H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (28 February 2019) – Melbourne’s See-Mode has built A.I. software that sees a stroke before it strikes + Warren Buffett was too American to see through Kraft

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (28 February 2019) – Melbourne’s See-Mode has built A.I. software that sees a stroke before it strikes + Warren Buffett was too American to see through Kraft

Companies

• It Ain’t Easy Being Big Brother’s Little Favorite; Investors betting on Beijing’s support have lifted shares of Hikvision, the country’s largest maker of surveillance gear. That backing could falter. (Bloomberg)
• Tencent-backed brokerage Futu targets $130m in US listing; Xiaomi-linked rival also headed for Nasdaq debut (Nikkei)
• Why Nintendo keeps returning to classics like Pokémon (CNN)
• Meet The Taiwanese Tech Giant That’s Due To Make The Next iPad Mini (Forbes)

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

• Consumers see no need for $2,000 foldable phone, poll shows; Nikkei survey results raise questions over Samsung and Huawei strategies (Nikkei)

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

• Apple lays off 190 employees from self-driving car unit: report (MW)
• Cedars-Sinai puts Amazon Alexa in patient rooms as part of a pilot program (TC)
• How Amazon took 50% of the e-commerce market and what it means for the rest of us (TC)
• Google’s new AI grammar checker is now live in Google Docs (TC)
• Netflix Stock to Rally Because It Can Raise Prices, Says Analyst (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Huawei tried to sell itself to Motorola for $7.5bn; 2003 deal between Chinese group and US partner would have changed course of telecoms history (FT)
• House Mart shortens property proposal that takes about 60 minutes to 1 minute, open SaaS “PropoCloud” for real estate brokerage companies (TC)
• Japan Display to market cutting-edge car panels with French partner; Ultra-wide screen for automated vehicles to be supplied to carmakers (Nikkei)
• Thailand’s food delivery battle heats up as Go-Jek arrives; Indonesian unicorn hails local player Get to speed entry into growing market (Nikkei)
• TheAsianparent, a leading parenting portal, jumps into ecommerce (TIA)
• Indonesian online travel unicorn Traveloka expands to Australia (KRA)
• Thailand’s food delivery battle heats up as Go-Jek arrives; Indonesian unicorn hails local player Get to speed entry into growing market (Nikkei)
• How Metro Cash & Carry is helping kirana stores go digital (Forbes)
• Melbourne’s See-Mode has built software that sees a stroke before it strikes (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• D-Wave announces its next-gen quantum computing platform (TC)
• Deliveroo announces “click and collect” (FT)
• Intel CEO’s Visionary Strategy Can Drive the Stock Higher, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Etsy Stock Has Soared, but Investors Might Want to Be Cautious (Barron’s)
• The World’s Biggest Smartphone Conference Looks More Like CES. Here’s Why. (Barron’s)
• 5G Is Still Tomorrow’s Dream for Big Tech. Expect a Slow Rollout. (Barron’s)
• How data helps deliver your dinner on time-and warm (Wired)
• Edge Computing Wants Smarter IoT Devices (EET)
• NXP to Kick-Start Cloud Apps for Car OEMs (EET)

Life

• Warren Buffett was too American to see through Kraft; what he calls the “moat” around US packaged food brands has been crossed; sales of the Kirkland Signature private label brand owned by Costco had overtaken all of the Kraft Heinz brands put together (AFR)
• Is Warren Buffett Just Mailing It In? The Berkshire Hathaway CEO’s latest annual shareholder letter is shorter and less upbeat than in years past. (II)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 February 2019) – SEA Ltd – Investors Should Stick to Their (Accounting) Principles + Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 February 2019) – SEA Ltd – Investors Should Stick to Their (Accounting) Principles + Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education

Companies

• Xiaomi sets up artificial intelligence and big data departments to sharpen focus in tech race; Tech firm trying to transform itself from a smartphone maker to an internet services firm (SCMP)
• Nintendo plays winning Japanese buyback game (Reuters)
• Rakuten Lifull Stay launches WillStyleStay marketplace (STR)
• Tokyo Electron Sees Potential Mid-Year Chip Rebound (Bloomberg)
• SEA – Investors Should Stick to Their (Accounting) Principles; The Southeast Asian e-commerce company would rather be judged by its chosen financial metrics. (Bloomberg)
• Strong demand for circuit board inspection lifts Vitrox Q4 profit (Star)
• SamacSys today announces a new Altium integration at embedded world 2019 (NE)
• IDP Education continues to be a high-class business (LWM)

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

• What is the greatest threat to WeChat? (TIA)
• Asia fintech leads global funding as Alibaba and Baidu wallets thrive (Nikkei)

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

• Apple Plans Sleep Tracking Feature for Future Watch (Bloomberg)
• How Netflix created a $1 billion arms race for TV writers (FastCo)
• Amazon Doesn’t Have to Beat Facebook and Google to Win in Advertising (Barron’s)
• Facebook expands ad buying options for premium video (Reuters)
• Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 looks like a meaningful mixed-reality advance (FastCo)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• News app unicorn Yidian Zixun’s Shanghai IPO may be underway (Technode)
• China’s top securities regulator raises doubts about readiness of new tech board in debut meeting with press (SCMP)
• AI chip unicorn Horizon Robotics raises US$600m in funding as China seeks to reduce dependence on imported semiconductors (SCMP)
• Wall-crawling robots sound out loose tiles on Tokyo buildings; Replacing human inspectors cuts costs by 25% and improves safety (Nikkei)
• The imminent fall of Korea’s first unicorn Yello Mobile; Once regarded as one of the nation’s hottest “it” enterprises worth more than US$4billion at its peak, greed and incompetence have taken their toll (Investor)
• Spotify launches music streaming service in India (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Warren Buffett Joins the Crowd Struggling to Understand Oracle (Bloomberg)
• Farfetch Soars After Pact to Help Harrods Woo Online Shoppers (Bloomberg)
• Zillow Is Now The Netflix Of Homes (TBP)
• Happy anniversary to TiVo’s ‘strategic review,’ which still hasn’t found a strategy (MW)
• Lyft and Uber Are Easy to Understand and Hard to Value (Bloomberg)
• S. consumer regulator forms task force to monitor big tech (Reuters)
• The Value Chain Constraint (Stratechery)

Life

• Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education (BP)
• 3 states of share pledging: Fame, flame and shame (Ventura)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 February 2019) – Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (26 February 2019) – Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence

Companies

• Apple supplier AAC Tech sees shares plunge after profit warning (Reuters)
• Meituan labor strikes underscore profitability pressures (Technode)
• HERE expands mapping services to China with Navinfo partnership (Reuters)
• Trend Micro New Offering Enables Telecom Provides to Push a Security Layer Across Users’ Digital Life (FP)
• Sony revitalizes smartphone franchise with movie-style screens (Reuters)
• Lifull Home’s plans new matching portal (AIM)
• Vitrox plans to invest up to RM300mil on Batu Kawan facility (Star)
• RF contribution expected to remain soft for Inari Amertron (Edge)
• Vista Group’s annual net profit jumped 26.7 percent as its businesses increased their market share around the world. Excluding China, Vista says its global market share increased to 48 percent (SC)
• O2O leader VGI bumps profits 71 per cent, cites in-depth consumer data (Nation)
• ASX offloads 18.6% stake in Iress (FE)
• John Wylie makes $25m bet on Afterpay rival FlexiGroup (Age)
• Appen rockets on ‘mega trend’ of artificial intelligence (Age)

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

• Tencent’s WeChat super app focuses on offline services (TIA)
• Payment Companies’ Free Lunch Comes to an End (Caixin)
• Galaxy Fold: The start of a form-factor revolution? (Investor); Huawei and Samsung still have much to prove on foldable phones; Doubts over whether Mate X and Galaxy Fold will win over consumers (Nikkei)
• TSMC Unveils Chip Technology To Boost iPhone Speeds, Prolong Battery Life (Forbes)

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

• WhatsApp Is Celebrating Its 10th Anniversary And A Decade Of Disruption (Forbes)
• Facebook, Alphabet Stock Could See Boosts From Direct-To-Consumer Brands (Barron’s)
• An Apple Streaming Service Might Not Be Worth Getting Excited About, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Netflix and the Economics of Bundling (HBR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s evolving spending habits produce highfliers and flameouts; Movies shine while smartphones lose sheen as optimism and pessimism mix (Nikkei)
• China’s Tech Firms Are Mapping Pig Faces; As a devastating disease afflicts the country’s swine, companies are scrambling to roll out facial and voice recognition and other unproven ways to save them. (NYT)
• Super-customization — a lifeline for Japan Inc? While companies elsewhere are also targeting ‘only for you,’ Japan has big advantages (Nikkei)
• TPG-Backed Chip Tester UTAC Taps Citigroup for $1 Billion Sale; Affinity and TPG bought UTAC in a S$2.2 billion ($1.6 billion) leveraged buyout in 2007 (Bloomberg)
• Who wins and who loses if India’s draft e-commerce rules are implemented (Qz)
• Zilingo: Fashionably near-unicorn (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, backtracks on Oracle, the company (Reuters)
• How artificial intelligence helps companies recruit talented staff; Many HR departments deploy new technological tools to locate potential candidates (FT)
• Car industry will be big 5G customer down the road, says SEAT (Reuters)
• How a new crop of tech IPOs may steal sentiment from FAANG stocks; Prominent among the new potential IPOs are Lyft, Uber, Pinterest and Airbnb; hence the acronym, LUPA. (MW); As Lyft’s Public Offering Looms, A Reminder Of Where The Year’s Unicorn IPO Crop Stands (CB)
• How U.S. retailers turn their bane into boon with ‘click and collect’ (Reuters)
• Creating A Data-Driven ‘You Are Here’ Media Map To Combat Fake News Using Billions Of Links (Forbes)
• Wayfair’s 78% Surge Hits Short Sellers With $1 Billion in Losses (Bloomberg)

