda, Toyota’s investments in autonomous vehicles could prove to be pricey endeavors. (Bloomberg)
• Startups to gain better access to Japanese medical records; Certification program underway to ensure privacy protection (Nikkei)
• There’s only one thing Indian online shoppers are loyal to: discounts (qz)
• Indonesia’s Go-Jek could launch ride-hailing service in Singapore this month as it looks to challenge Grab (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Upwork Stock Soared After Its IPO as Wall Street Bet on the Freelance Economy (Barron’s)
• Investors Cool on Hotly Anticipated London FinTech IPO; Shares in peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle traded sharply below their offer price (WSJ)
• Talkdesk Raises $100 Million to Make Customer Service Less Terrible; Using cloud technology and machine learning, the startup is said to hit a more than $1 billion valuation. (Bloomberg)
• From investment banker to delivery man: how Deliveroo chief Will Shu built a US$2 billion company (SCMP)
• Network effect: How Shopify is the platform powering the DTC brand revolution (Digiday)

Life

• Robert Greene’s new book: The Laws of Human Nature Hardcover – October 23, 2018 (Amazon)
• This Timeless And Boldly Optimistic Idea Could Change Your Life (Ryan Holiday)
• Anton Chekhov’s 6 Rules for a Great Story; Mastering the essential complementarity of compassion and total objectivity. (BP)
• Ray Dalio: “I think curiosity and character are the two most important attributes to have.” (LinkedIn)
• How to Create Any Habit With Advice From the Four Greatest Habit Masters (BHCM)
• How to Make a Dent in the Universe; “What important truth do few people agree with you on?” (Medium)
• How to come up with a killer brand name (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (3 October 2018) – Tencent Music Plays Spotify Rhythms to a Facebook Beat; Social is the foundation of the Chinese spinoff’s revenue model + 35 Quotes on Design That Will Fuel Up Your Creativity

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (3 October 2018) – Tencent Music Plays Spotify Rhythms to a Facebook Beat; Social is the foundation of the Chinese spinoff’s revenue model + 35 Quotes on Design That Will Fuel Up Your Creativity

Companies

• Tencent Music Plays Spotify Rhythms to a Facebook Beat; Social is the foundation of the Chinese spinoff’s revenue model. (Bloomberg); Tencent streaming music arm files for $1bn US listing; Chinese market leader sets in motion IPO on heels of group restructuring (Nikkei, WSJ)
• Chinese OTA Tongcheng-Elong’s IPO could be worth up to $5.5b (KRA)
• Japan online flea market operator Mercari hires large number of non-Japanese grads (Japan Times)
• Automated optical inspection (AOI) equipment specialist Machvision saw its third-quarter revenues climb to a record high of NT$965 million (US$31.6 million), representing a whopping annual increase of 160.98% and a sequential growth of 31.11% (Digitimes)
• Kakao to spin off e-commerce unit for expansion (Investor)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Jack Ma, Alibaba’s VIEs and that US$120bil market cap plunge (Bloomberg)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Facebook’s Foray Into the Dating Scene Looks Like No Match for Match (Bloomberg)
• Netflix, Amazon Forced to Fund European Video Under New Rule (Bloomberg)
• If Amazon Wants to Buy Lions Gate, the Price Tag Is Going Up (Bloomberg)
• If Apple Shifts Production To The U.S., Taiwan’s Tech Hub Will Suffer (Forbes)
• How Google Plans to Win Cloud Gaming’s Future (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How China’s Peer-to-Peer Lending Crash Is Destroying Lives; Hundreds of platforms have collapsed, and many savers can’t get their money back. (Bloomberg)
• B2B marketplace Ralali.com branches out with its own e-wallet (e27)
• ‘Unicorn’ Canva reports maiden profit in second half of 2017 (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Data Factories (Stratechery)
• Roku Is Getting Big Enough to Be a Buyout Target. Here’s Who Might Want It (Barron’s)
• Construction Tech Startups Drawing Investors; As an industry, construction has been among the slowest to adopt digital technologies. (WSJ)
• Slack has made its biggest acquisition to date (qz)

Life

• Hong Kong Freezes Company Chairman’s Assets in $1.3 Billion Fraud Case; Regulator suspects the chairman, whom it doesn’t name, of a publicly listed company colluded in two deals (WSJ); Huarong and the Chung Nam Network (Webb)
• How to Shape Remarkable Products in the Messy Middle of Building Startups (First Round)
• 35 Quotes on Design That Will Fuel Up Your Creativity (Prototypr)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (2 October 2018) – Getac launches new F110-Ex tablet for exceptional productivity in hazardous environments + 11 Ways Emotionally Intelligent People Overcome Uncertainty