Life

• A 7-Element Algorithm for Equity Investing (FS)
• Dalai Lama Has the Antidote to Destructive Emotions (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 February 2019) – Appen continues stellar run, revenue jumps 119 per cent

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 February 2019) – Appen continues stellar run, revenue jumps 119 per cent

Companies

• Xiaomi-backed online broker that serves Chinese stock traders aims to raise US$150 million in Nasdaq IPO (SCMP)
• The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined seven media platforms for unfair business practices. Kakao and Kosdaq-listed AfreecaTV, were on the list (KJA)
• Appen continues stellar run, revenue jumps 119 per cent (AFR)
• IRESS CEO Andrew Walsh tips widespread automation of financial advice (AFR)

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

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

• Microsoft proves pioneer in ‘augmented reality’ with HoloLens 2; Tech giant doubles down on corporate customers with latest version of headset (FT); Microsoft promises an open HoloLens ecosystem (TC); Microsoft doubles, then triples down on HoloLens (AFR); Microsoft hails revamped goggles as more immersive and easy to wear (Reuters); Microsoft and Trimble made a hardhat with HoloLens built-in (TC)
• How Netflix is eating the Academy (TC)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• LG unveils dual-screen 5G smartphone and touts biometric breakthrough (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Stitch Fix’s radical data-driven way to sell clothes-$1.2 billion last year-is reinventing retail; CEO Katrina Lake’s e-commerce retailer uses data science to find you the best-fitting clothes you’ve ever worn (FastCo)
• Why online service providers shouldn’t partner with big tech (TNW)
• Cofounder Of 3-D Printing Unicorn Formlabs Raises $18M For Manufacturing Software Company Tulip (Forbes)
• Europe’s Giant Tech Show Packs Hits, And Plenty of Flops (Bloomberg)
• Lyft Filing Could Kick Off Cavalcade of High-Profile Tech IPOs (Bloomberg)
• A $210 Billion Rally in Chip Stocks Leaving Hedge Funds in Dust (Bloomberg)
• In conversation with Efinix: Start-up sees big opportunities in China for its programmable AI chips; Programmable chips can be altered and applied to different use cases – such as toys, security equipment or smartphones (SCMP)

Life

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 February 2019) – Uniqlo’s quest to become the world’s top e-tailer/retailer; Having built the brand, Yanai’s focus now switches to digital strategy + Quants Learn a Tough Lesson on Their Limits From Kraft Plunge; Dividend, low volatility and value ETFs all own the stock

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 February 2019) – Uniqlo’s quest to become the world’s top e-tailer/retailer; Having built the brand, Yanai’s focus now switches to digital strategy + Quants Learn a Tough Lesson on Their Limits From Kraft Plunge; Dividend, low volatility and value ETFs all own the stock

Companies

• Uniqlo’s quest to become the world’s top e-tailer/retailer; Having built the brand, Yanai’s focus now switches to digital strategy (Nikkei)
• En-Japan announced that it has acquired India-based IT staffing firm Future Focus Infotech (SI)
• Netmarble, Kakao, global PEFs bid for Nexon takeover (Investor)

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

• Beneath Baidu’s positive results lie brand, trust burdens (Technode)
• Tencent’s WeChat super app focuses on offline services to address changing needs of its 1 billion users; The number of people using WeChat to pay their medical expenses saw a 2.9-times year-on-year increase (SCMP)

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

• You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook. (WSJ)
• YouTube’s Ad Revolt Seen Fleeting. Brands Just Can’t Quit Google (Bloomberg)
• Personalizing Learning with Data: Microsoft’s latest acquisition shows how combining pedagogy and technology can dramatically improve learning outcomes. (Medium)
• Gamers Could Have the Final Say on Nvidia’s Stock (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Beijing turns to facial recognition to deter scalpers who sell hospital appointments; To help cure the woes of China’s medical system, Beijing has turned to facial recognition technology as part of its latest effort to snare unscrupulous (SCMP)
• Korean unicorn buys Vietnammm, turning up the heat in Vietnam’s food delivery sector; Vietnammm, Grab Food, Now by Foodie and Go-Viet’s Go-Food are currently the leading players in the industry (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Zillow Stock Soared Because Change Is Good (Barron’s); Zillow just told us what the future of buying a home looks like (TBP)
• Reinvention is key for small tech companies; WANdisco, CentralNic and Forbidden seek to keep pace with industry (FT)
• TechStyle hits 5 million members for its retail empire (TC)
• Zoom, the video conferencing company, may be a public company as early as April (TC)
• The decline of Monster.com from HR leader to follower (TN)
• Some planes have cameras on seat-back screens; American Airlines and Singapore Airlines say systems are inactive but could allow seat-to-seat video conferencing in the future (JT)
• Why Investors Should be Wary as the Unicorns Finally Seek IPOs (Barron’s)
• Tech Companies Want to Be Banks (Bloomberg)
• Wayfair Can’t Relax on the Easy Chair of Sales Growth; The online home-goods retailer’s operating expenses continue to climb, and it’s still spending a lot on marketing. (Bloomberg)
• Everybody Makes Podcasts. Can Anyone Make Them Profitable? The industry generates a lot of enthusiasm and little revenue, but that could be changing. (Bloomberg)
• Drive for Instacart and you could make $29.05 for an hour’s work-or $2.74 (FastCo)

Life

• Warren Buffett’s Big Consumer Bets Bite Back (Bloomberg); Warren Buffett’s Kraft Heinz Bet Dragged Down Berkshire Hathaway in 2018; Conglomerate swung to a $25.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter due to an unexpected write-down at Kraft Heinz and unrealized investment losses. (WSJ); It Shook the Food Business by Snagging Burger King, Kraft and Heinz. Now 3G Is Reeling.; The Brazilian investment firm cut costs relentlessly but failed to spend on new ideas when consumer tastes changed (WSJ); Kraft Heinz Faces Existential Crisis After $16 Billion Rout (Bloomberg); Kraft Heinz’s Financial Recipe Turns Sour; The cost-cutting and debt-driven acquisitions leave investors with a bad taste. (Bloomberg); Quants Learn a Tough Lesson on Their Limits From Kraft Plunge; Dividend, low volatility and value ETFs all own the stock (Bloomberg)
• High Glassdoor Ratings Can Lead to Better Stock Returns, But There’s a Catch (Barron’s)
• Pizza Hut – How Lock-In Causes Growth Stalls, Irrelevancy and Bad Results: “Most management teams don’t think their problem is a market shift. Instead react by trying to do more of the same. They treat this situation like it’s an operational problem. Undertake more quality campaigns, more money spent on advertising, more promotions, asking employees to work a little harder, more product for the same (or lower) price – more, better, faster, cheaper. But this doesn’t work, because the problem lies in a market shift away from the company “core” Success Formula. Only by now management is so far removed from market trends that it has no idea how to regain relevancy. In Pizza Hut’s case, leadership is undertaking what they’d like to think is a brand overhaul that will change its position in customers’ minds. But, unfortunately, they are doing the ultimate in defend & extend management to try and save the old Success Formula, and not really doing anything “new,” or innovative, at all.” Forbes – November 12, 2014 (Forbes)
• China Minsheng Investment Group: debt-fuelled ‘aircraft of private businesses’ took off – and then the tank ran dry; Investment group facing debt crisis after splurging on US$46.3 billion in assets from Bermuda to London (SCMP)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 February 2019) – Webjet shares soar as hotel business shines; for the first time, its booking arm WebBeds generated more than half of its earning + Charlie Munger on cheerfulness

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 February 2019) – Webjet shares soar as hotel business shines; for the first time, its booking arm WebBeds generated more than half of its earning + Charlie Munger on cheerfulness

Companies

• Tencent Music Trades Song Copyrights for Stake in Douban FM; Internet giant hopes to revive foundering rival known for obscure and hard-to-find folk music. (ST)
• Meituan denies claims it has plans to ditch Dianping under investor pressure (KRA)
• Baidu’s video site iQiyi adds 37M subscribers in 2018 amid mounting losses (TC)
• China’s Powerful Surveillance State Has Created at Least Four Billionaires; Tiandy’s Dai Lin is China’s latest surveillance billionaire (Bloomberg)
• Lenovo’s reboot could run low on battery (Reuters)
• Kogan earnings and profits fall despite record Christmas trading (AFR)
• Afterpay share plunge probe explores ‘Chinese whispers’ (AFR)
• Citadel grows ECM cloud userbase (IDM)
• UK growth sees Iress profits grow (FTA)
• Webjet shares soar as hotel business shines; for the first time, its booking arm WebBeds generated more than half of its earnings. WebBeds is the second largest business-to-business provider of hotel beds in the world. (SMH)
• Info Edge invests in Wishbook Infoservices; Wishbook develops an application that allows catalogue distribution from manufacturers down to retailers and salespersons, who can show these catalogues and take orders (SI); Zomato Gold to bring in $20-25M in revenue by the end of 2019 (ET)

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

• Baidu Reports 50% Quarterly Profit Drop but Revenue Beats Projections (WSJ); Baidu’s Acting Like a Startup, But Not in a Good Way; Spending outpacing revenue signals a desperate attempt to keep momentum going at an old company. (Bloomberg); Baidu under pressure to maintain pace of growth amid macro challenges and tough advertising market; Baidu beats estimates but its transformation into AI champion – along with heavy investments needed – will be tough amid slowing economy (SCMP)
• Alibaba hits the gas on mobility as its bike-sharing service adds carpooling (TC)
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund Leads $1 Billion Funding Round for Shipping Broker Flexport; Company arranges shipments using technology that mirrors travel-booking websites Expedia and Priceline (WSJ)
• Samsung’s $2,000 Bid to Be the King of Cool; The South Korean company is aiming to give Apple a taste of its own medicine. (Bloomberg)

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

• Apple, Goldman Sachs Team Up on Credit Card Paired With iPhone; Both companies are seeking new revenue sources as their bread-and-butter businesses struggle (WSJ)
• Apple Snaps Up Two Startups In Rapid Succession (CB)
• Stevey’s Google Platforms RantSteve Yegge’s Google Platforms Rant (PG)
• YouTube’s Latest Quandary Deepens as AT&T Joins Ad Pause (Bloomberg)
• Google’s new cloud boss has big task to catch rivals, Reuters data show (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China is driving Asia’s AI age – with some exceptions; China is leading the way with AI in Asia but more must be done to educate and re-engineer the work force to ensure successful adoption (SCMP)
• Japan seeks more unicorns by easing rules on unlisted shares; New startup market proposed as country trails US and China (Nikkei)
• Uber is reportedly close to making a tactical exit from India’s food delivery industry (TC)
• Indian education unicorn Byju’s aims to ace global test; Tutoring app makes ‘accidental entrepreneur’ an investor darling (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Uber Eats to cut fees in battle with Deliveroo and Just Eat; UK and Ireland charges reduced while restaurants with own couriers allowed to use app (FT)
• Afterpay rival Zip narrows losses, says regulation will be ‘business as usual’ (AFR)
• Airbnb, Automattic, And Pinterest Top Rank Of Most Acquisitive Unicorns (CB)
• Pinterest confidentially files for IPO: WSJ (Reuters)
• DoorDash Shrugs Off Tipping Controversy, Raises $400 Million (Bloomberg)
• Stamps.com Plunges 50% as It Ends Crucial Partnership With Post Office (Bloomberg)
• Business of Renting Kitchen Space Heats Up in China; Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens is reportedly eyeing China (Bloomberg)
• Hearing Without Listening to the Sound of Tesla; The electric-car maker sends conflicting signals that should raise doubts about its lofty stock price. (Bloomberg)

Life

• The Weekly Email. One of my favorite moves that I have seen founders do in the early stages of their company (think pre-seed, seed, and possibly into the Srs A stages), is the weekly email. This can take a number of forms; a weekly email to the team, a weekly email to the investors, a weekly email to everyone, even a weekly email to yourself! It matters a bit who the audience is for the weekly email because it determines what the founder can put into the email. But I am not sure it matters that much who the audience is. What matters more is a weekly cadence of what is on the founders mind, what happened in the last week, and what the objectives are for the coming week. Early stage startups are hyper-changing environments. The founder needs to keep everyone aligned and on-board as he or she weaves and bobs around product market fit, the positioning of the company, the composition of the team, and a lot more. The weekly email does a good job of accomplishing that. But more than anything, writing the weekly email is a tool for the founder to collect themselves, get grounded for the week ahead, and articulate what they and the company are doing and why. I like Sunday evening for the timing of the weekly email best. It sets up the week to come. But any time over the weekend, or even monday morning, works fine. If you are starting something new and want a routine that can help you get into a rhythm and stay there, consider the weekly email. It’s a great one. (AVC)
• Charles Duhigg on job as a source of purpose and meaning, a place in the world. (NYT)
• Charlie Munger on cheerfulness (VIW)
• Damodaran: Profitability and Value Creation! (Damodaran)
• The Dalai Lama on Why Leaders Should Be Mindful, Selfless, and Compassionate (HBR)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (21 February 2019) – Enter the gig economy and Ikea’s recent purchase of informal jobbing platform TaskRabbit + Goodwill Hunting Is a Disaster Movie in China; Cover your eyes. The coming earnings season won’t make pleasant viewing as companies are forced to reassess asset values.

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (21 February 2019) – Enter the gig economy and Ikea’s recent purchase of informal jobbing platform TaskRabbit + Goodwill Hunting Is a Disaster Movie in China; Cover your eyes. The coming earnings season won’t make pleasant viewing as companies are forced to reassess asset values.

Companies

• Tencent Music Confirms ‘Strategic Investment’ in Rival Douban FM (Technode, DMN)
• Foldable Phone Frenzy Is Supercharging Gains in Chinese Stocks (Bloomberg)
• Meituan Dianping has topped Fast Company’s annual list of the world’s most innovative companies – for “pioneering transactional super apps”. (Age)
• Lenovo’s Mobile Profits Are a Bit of a Mirage; Better late than never, as the PC maker needs to justify its buying spree from five years ago. (Bloomberg); PC maker Lenovo returns to profit in third quarter on strong performance across business groups (SCMP)
• Netposa, “leading manufacturer of video surveillance platforms” and boasted coverage of over 1.5 million roads in China at the end of 2017 (Sun)
• Weathernews develops an AI road management support system prototype that automatically recognizes mixed snow surface conditions (HSN)
• Rakuten slashes mobile network costs with cloud tech; Reliability questions remain as Japan’s new carrier readies service (Nikkei)
• Lifull Co. Ltd. has entered into a business alliance with Chinese-oriented Japan New Xinhua News Agency, to guide and attract real estate investment in Japan from China. (AIM)
• A Steve Jobs Rival Who Hit Hard Times Makes Remarkable Comeback; Sim Wong Hoo’s Creative has developed ‘3D’ headphone sound (Bloomberg)
• Holding pattern: MYOB’s growth slows as it braces for private equity takeover (ANZ)

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

• Market for bogus WeChat accounts still alive and well despite crackdown on illegal practice (SCMP)
• Blown away by innovation or price? Samsung’s foldable phone opens up debate (Reuters); Samsung unveils foldable and 5G phones days ahead of Huawei (Nikkei)
• SoftBank Leads $200 Million Investment In Storage Startup Clutter (Forbes)
• Samsung, Toshiba Detail AI Chips (EET)

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

• Thirty years of financial filings reveal Microsoft’s biggest competitors (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Short video app Kuaishou makes foray into game livestreaming (Technode)
• Investors demand to know how IPOs will be priced in the run-up to China’s new tech board launch (SCMP)
• Stock exchange operator HKEX buys Shenzhen-based fintech company to raise capabilities, compete with global rivals; Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has signed a letter of intent to buy a 51 per cent stake in Shenzhen Ronghui Tongjin Tec (SCMP)
• China’s social credit system shows its teeth, banning millions from taking flights, trains; Annual report shows the businesses and individuals added to trustworthiness blacklist as use of the government system accelerates (SCMP)
• On-demand logistics startup Lalamove raises $300M for Asia growth and becomes a unicorn (TC)
• Tokyo company uncovers 2.7bn stolen passwords worldwide; Emails at small businesses hacked and sold on darknet, Soliton finds (Nikkei)
• Mizuho’s digital currency to take on payment rivals next month (Nikkei)
• A mobile app created by a former Goldman Sachs banker obsessed with fresh food is disrupting South Korea’s retail industry by giving grocery shoppers fewer reasons to visit a store. (Bloomberg)
• Two investment banks mandated for loss-making ‘unicorn’ iflix’s float (AFR)
• Kill the paperwork: how NoPaperForms is changing the face of college admissions in India; Delhi-based startup NoPaperForms’ SaaS-based enrolment automation solution is helping streamline the admission process for universities, colleges, schools and students (YS)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Virtual makeovers are better than ever. Beauty companies are trying to cash in (CNN)
• Enter the gig economy and Ikea’s recent purchase of informal jobbing platform TaskRabbit. (FT)
• AI Chip Market Will Soar to $34 Billion in Five Years, Says Analyst (Barron’s); IoT Was Interesting, But Follow the Money to AI Chips (EET)
• Someday Your Self-Driving Car Will Pull Over for Police; Driverless cars won’t be able to take over until automakers, engineers, lawmakers and police work through a series of thorny problems. (Bloomberg)
• Garmin Surges to 11-Year High as Smartwatches Are ‘on Fire’ (Bloomberg); Smartwatches Are Changing the Purpose of the EKG (Atlantic)
• Will EV Charging Face the Erlang Challenge? (EET)

Life

• Why Great Innovation Needs Great Marketing (HBR)
• Goodwill Hunting Is a Disaster Movie in China; Cover your eyes. The coming earnings season won’t make pleasant viewing as companies are forced to reassess asset values. (Bloomberg)
• How to Think And See The World Like Leonardo da Vinci (Medium)
• Different Kinds of Stupid (MH)
• Changes in Accounting Estimates: Underlying Economic Reality or Earnings Management. Abstract: We examine whether companies strategically change accounting estimates to manipulate earnings (“earnings management” hypothesis) or whether these modifications represent changes in the underlying fundamentals (“economic reality” hypothesis). Using audit fees to discriminate between the two hypotheses, we find no evidence that auditors charge an incremental fee for changes in accounting estimates which is consistent with the economic reality hypothesis. More directly, we find a strong association between the underlying macro-economic factors and changes in accounting estimates. Relying on conventional earnings management proxies, we find no evidence that changes in accounting estimates are used to manage earnings. Finally, our results indicate that typically “financially troubled” companies undergoing major corporate restructuring are expected to change their accounting estimates over subsequent periods because they are more vulnerable to macro-economic shocks and more likely to update prior estimates. (SSRN)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 February 2019) – Automating Office Tasks Using Software Bots Made RPA Holdings’ Tomomichi Takahashi $360 Million + The journey won’t be easy, but there is no greater legacy than to live a life and make creations that reduce suffering for others. (Mission)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 February 2019) – Automating Office Tasks Using Software Bots Made RPA Holdings’ Tomomichi Takahashi $360 Million + The journey won’t be easy, but there is no greater legacy than to live a life and make creations that reduce suffering for others. (Mission)

Companies

• Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek Co, can say he has done what he promised President Xi Jinping five years ago. (TT)
• Amazon’s China unit in merger talks with NetEase’s Kaola: report (Reuters)
• Buffett’s China Ride Is Losing Power With Investors; BYD had all the advantages of an electric-car pioneer in the world’s largest auto market. It’s failed to consolidate them. (Bloomberg)
• Automating Office Tasks Using Software Bots Made RPA Holdings’ Tomomichi Takahashi $360 Million (Bloomberg)
• Marvel and Toei came to a three- year licensing agreement that would allow each company to use one another’s properties (THTS)
• What Robots Mean for the Future of American Manufacturing; Fanuc (6954.Japan) has a “Zero Down Time” initiative that virtually links its robots together. (Barron’s)
• CJ ENM denies Netmarble’s US$2b stake sell-off rumors (Investor)
• Koh Young discusses the company’s outlook and new product offerings for 2019 including their Koh Young Process Optimizer (KPO), which won an award at IPC APEX EXPO 2019 for the process control software category. (iconnect)
• A former refugee who came to Australia without a word of English is now worth $300 million after shares in his software company Altium soared to a record high on the back of a bumper half year result. (SMH)
• SaaS contract wins boost Citadel Group’s revenue, profits (CRN)
• WiseTech shares fall on lower-than-expected earnings (AFR)