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (2 October 2018) – Getac launches new F110-Ex tablet for exceptional productivity in hazardous environments + 11 Ways Emotionally Intelligent People Overcome Uncertainty

Companies

• Japan’s used clothing stores a perfect fit for other Asian markets; Treasure Factory, which has about 180 locations in Japan, already has two shops in Bangkok, with plans to add eight more by 2021. (Nikkei)
• Pinduoduo’s rise: Are there lessons for Southeast Asia? On the surface, this region seems predestined for an app similar to the latest Chinese e-commerce disruptor. But once you look deeper, challenges outweigh the potential – for now. (KRA)
• Getac launches new F110-Ex tablet for exceptional productivity in hazardous environments (SS)

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Tencent: Investing machine; There’s a purpose behind Tencent’s frenzy of dealmaking: Keep users coming back to its platform (Forbes)
• SoftBank seeking to invest US$500 million in Baidu education spin-off; Founded in 2014 by Chinese search giant Baidu Inc., Zuoyebang targets primary and secondary school students in China (SCMP)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Netflix is about to let viewers decide how their favourite shows end, with interactive storylines (SCMP)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China tech companies still favor New York over local bourses; Looser listing rules in Hong Kong and mainland have limited impact (Nikkei)
• China’s latest AI champion says technical standards needed for healthy development of facial recognition industry (SCMP)
• Japanese gourmet media startup Favy raises $9M, with 67M MAU closing in on big players (Bridge)
• Singapore’s NETS launches app for small businesses to accept QR code payments; The country’s most ubiquitous payment solution is now making it easier for merchants to receive QR code payments without a terminal. (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Fashion Emergency at Stitch Fix; The clothing subscription service had its first big stumble as the number of active clients stagnated (WSJ); Stitch Fix Investors Look to Results to Ease Worries Over Amazon (Bloomberg)
• Deliveroo’s full-year loss deepens on expansion spend (Reuters)
• Ex-Apple engineers show their startup’s self-driving car sensor (Reuters)
• Electric cars cast growing shadow on profits (Reuters)
• For Now, at Least, the World Isn’t Making Enough Batteries; Demand for batteries to power cars and store solar energy has overmatched the world’s few suppliers. (Bloomberg)

Life

• 11 Ways Emotionally Intelligent People Overcome Uncertainty (Medium)
• Why Agile Goes Awry – and How to Fix It (HBR)
• SEC Spots a Way to Starve the Most Suspicious Penny Stocks (Bloomberg)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 October 2018) – Nvidia is near a ‘tipping point’ in AI dominance + 3 Things Copywriters Can Learn From Dr Seuss

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 October 2018) – Nvidia is near a ‘tipping point’ in AI dominance + 3 Things Copywriters Can Learn From Dr Seuss

BATTSS – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, TSMC, Softbank, Samsung

• Jack Ma Removes Himself as Owner of Alibaba Business Licenses; The change was made to reduce the administrative burden on the Chinese tycoon, who earlier announced he would step down as executive chairman (WSJ)
• Tencent employs facial recognition to detect minors in top-grossing mobile game ‘Honour of Kings’ (SCMP)
• Tencent restructuring prompts fears for China’s startup funding; Half of Chinese unicorns in for rough ride if tech giants curtail investment (Reuters, Nikkei); Tencent Targets Business Customers in Restructuring Plan; Will trim its business units from seven to six by consolidating responsibilities of several of its content-focused groups (WSJ)

FAANNMG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Microsoft, Google

• Apple Looks Down on Ads But Takes Billions From Google; Goldman estimates $9 billion of the company’s fast-growing services segment comes from the search giant. (Bloomberg)
• Nvidia is near a ‘tipping point’ in AI dominance, analyst says (MW)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Japan’s Open8 raises $13M, launches AI-powered video creation tool for business (Bridge)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The AI Paradox: How A Deep Learning Startup Is Building Successful AI Solutions (Forbes)
• Normally Sunny John Chambers Is Scared About the Economy (Barron’s)
• Salesforce’s Co-CEO on Marc Benioff, Disruption, and the Power of the Hawaiian Shirt (Barron’s)
• Tesla’s SEC deal provides ammunition for U.S. probe, investor lawsuits (Reuters)

Life

• 3 Things Copywriters Can Learn From Dr Seuss (Medium)