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

• Why Baidu Is the Tech Giant That’s Most Vulnerable to a China Downturn (Bloomberg)
• Baidu bucks the capital winter to play catch-up to Alibaba, Tencent in outside investments; Nasdaq-listed company made a total of 92 investments in 2018, compared to 41 the previous year (SCMP)
• Alibaba Takes Stake in Bank Backed by Tencent; Alibaba has accumulated a 4.84% stake in China International Capital Corp.; Tencent took a 4.95% stake in 2017 (WSJ)
• Tencent-backed Chinese second-hand car platform Renrenche denies bankruptcy rumors (Technode)
• WeDoctor Considers Listing a Spinoff on New Tech Board (Bloomberg, SCMP)
• More gaming companies to bring anti-addiction systems to mobile (Technode)
• Rivalry between Chinese social media giants intensifies as ByteDance’s Douyin follows Tencent with mini game; Douyin’s first in-app game looks similar to WeChat’s viral jumping title from 2017 (SCMP)
• China regulator requests pause in new game applications to clear backlog – sources (Reuters)

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

• Facebook’s AI Chief Researching New Breed of Semiconductor (Bloomberg)
• Google to buy data migration company Alooma in cloud push (Reuters)
• Netflix isn’t talking about itself like a tech company anymore (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Growing a in a mature market: Six directions for China’s tech giants (Technode)
• China’s Silicon Valley Blueprint Has Plenty of Holes; The plan gives scant detail on how Hong Kong and Macau will be integrated without eroding their special status. (Bloomberg)
• Money can’t buy China’s chip industry much love (Reuters)
• 5G Is a Winner for Chinese Companies-at Least at Home; Out of favor with the Trump administration, Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei are getting a boost from Beijing (WSJ)
• SendBird raises US$52m funding to ‘go beyond simple messaging’ (Investor)
• Will 5G era really revolutionize the world? (Investor)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• A.I. Judges: The Future of Justice Hangs in the Balance; Automation is creeping into the courtroom, and it’s going to change the way we think about the law (Medium)
• Roku Stock Can Keep Rising Because Customers Keep Growing, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• PayPal Stock Could Rally on Strong User Growth, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Fragmentation of internet likely to last indefinitely; Stalling of adoption of new Internet Protocol will hamper network integration, report finds (FT)
• Opendoor files to raise another $200M at a $3.7B valuation, documents show (TC)
• AI Pioneer Sees Chip Renaissance; Unsupervised neural nets move beyond MACs, tensors (EET)
• AV Safety Quest: Vehicle Software Updates; to guarantee safer vehicles, many more advancements must happen in software (EET)

Life

• If you see a problem or suffering in the world, you can learn the skills and create the technology to solve those problems. The journey won’t be easy, but there is no greater legacy than to live a life and make creations that reduce suffering for others. (Mission)
• Buffett on Losing your competitive position… Generally speaking, if you lose your competitive position — the Packard Motor Company had the premier car in the mid-’30s. The Cadillac was not the premier — it was the Packard. And then they went downscale one year and they never came back. They jumped their sales that one year because everybody wanted to own a Packard, and now you could own one a little cheaper. But they never regained that upscale image again. And certain department stores have done that, too. They’ve had a upscale image. And you can always juice up your sales, particularly if you’ve got a great upscale image, by having, you know, this sale or that sale, and going downmarket. It’s very hard to back upmarket again, and you’ve seen some great department stores that have had that — or specialty stores — that had that problem. (VIW)
• Auditor’s role not to ‘detect all instances of fraud’: KPMG’s Andrew Yates (AFR)
• The Greatest Investor You’ve Never Heard Of: An Optometrist Who Beat The Odds To Become A Billionaire; Instead of concentrating on the metrics in financial statements, Wertheim is devoted to reading patents and spends two six-hour blocks each week (Forbes)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 February 2019) – Altium sets out target for $500 million revenue by 2025 + Jim Collins – A Rare Interview with a Reclusive Polymath (#361)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (19 February 2019) – Altium sets out target for $500 million revenue by 2025 + Jim Collins – A Rare Interview with a Reclusive Polymath

Companies

• Xiaomi restructures mobile phone business as company moves away from ‘flat’ structure (Technode)
• Lifull earns $9.1 million in Q1 (AIM)
• Global market risks expected to drag on Airtac sales (TT)
• How Innodisk differentiates from other industrial flash storage providers. (TT)
• Altium sets out target for $500 million revenue by 2025 (AFR)
• Royal commission provides growth opportunities, says Netwealth (SMH)
• Wotif founder Graeme Wood’s plan to shift Brisbane into the AI era with Mawson Ventures (AFR

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

• Key Investors Are Unhappy With SoftBank Tech-Investment Fund; High valuations of Vision Fund investments-and the decision-making role of SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son-have led to concerns (WSJ)

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

• Facebook behaving like ‘digital gangsters’ who spread fake news: British lawmakers (JT); Google and Facebook’s Next Big Fight; The EU regulator nicknamed “Mr. GDPR” wants to go way beyond privacy and into antitrust. The linking of these two things should worry the tech giants. (Bloomberg); Facebook is out of control and politicians have no idea what to do (Guardian)
• Facebook joins Amazon and Google in AI chip race; Company needs faster hardware for smart digital assistant and real-time video moderation (FT)
• The latest Instagram influencer frontier? Medical promotions.; Big pharma is partnering with influencers to sell new drugs and medical devices. (Vox)
• Meet the man helping Amazon’s Alexa rule the world (AFR)
• Apple could be looking for its next big revenue model (TC)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese Tech Giants Seek Further IPO Rule Changes in Hong Kong (Bloomberg)
• Sharp takes wraps off new RoBoHoN, with apps aimed at getting families and firms used to ‘life with robots’ (JT)
• Taiwan’s once-glorious tech brands pushed out by cheaper Chinese rivals; Asus and HTC smartphone market shares sink below 1% (Nikkei)
• Why Indian payment firms think the RBI’s plan to expand the industry is a bad idea (qz)
• Mom and pop 2.0: Asia’s traditional retailers embrace tech; India’s StoreKing and Indonesia’s Warung Pintar are not out to disrupt an industry (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• VCs aren’t falling in love with dating startups (TC)
• Lessons from an integration: A conversation with Worldpay’s Mark Heimbouch (McKinsey)
• Google-backed fintech GoCardless eyes Aussie ‘subscription economy’ (Age)

Life

• Jim Collins – A Rare Interview with a Reclusive Polymath (#361) (Tim Ferris)
• Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great Paperback – February 26, 2019 (Amazon)
• Short Money Rules (Morgan Housel)
• The Delicate Art of Conquering Fears (ZR)
• Malcolm Gladwell on Why the Best Decision-Makers Are a Little Bit Irrational (Heleo)
• How Bill Gates remembers what he reads (qz)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 February 2019) – This Company Is Japan’s Top Contender for Global Internet Domination: Recruit Holdings wants to attract the most consumers in the world by 2030 + $3 Trillion In New Liabilities Are About To Blindside Corporate Balance Sheets

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 February 2019) – This Company Is Japan’s Top Contender for Global Internet Domination: Recruit Holdings wants to attract the most consumers in the world by 2030 + $3 Trillion In New Liabilities Are About To Blindside Corporate Balance Sheets

Companies

• This Company Is Japan’s Top Contender for Global Internet Domination: Recruit Holdings wants to attract the most consumers in the world by 2030. Recruit has also acquired European restaurant-booking site Quandoo, U.K. spa and salon reservation portal Treatwell and Dutch staffing firm USG People, helping to boost sales outside Japan to 46 percent of revenue, from 20 percent five years ago. And it still has a war chest of about $3 billion in cash. The success of its app-based services has raised questions about the value of the company’s traditional media business. Recruit still publishes 54 magazines, and has an employment and staffing services division that accounts for a majority of sales. But the faster-growing media and internet divisions generate two-thirds of operating profit from just about 30 percent of total revenue. (Bloomberg)
• The Dragon Ball franchise had a monumental year in 2018 as it expanded its brand into various avenues with an anime series, film, video games, parade sightings, and various other merchandising opportunities. Toei Animation talked about many of its licensing and merchandising plans for the Dragon Ball franchise coming this year in the February issue of License Global magazine, and one of the efforts includes a special symphony tour in North America. (CB)
• SM Entertainment Details Mutual Benefits Of Partnership With Tencent Music Entertainment (Forbes)
• Delta to boost stake in Thai subsidiary (TT)

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

• ‘Difficult years’ for Baidu as China’s internet goes mobile; Users criticise search results as more content is walled off by rivals Tencent and Alibaba (FT)
• Tencent releases new rules regulating live-streams containing its games (Technode)

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

• Google’s Waymo risks repeating Silicon Valley’s most famous blunder; Larry Page drew the wrong lesson from Xerox bungling the PC revolution. (ATN)
• Everything still to play for with AI in its infancy; IBM and Google’s differing approaches highlight extent to which field is wide open (FT)
• This is Microsoft’s AI pipeline, from research to reality (FastCo)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Huawei went from small-time trader in Shenzhen to world’s biggest telecoms equipment supplier (SCMP)
• In China, the fight for AI supremacy starts with the young (Nikkei)
• China’s peer-to-peer lenders fight for survival; Government clampdown on credit cools once-hot business (Nikkei)
• China’s third-party nurse apps may pose safety risks for users (Technode)
• Half of Japan’s regional banks to back Mizuho Bank’s new cashless payment system (JT)
• IPO hopeful AltoStratos eyes Australia’s consumer electronics market (AFR)
• New Zealand to target online giants with digital tax (Reuters)
• Alibaba-Backed Paytm Wants to Cash in on Amazon’s India Distress (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• A Break From Consumer Tech; What kinds of companies will be the next so-called unicorns? A hint: Many of them won’t have much in common with Uber or Airbnb. (NYT)
• Designed by A.I.: Your Next Couch, Sweater, and Set of Golf Clubs (Fortune)
• Lyft to woo investors with fast U.S. growth in IPO race with Uber (Reuters)
• Vision system for autonomous vehicles watches not just where pedestrians walk, but how (TC)
• 3 Technologies That Could Create Trillion Dollar Markets Over the Next Decade (Barron’s)
• Hulu Ad Campaign Spells Out That Its Influencers Get Paid; Streaming service begins new push for its live TV service (WSJ)
• Investors Get Burned After Betting on Electric-Car Metals; Markets like stocks and oil have rebounded this year, but cobalt and lithium continue to fall (WSJ)
• Digital Brands Are Booming. But Can They Save Malls? Developers are creating a new breed of pop-up retail for online upstarts to experiment in brick and mortar. (Bloomberg)
• Citi turns to AI for the early work in approval of corporate loans – and chooses Hong Kong for first testing; Earlier, AI has been tapped to help out on retail consumer loans (SCMP)

Life

• Fear of Failure: Are We Capable of Rising From the Ashes? (ME)
• $3 Trillion In New Liabilities Are About To Blindside Corporate Balance Sheets (ZH)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 February 2019) – Purchases With Plastic Get Costlier for Merchants-and Consumers; Visa and Mastercard plan to raise fees on credit and debit cards, putting new strain on retail + Strategies for Seizing the Day

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 February 2019) – Purchases With Plastic Get Costlier for Merchants-and Consumers; Visa and Mastercard plan to raise fees on credit and debit cards, putting new strain on retail + Strategies for Seizing the Day

Companies

• GaAs IC foundry Win Semiconductors expects robust demand for 3D sensing and 5G related applications to drive its mid- and long-term business growth. (Digitimes)
• FPCB firm Flexium gearing up for 5G (Digitimes)

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

• Buying WorldFirst gives Ant the technology it needs to service an international marketplace. That’s good news for Alibaba’s growth plans. (Bloomberg)
• Alibaba acquires 8% stake in Bilibili to double down on content-driven e-commerce (Technode); Alibaba buys into online video-sharing site Bilibili to tap young consumers (KRA)
• TSMC takes $550m hit from defective chemical at chip plant; Company cuts earnings outlook after troubles supplying Apple and Huawei (Nikkei)
• Seizing on Huawei’s troubles, Samsung bets big on network gear (Reuters)

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

• Apple acquires talking Barbie voicetech startup PullString (TC)
• Amazon, Western Union debut PayCode to sell goods in emerging markets and let shoppers pay in cash (TC)
• Amazon launches UPI payments in India, taking on Paytm, Walmart and Google (Forbes)
• Google’s AI plan to understand everything about humans can go wrong: expert (Investor)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Forbes India Conversations: AI is one technology where India can fully leverage its people (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Purchases With Plastic Get Costlier for Merchants-and Consumers; Visa and Mastercard plan to raise fees on credit and debit cards, putting new strain on retail (WSJ)
• Postscript wants to be the Mailchimp for SMS (TC)
• Vimeo Chases Video Producers With Its First Big Ad Campaign; A video platform pursues creators’ budgets instead of viewers’ wallets (WSJ)
• The Oracle of Omaha has given up on Oracle, the company (qz)
• The era of general purpose computers is ending (NP)
• Looking to Reverse Its Slide, Austrian iPhone Supplier Pushes Beyond Apple (Barron’s)
• 4 Stocks to Play the Data-Center Boom (Barron’s)
• 5 Ways to Invest in the Robotics Revolution (Barron’s)
• Is Yelp a business or a howl of pain? The reviews site blames Google for its problems but investors see another culprit (FT)
• Uber posts $50 billion in annual bookings as profit remains elusive ahead of IPO (Reuters)
• Zillow Wants to Flip Your House; A new breed of high-tech real estate flippers is using algorithms (and a healthy dose of Silicon Valley venture capital) to buy at massive scale. (Bloomberg)

Life

• Strategies for Seizing the Day (RH)
• Hong Kong’s securities watchdog freezes brokerage accounts for suspected involvement in misleading data (SCMP)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 February 2019) – Trend Micro Reports Highest Annual Net Sales in Company’s History for Fiscal Year 2018 ; US. negotiating multibillion-dollar fine with Facebook

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 February 2019) – Trend Micro Reports Highest Annual Net Sales in Company’s History for Fiscal Year 2018

Companies

• Chinese surveillance camera supplier Hikvision posts slowest profit growth in a decade (SCMP)
• Trend Micro Reports Highest Annual Net Sales in Company’s History for Fiscal Year 2018 (BW)
• Japan’s Nidec to double China capacity for electric-car motors (Nikkei)
• Nintendo Unveils New Mario, Zelda Games in Bid to Boost Switch; The big franchise names were among 18 titles announced (Bloomberg)
• Kakao’s operating profit plummets in 2018 (Investor)
• Higher US interest rates boost Computershare profits (AFR)
• Inari to benefit from business uptick due to coming 5G rollout (Edge)

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

• Alibaba buys 8% of Bilibili (TIA)
• Ant Financial acquires UK payments firm WorldFirst to advance its global expansion (SCMP)
• Alipay accepted at over 3,000 Walgreens drugstores in the US amid overseas push by China payments firm (SCMP)
• Canadian food delivery startup partners with Alipay to launch food ordering mini-program (Technode)

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

• Berkshire trims Apple stake, adds Suncor and Red Hat, exits Oracle (Reuters)
• US. negotiating multibillion-dollar fine with Facebook – report (Reuters)
• Amazon’s Alexa wants to ease your ‘cognitive overload’ (Age)
• Google’s AI plan to understand everything about humans can go wrong: expert (Investor)
• Amazon launches UPI payments in India, taking on Paytm, Walmart and Google (Forbes)
• Gates Foundation Trust Sells Berkshire, Microsoft Stock (Barron’s)
• Chipmaker Nvidia falls from ranks of tech darlings; Sale of stake by SoftBank’s Vision Fund comes as group hit by end of cryptocurrency boom (FT); Nvidia full-year sales outlook tops analyst views; shares rise; Nvidia has entered into newer growth areas such as data centers and self-driving cars as it looks beyond its bread-and-butter business of selling chips that enhance video games graphics (Reuters)
• Everything still to play for with AI in its infancy; IBM and Google’s differing approaches highlight extent to which field is wide open (FT)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How will China’s internet economy develop further? (Part two) (KRA)
• China’s Didi reportedly lost a staggering $1.6 billion in 2018 (TC)
• PEFs face trouble exiting from indebted pay TV provider (Investor)
• Australia’s Canva Has Become A Unicorn By Bringing Online Design Tools To The Masses (Forbes)
• Crossover: A software sweatshop (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Can Europe’s Latest Tech Darling Keep It Up? Adyen has become one of the continent’s biggest success stories since going public, but investors may be betting on a best-case scenario. (Bloomberg)
• How AI is protecting us from phone-wielding drivers (e27)
• Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann on creating the anti-social media platform (CNN)
• The Increasingly Crowded AI Unicorn Club (CBI)
• Prominent investors stock up on eBay, then activists flex muscle (Reuters)
• Big Tech’s banking foray on regulators’ radar (Reuters)
• The AI That Can Write a Fake News Story From a Handful of Words (Bloomberg)
• Software Update Aims to Keep Drones Away From Airports (Bloomberg)
• AI Redefines Healthcare (hvst)

Life

• Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce dynasty flies up Forbes Hong Kong rich list but can’t touch Li Ka-shing’s fortune (SCMP)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 February 2019) – How a Sydney startup is using artificial intelligence to fix sewerage pipes + Bill and Melinda Gates 2019 Annual Letter

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 February 2019) – How a Sydney startup is using artificial intelligence to fix sewerage pipes + Bill and Melinda Gates 2019 Annual Letter

Companies

• Tencent-backed Douyu files for $500m IPO in New York (KRA)
• Recruit Holdings Q3 revenue rises 6%, HR technology boosts growth (SI)
• PKSHA makes Sapeet of 3D algorithm development a subsidiary (TC)
• E . Guardian started startup support project (TC)

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

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

• Apple Doesn’t Need to Be Netflix to Succeed at Video; The iPhone maker can have a robust business without revolutionizing entertainment. (Bloomberg)
• Apple aims for April launch of TV service with CBS, Viacom and Starz (Reuters); Apple Invites Hollywood Stars to Video Service Launch (Bloomberg)
• The Cost of Apple News (Stratechery)
• Apple’s Autonomous Cars Need Much More Human Help Than Its Rivals (Bloomberg)
• Jeff Bezos and Amazon are taking over suburbia (qz)
• Amazon: Eeros and villains; Planned purchase of WiFi start-up will only add to scrutiny over tech data collection (FT)
• Google to Spend $13 Billion on Data Centers, Offices Across U.S. (Bloomberg)
• Waymo builds big lead in self-driving car testing; Data show widening gap in autonomous vehicle race with Uber going into reverse in 2018 (FT); Apple ramps up self-driving program as Waymo says its tech improves (Reuters)
• Nvidia Stock’s Future Is in Artificial Intelligence, Says Analyst (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• To subsidize drivers, Didi racks up annual loss of US$1.6 billion (KRA)
• China’s gig economy losing ability to absorb laid-off factory workers (TIA)
• China’s Stock Traders Are Snapping Up Everything 5G (Bloomberg)
• Man vs machine: China’s workforce starting to feel the strain from threat of robotic automation (SCMP)
• Reading between the lines of China’s secondhand e-commerce market (Technode)
• What does Tiktok’s rise mean for Facebook and Snapchat? (Technode)
• Demand for memory chips in Asia might be picking up soon, analysts say (CNBC)
• ALTBalaji subscriptions reflect rising popularity of OTT streaming in India; Even as the telecom regulator considers fresh regulations of the OTT sector, mobile content streaming is surging in the country (Forbes)
• Singapore is Asia’s most ready nation for autonomous vehicle adoption (Edge)
• How a Sydney startup is using artificial intelligence to fix sewerage pipes (Age)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Yelp barely lives up to revised promises, but it just promises more (MW); Yelp Users Bemoan Disappearing Recommendations, Adding to Company Troubles (Bloomberg)
• Driverless Car Data Shows Robots Are Improving But Still Need Human Hands; California records show safety operators in GM and Waymo test vehicles are taking the wheel less (WSJ)
• Xnor’s saltine-sized, solar-powered AI hardware redefines the edge (TC)
• Bill Gates-backed Vicarious Surgical adds a virtual reality twist to robots in the operating room (TC)
• First Robo-Trucking Unicorn? TuSimple Delivers $95 Million Funding Round (Forbes)
• AI will soon decide what we eat (TNW)
• EA Paid Twitch Gamers to Battle Back Against Fortnite (Barron’s)
• Beware Investing in Uber and Other ‘Unicorns’ Going Public, Goldman Sachs Says (Barron’s)
• TripAdvisor Earnings Send Stock Down as Analysts Cite Concerns (Barron’s)
• Startup Accelerates AI at the Sensor; claims that its novel techniques of processing neural-networking tasks at the level of sensor signals will undercut rivals in power and cost (EE Times)
• Shipments of 3D sensing-enabled Android smartphones to boom, says Digitimes Research (Digitimes)

Life

• Bill and Melinda Gates 2019 Annual Letter: Textbooks are becoming obsolete. Software is finally changing how students learn. (Gatesnotes)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 February 2019) – Pinduoduo’s bid for calm has its limits

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 February 2019) – Pinduoduo’s bid for calm has its limits

Companies

• Pinduoduo’s bid for calm has its limits (Reuters)
• Chinese smartphone brands strengthen their grip on India, with Xiaomi displacing Samsung from top spot (SCMP)
• CyberAgent president “regrets relying too much on a single game title” as Dragalia Lost underperforms (PG)
• Rakuten to Invest in Mobile Industry Innovator Altiostar (PN)
• Carrier KDDI to expand financial services with Kabu.com buy; Japan’s second-largest wireless provider hurries to diversify from smartphones. (Nikkei)
• Seoul Semiconductor supplies LEDs to Dutch lighting firm (Investor)
• Tencent Partner Nexon Signals More Weakness in China Games (Bloomberg)
• Chroma to buy 20.5% of Camtek (Digitimes)
• Carsales hit by mixed result at home, but international revs up (AFR)

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

• Tencent’s Supercell posts second consecutive year of falling sales (FT)
• Asian chipmakers’ profits plunge after smartphone downturn; Samsung margins shrink 14 points while SK Hynix cuts investment by 40% (Nikkei)

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

• How Xbox’s ‘Netflix for games’ is expanding players’ horizons (Age)
• Amazon, GM in talks to invest in electric pickup truck maker Rivian: sources (Reuters)
• Amazon gobbles up eero to round out its smart home plan (Wired)
• Your Smart Light Can Tell Amazon and Google When You Go to Bed (Bloomberg)
• Publishers Chafe at Apple’s Terms for Subscription News Service; Apple plans to keep about 50% of subscription revenue from ‘Netflix for news’ service, likely won’t share customer data with publishers (WSJ)
• Google Cloud Chief’s Plan to Catch Amazon and Microsoft: Sales Reps; CEO Thomas Kurian seeks to borrow approach to growth from former employer Oracle (WSJ); Google’s New Cloud Boss Targets Old Issue: Selling to Big Firms (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How will China’s internet economy develop further? (Part one) (KRA)
• I. Shows Promise as a Physician Assistant; A so-called neural network analyzed the medical records of 600,000 hospital patients in China, diagnosing their conditions as accurately as doctors did in some cases (NYT)
• China has produced another study showing the potential of AI in medical diagnosis (qz)
• Asian investors embrace data centers to ride out property slump; Facilities offer attractive returns amid slowdown, but regulations loom (Nikkei)
• Japanese self-drive cars map developer to buy rival U.S. startup: Nikkei (Reuters)
• Sider of code review support SaaS raises funds and provides enterprise version (TC)
• Trevari runs a subscription-based platform through which subscribers join book clubs that meet in person. A four-month membership ranges from 190,000 won to 290,000 won, excluding the cost of purchasing books. (Investor)
• India’s Swiggy goes beyond food to offer product delivery from local stores (TC)
• Southeast Asia eclipses China as world’s mobile economy hot spot; Thais, Indonesians and Singaporeans are big-time online bankers, shoppers and ride-hailers (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• SaaS Valuations Revisit Record Highs; public SaaS companies are once again worth around ten times their revenue as their share prices recover from December’s disturbance. (CB)
• Ubisoft and Mozilla team up to develop Clever-Commit, an AI coding assistant (TC)
• Voice assistants in use to triple to 8 billion by 2023 (TC)
• What Spotify’s big podcast purchases mean for the future of the medium (Age)
• EA Paid Twitch Gamers to Battle Back Against Fortnite (Barron’s)
• PayPal Can Gain Nearly 60%: Fund Manager (Barron’s)
• Shopify profit forecast misses on higher spending, shares fall (Reuters)
• Antipodes say disruptors distract from main tech game (AFR)
• IBM says Watson AI services will now work on any cloud (Reuters)
• Akamai earnings beat on cyber-security strength (Reuters)
• TV Streaming Apps Can Learn From The Love of Free Shipping; As online shoppers continue to choose free delivery over faster shipping, it’s food for thought for the media industry. (Bloomberg)
• Is Trump’s AI executive order a Sputnik moment for the US? (SCMP)
• Why People Still Don’t Buy Groceries Online (Atlantic)
• Airbnb-style space is the new warehouse trend; “Because customers today demand such fast delivery when they order online, companies need more smaller locations rather than fewer larger locations” (Age)
• Jobvite raises $200M+ and acquires three recruitment startups to expand its platform play (TC)
• The automotive industry often describes a connected vehicle as a “smartphone on wheels.” Nothing, however, is further from the truth. (EE Times)
• Is Globalfoundries seeking a buyer? (DT)

Life

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 February 2019) – Vista Group Signs Enterprise Agreement with Odeon Cinemas Group – Europe’s Largest Cinema Operator + “Writing is thinking. Writing is super hard. It takes more time to write than it does to talk.”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 February 2019) – Vista Group Signs Enterprise Agreement with Odeon Cinemas Group – Europe’s Largest Cinema Operator + “Writing is thinking. Writing is super hard. It takes more time to write than it does to talk.”

Companies

• Brutal culling awaits China’s EV battery makers as support ends; Even top players like CATL and BYD are likely to feel the pain (Nikkei)
• For January to December 2018, Dragon Ball earned Bandai $1.1 billion, and $171 million for Toei Animation. (CB)
• Atlassian leads encryption law revolt as Peter Dutton stands firm (AFR)
• Reckon abandons battle with rivals MYOB, Xero (AFR)
• After drones, Info Edge’s Zomato will now pedal in your order on a bicycle (YS)
• Vista Group Signs Enterprise Agreement with Odeon Cinemas Group – Europe’s Largest Cinema Operator (APN)

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

• China’s Tencent Invests in Reddit, Sparking Free Speech Protests (Bloomberg)
• Over 800 million WeChat users sent digital monetary gifts during Lunar New Year (ZDN)
• SoftBank advances driverless dreams with delivery startup Nuro; $940m investment follows similar stakes in DoorDash and Zume Pizza (Nikkei, FT)
• Apple supply chain: TSMC to remain sole iPhone chip supplier (Digitimes)

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

• Google Docs gets an API for task automation (TC)
• Google and Microsoft warn that AI may do dumb things (Wired)
• In Apple vs. Facebook, Let Users Decide; If people want to give up some data in exchange for money, they should be able to do so. (Bloomberg)
• Amazon to buy wi-fi startup eero to help customers better connect smart home devices. (Reuters)
• Nvidia Stock Gets Downgraded as Sales of Its New Chips Falter (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s new centralized clearinghouse handled 4.55 billion online transactions during spring festival (KRA)
• Chinese listed companies misjudge EV start-ups with excessive valuations; As of the end of January, A-share listed companies released their profit warnings, and most were caused by goodwill impairment. (GT)
• China’s 5G Riches Are a Blocked Number for Investors; The biggest beneficiaries of the country’s push for wireless supremacy are outside the public domain. (Bloomberg)
• Two former Qualcomm engineers are using AI to fix China’s healthcare problem (TC)
• Korean fintech unicorn eyes internet-only bank with Shinhan (Investor)
• Ecommerce rules aim for vendor neutrality; Restrictions on Amazon’s JVs and Flipkart’s flash sales seek to level the playground with offline retailers (Forbes)
• Naspers/OLX-backed used car sales platform in Indonesia fuels up with $10m (KRA)
• Singapore’s Zilingo raises US$226 million to expand fashion site inspired by Bangkok’s Chatuchak market (SCMP); Zilingo raises US$226 million in series D, likely to become Southeast Asia’s next unicorn (KRA)
• India’s tech rules are taking on a Chinese quality (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• LinkedIn debuts LinkedIn Live, a new live video broadcast service (TC)
• Aurora co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson on the company’s new investor, Amazon, and much more (TC)
• DoorDash Discusses Funding at Over $6 Billion Valuation, Sources Say (Bloomberg)
• IBM’s AI debate computer loses to human champion but the computer demonstrated the increasingly complex arguments that AI is starting to make. The AI we’re used to seeing — like digital assistants built into smart speakers — can only be used in very narrow ways, such as answering specific questions. But IBM’s system shows how the technology may also be used to explore problems that don’t necessarily have a single answer. (CNN)
• Workday Stock to Rally on New Deal Wins, Says Analyst (Barron’s)
• Uber, Lyft Get IPO Feedback as Latest Shutdown Looms (Bloomberg)
• Bottom-Up: The Next Wave in B2B Software (Medium)
• Retracing a Bumpy Road to Redemption for Nokia (EE Times)
• EA’s ‘Fortnite’ rival wins 10 million gamers in three days (Reuters)

Life

• Companies mortgage their moat when they press their advantage too hard and alienate stakeholders in the process. This practice can be particularly tempting for executives aiming to MAXIMIZE SHORT-TERM PERFORMANCE at the expense of long durability (II)
• Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Johnson on How to Make Life’s Tough Decisions (Heleo)
• The Surprising Value of Obvious Insights (MIT)
• “Writing is thinking. Writing is super hard. It takes more time to write than it does to talk.” The act of writing, forces the author to think through all the details and steps required to share the lesson. It avoids what happens in business all the time which is “I just know” or “experience” and brings along the team and other job functions on thinking. (SS, Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 February 2019) – Push notifications are the future of multi-factor authentication. With hacking and data breaches on the rise, it’s no surprise that the market for MFA is predicted to grow fourfold by 2025.

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 February 2019) – Push notifications are the future of multi-factor authentication. With hacking and data breaches on the rise, it’s no surprise that the market for MFA is predicted to grow fourfold by 2025.

Companies

• US-led backlash against China’s Huawei, Hikvision seen giving higher-cost rivals an opening to win contracts (SCMP)
• “It’s really hard to put an Afterpay up against a PayPal.” (AFR)

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

• SoftBank Buyback Magic May Soon Wear Thin; There are risks for the Japanese technology investor in deciding to spend $5.5 billion on its own stock. (Bloomberg)

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

• All the times Facebook moved fast and sometimes broke things (Wired)
• Facebook Acquires Visual Shopping Startup to Bolster AI Work (Bloomberg)
• Facebook was late to mobile. now, mobile is its future (Wired)
• How Silicon Valley’s ‘surveillance capitalism’ is enriching its leaders and making us their pawns; The business model spawned by the likes of Facebook and Google is invisibly concentrating corporate power and destroying our privacy (SCMP)
• In the age of Alexa and Siri, how come most customer-service voice assistants still suck? (FastCo)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Tencent-backed AI firm aims to free up parents and teachers from checking children’s maths homework (SCMP)
• The operator of South Korea’s No. 1 accommodations booking app Yanolja is looking to raise US$300 million or more from foreign investors by selling equity (Investor)
• Japan to Hack 200 Million IoT Devices (EE Times)
• Ambitious Singapore startup Delegate wants to bring its event booking platform to the US (TC)
• How Melanie Perkins could make Canva the next Microsoft Office (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How accurate are Zestimates? Zillow awards $1M to trio for improving them (ST)
• The new Picasso? Meet Ai-Da the robot artist (Reuters)
• Push notifications are the future of multi-factor authentication (TNW)
• AR > VR (TNW)
• Where automotive cybersecurity is headed in 2019 (TNW)
• Seeking an edge, U.S. landlords turn to tenant experience apps (Reuters)

Life

• The fundamental problem with Silicon Valley’s favorite growth strategy; Blitzscaling isn’t really a recipe for success but rather survivorship bias masquerading as a strategy. (qz)
• Lessons for investors from Zee stock crash; Stocks of companies where promoters have pledged a high percentage of shares, like the Zee group, can be volatile. Such stocks are also prone to rumours (Rediff)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 February 2019) – 3 Key Insights from the World’s Premier SaaS Event

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 February 2019) – 3 Key Insights from the World’s Premier SaaS Event

Companies

• Sony’s record share splurge misses the big picture (Reuters)
• Trend Micro and Turbonomic Enter Strategic Partnership to Accelerate SMART Workload Adoption Globally (NWT)

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

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

• Amazon’s India Site Restocked After Joint-Venture Stake Cut (Morningstar)
• People’s hatred of Skype is helping startups erode Microsoft Office’s dominance at work (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• At your service: Japanese robots move out of the factory; Intelligent machines take on the dirty work in offices and shopping malls (Nikkei)
• Mahindra Group struck an agreement to merge SmartShift, its logistics solutions unit, with online logistics marketplace Porter (Forbes)
• Kalyan Sivasailam’s 5C Network connects hospitals and diagnostic centres to radiologists (Forbes)
• Indonesia’s e-tailer Tokopedia taps AI to hop island chain; Unicorn aims to link remote retailers with smart warehousing (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• 3 Key Insights from the World’s Premier SaaS Event (JM)
• Tech titans try to dazzle with jargon, but just lack substance; Earnings season saw Silicon Valley resort to an obscure performance without any meaningful numbers (FT)
• Twitter phases out monthly-active-user counts, which are in decline, in favor of a new count for “monetizable daily active users” that’s showing growth (MW)
• The ‘Fortnite’ effect slams videogame makers’ stocks (MW)
• The Current State of AI Adoption (WSJ)
• Waymo CTO on the company’s past, present and what comes next (TC)
• Seeking an edge, U.S. landlords turn to tenant experience apps (Reuters)
• The internet of things: how tomorrow’s technology affects family business (Campden)
• Here Is the Future of Car Sharing, and Carmakers Should Be Terrified; Moscow’s sharing boom shows how quickly consumers can abandon the traditional car. (Bloomberg)

Life

• The Dying Art of Conversation: My Interview with Author and Speaker Celeste Headlee [The Knowledge Project Ep. #51] (FS)
• Why Time Horizon Works (MH)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (7 February 2019) – SaaS Stocks Hit Fresh Highs

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (7 February 2019) – SaaS Stocks Hit Fresh Highs

Companies

• Here’s what you need to know about Hikvision, the camera maker behind China’s mass surveillance system (SCMP)
• Gaming company NetDragon is betting big on China’s US$64 billion online education market (SCMP)
• China’s PDD to Raise More Than $1 Billion in Alibaba Challenge (Bloomberg)
• Linksys And Trend Micro Join Forces To Deliver New Security Features To Velop Users; Connected Home Division of Foxconn Interconnect Technology Doubles Down on Network Security and Parental Controls (PRNW)
• Mercari replicates CarTune’s listings (AIM)
• Innodisk Ready for the Surge of AIoT at Embedded World 2019 (PRNW)
• Info Edge’s Zomato secures Rs 284 Cr funding; Zomato is locked in a battle for leadership with Swiggy in India’s fast-growing online food ordering space. (ET)

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

• Four Key Product Principles from WeChat’s Creator (a16z)
• SoftBank dumps entire Nvidia stake and hints at more to come (Nikkei)

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

• In ‘Zucked’, an Early Facebook Investor Explains What Went Wrong (Barron’s)
• Scoot over Microsoft: Apple again the most valuable U.S. company (Reuters)
• Apple suppliers in Japan chop $900m off profit estimates (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Service robots lend a hand at China’s banks and railway stations; Mechanical assistants could cut costs, but technology has kinks to work out (Nikkei)
• Toyota rolls out Lexus subscriptions for $1,800 a month; New service offers a fresh car every six months for ownership-shy spenders (Nikkei)
• How Narendra Modi’s political priorities ambushed Amazon and Walmart, and benefited India’s richest man (JT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• SaaS Stocks Hit Fresh Highs (CB)
• Tech Trends 2019 (Deloitte)
• AI 100: The Artificial Intelligence Startups Redefining Industries (CBI)
• What’s next in AI for healthcare? Medical diagnostics, clinical trial enrollment, report says (BHR)
• Why Spotify is betting big on podcasting; The acquisitions of Gimlet and Anchor show a service that thinks podcasts are big business (TC)
• Uber’s Secret Gold Mine: How Uber Eats Is Turning Into A Billion-Dollar Business To Rival Grubhub (Forbes)
• Why FabFitFun’s Founders Raised $80 Million And Their Plan To Challenge Stitch Fix (Forbes)
• Fund industry must use the right type of machine learning; Simply following Amazon’s successful model sets up investors for disappointment (FT)
• Why Spotify wants to be like Netflix now (qz)
• Big data: legal firms play ‘Moneyball’; Is the hunt for data-driven justice a gimmick or a powerful tool to give lawyers an advantage and predict court outcomes? (FT)
• Recruitment Startups Realize, With The Help Of AI, Less Is More (CB)
• We Analyzed 12 Of The Biggest Direct-to-Consumer Success Stories To Figure Out The Secrets To Their Growth – Here’s What We Learned (CBI)
• The Future Of Payments: Fintech 50 2019 (Forbes)
• Profits at The New York Times show media dinosaurs are ruling the internet (TC)
• Profile of Slack founder Stewart Butterfield (Wired)
• ‘It’s their moat’: How Shopify built an $800 million partner ecosystem (DD)
• Match Beats Estimates as Tinder’s Growth Is Fueled by International Users (Bloomberg)
• Ashton Kutcher-backed meditation app Calm valued at US$1 billion; Calm aims to help people tackle mental health issues such as anxiety and insomnia through mediation sessions and tutorials (SCMP)

Life

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 February 2019) – Where Big Leaps Happen; The Great Naturalist John Burroughs on Art, the Courage to Defy Convention, and the Measure of a Visionary

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 February 2019) – Where Big Leaps Happen; The Great Naturalist John Burroughs on Art, the Courage to Defy Convention, and the Measure of a Visionary

Companies

• Movie ticketer Maoyan flops in IPO as market shuns China tech (Nikkei)
• China’s CATL to supply Honda with EV batteries through 2027 (Nikkei)
• Kyocera hedges trade war risks with 2 European acquisitions (Nikkei)
• Vietnam’s FPT teams with Allianz on digital insurance (Nikkei)

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

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

• Microsoft Invests in ‘Boring AI’ Startup Valued at $2.75 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft Buys Startup BrightBytes’s DataSense Service (CB)
• Feared or celebrated, Amazon’s Alexa is star of Super Bowl ads (JT)
• How Facebook has changed computing (Wired)
• Waymo Is Nearing Robocar Deal With Renault-Nissan Alliance (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Jewellery supply chain platform firm Atelier Technology banking on China, to open office in Guangzhou (SCMP)
• Toyota’s new car subscription company Kinto is gamifying driving behavior (TC)
• Keshav Prawasi, Nitin Babel, Shishir Modi: One-stop shopping solution Niki.ai, a chatbot that is also a virtual shopping assistant for customers (Forbes)
• Pranay Surana, Tushar Saxena: Fashion on rent (Forbes)
• Southeast Asia’s internet needs a light touch; ASEAN must develop common standards and avoid restrictive national rules (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Brands from warby parker to sephora have actually found sensible uses for AR (qz)
• Music Producer Swizz Beatz on why streaming services should pay musicians 50/50 (MW)
• ‘Tinder, but with dogs’ helps potential owners set up a ‘date’ (MW)
• Ocado: a treasure deferred; A catch may startle investors trying to value group using traditional measures (FT)
• Picture this: an AI game where humans and computers collaborate; Groundbreaking game uses images to help artificial intelligence communicate with people (FT)
• Square’s Cash App Downloads Outpace Venmo Again, Analyst Says (Barron’s)
• Robots’ Lead Role in Super Bowl Ads Hint at Tech Anxieties (WSJ)
• Reddit Valued At $3 Billion In New Massive Capital Raise (ZH)
• Databricks Doubles Capital Raised With $250M Series E And A $2.75 Billion Valuation; over 2,000 organizations around the world use Databricks’s software in their data analytics, data science, and machine learning workflows (CB)
• Meet the 9 startups that Techstars believes can disrupt the music industry (FastCo)

Life

• This Is The Unexpected Power of Sadness (Medium)
• The Great Naturalist John Burroughs on Art, the Courage to Defy Convention, and the Measure of a Visionary (BP)
• Where Big Leaps Happen (MH)
• Synchronicity: How to Create Your Own Luck (ZR)
• How Regret Can Be Your Friend (Insead)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 February 2019) – The world’s biggest spice company is using AI to find new flavors + Compounding Knowledge

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 February 2019) – The world’s biggest spice company is using AI to find new flavors + Compounding Knowledge

Companies

• Chat app Line injects $182M into its mobile payment business (TC)
• Nintendo’s solid performance fails to console investors; Investors debate whether the boom-and-bust video games model has changed (FT)
• Chipmaker TSMC offers ‘long runway of growth’ (AFR)
• Uber trip data to flow directly into Xero thanks to new partnership (AFR)
• Praemium has announced the launch of a major technology upgrade and a rebrand for its global investment platform which is expected to expand its addressable market in Australia from $62 billion in managed accounts to an $860 billion overall platform (MM)

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

• Baidu’s chairman Robin Li shares new year objectives rooted in AI (KRA)
• Alibaba struggles to follow Amazon beyond e-commerce; New CEO under pressure to cultivate cloud and physical retail businesses (Nikkei); Alibaba’s Aussie cloud push struggles against extra China tech scrutiny (AFR)
• Tencent spurs Hong Kong’s fintech ecosystem; The Chinese conglomerate is forming strategic partnerships in the city. (KRA)

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

• Facebook turns 15: How the social-networking giant has changed America (Economist)
• Apple Should Buy Netflix or These 2 Other Companies, JPMorgan Says (Barron’s)
• Microsoft acquires DataSense management from BrightBytes to step up its education play in Azure (TC)
• After 5 years, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has transformed more than the stock price (TC)
• Alphabet spending spree spooks investors; Investment binge of $25bn in 2018 overshadows revenue gains (FT)
• Netflix is juicing its viewership numbers, FX chief says (MW)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• 2018 in review: China incubates 25 new unicorns worth $58 billion (Technode)
• New wave of Chinese tech start-ups focus on overseas markets; Domestic business dominated by handful of established groups (FT)
• Sequoia to make earlier and bigger bets in China; Venture capitalists increase firepower in competition for best tech start-ups; Sequoia China’s success has rested on a number of huge consumer internet companies, notably JD.com (FT)
• Japan’s Aeon offers video interpreters for foreign shoppers; Smartphone-based service handles 10 languages at 550 domestic stores (Nikkei)
• Swiggy acquires Bengaluru-based AI startup Kint.io (ET)
• India takes aim at popular Chinese social media apps; Bid to make platforms take responsibility for all content posted to their sites; TikTok, a Chinese social video app, has 39 per cent of its users in India (FT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Workplace messaging start-up Slack to go public (JT)
• The world’s biggest spice company is using AI to find new flavors (CNN)
• This Startup Is Creating A Real-Time Data Map Of The Global Economy. BlackRock And PayPal Are Buying It (Forbes)
• Investors urge tech start-ups to hoard cash; VC groups say the slowing economy will make fundraising more difficult (FT)
• John Malone and Barry Diller Try to Untangle Expedia (Barron’s)
• Match Group, Shutterfly stocks fall after Goldman starts coverage at sell (MW)
• Semiconductor shipments surpassed 1 trillion in 2018 for the first time, when record sales hit almost $469 billion, industry group says (MW)
• Here’s Why Roku Stock Jumped Monday – Then Gave Much of It Back (Barron’s)
• Ten trends shaping the Internet of Things business landscape (McKinsey)
• Behind Tech’s Shine, Some Warnings Signs Appear (NYT)

Life

• Compounding Knowledge (FS)
• This Is The Most Powerful Way To Make Your Life Fantastic (Barker)
• Why It’s So Hard to Predict the Size of New Markets (HBR)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 February 2019) – Japan’s “Society 5.0” initiative is a roadmap for today’s entrepreneurs

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 February 2019) – Japan’s “Society 5.0” initiative is a roadmap for today’s entrepreneurs

Companies

• How China’s largest online travel agency connects the world: An interview with Ctrip CEO Jane Sun (McKinsey)
• Keyence wins Chinese automation demand amid slowdown; Sensor maker captures clients’ need for small to medium-scale factory upgrades (Nikkei)
• Nintendo stock falls 9.3% over lower Switch console sales target; Market unimpressed with new chief’s plans for movies, theme park rides and Tokyo store (FT)
• Sony raises fiscal 2018 net profit outlook on solid game and music businesses (JT); Sony Drops Most Since 2016 on Weak PlayStation 4 Demand (Bloomberg)
• Asmedia Still Likely Building AMD Chipsets (ET)
• Korean tech giants try to better predict traffic. Launched in 2011, Kakao navi has emerged as one of the most popular apps among drivers, with up to 1.4 million users. (Investor)

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

• Improving mobile revenue without hurting brand, among Baidu Robin Li’s new year objectives (KRA)
• Alibaba and Fosun are about to invest into theAsianparent, SEA’s Babytree (KRA)
• To break growth bottleneck, WeChat Pay now binds the elderly with their children’s cards (KRA)
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund in talks to invest $1.5 bln in Chinese used car platform -sources (Nikkei)
• TSMC thrashes Intel on semi tech (FZ)

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

• How do you turn around the culture of a 130,000-person company? Ask Satya Nadella (qz)
• Tim Cook Is Right: Why Differentiating Apple From Other Tech Giants Is Such A Smart Move (Forbes)
• Apple held hostage by its Chinese puzzle; How iPhone maker’s success manufactured the rise of Huawei (Nikkei)
• Why Amazon Will Never Buy FedEx (Barron’s)
• Waymo and other self-driving car makers powering a $3.7 trillion shift (AFR)
• Netflix, but for video games; If game streaming works, the market could expand even further (Economist)
• AWS and Microsoft reap most of the benefits of expanding cloud market (TC); Amazon Web Services brought in more money than McDonald’s in 2018 (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese second-hand car platform Uxin accuses rival of faking revenue data (Technode)
• Will China lose its tech mojo as venture capital for start-ups gets harder to come by? (SCMP)
• Is China’s corruption-busting AI system ‘Zero Trust’ being turned off for being too efficient? (SCMP)
• Meet the ‘godfather’ of China’s smartphone industry: Duan Yongping is the founder and chairman of Dongguan-based BBK Electronics Corp. Privately held BBK is behind smartphone brands Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Realme (SCMP)
• Japan’s “Society 5.0” initiative is a roadmap for today’s entrepreneurs (TC)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How A Surprise Breakfast Burrito Helped Twilio Acquire SendGrid In A $3 Billion Deal (Forbes)
• Meet the scientists who are training ai to diagnose mental illness (Verge)
• AI Trends In 2019; Using the NExTT framework, we looked at the industry adoption and market strength of these trends, categorizing them as necessary, experimental, threatening, or transitory (NExTT). (CBI)
• Can AltSchool—The Edtech Startup With $174M From Billionaires Like Zuckerberg And Thiel—Save Itself From Failure? (Forbes)
• Spotify in talks to buy podcasting giant Gimlet Media (MW)
• With Intel CEO choice, the bean counters are in charge of Silicon Valley’s most storied tech company (MW)
• Symantec, Proofpoint earnings drive rally in cybersecurity stocks (MW)
• The Best Tech Products Will Overcome Volatile Times (Barron’s)
• The Cost of Self-Driving Cars Will Be the Biggest Barrier to Their Adoption (HBR)
• LegalTech Companies Snap Up $106M In VC During Active January (CB)
• Tech giants are the new gatekeepers (Axios)
• How AI Is Driving The Next Phase Of Autonomy (Forbes)

Life

• Origins of Greed and Fear (MH)
• McKinsey’s Three Horizons Model Defined Innovation for Years. Here’s Why It No Longer Applies. (HBR)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 February 2019) – What Will Software Look Like Once Anyone Can Create It? + Almost 30% of Go-Jek, 5% of Grab e-hails in Indonesia are fraudulent

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 February 2019) – What Will Software Look Like Once Anyone Can Create It? + Almost 30% of Go-Jek, 5% of Grab e-hails in Indonesia are fraudulent

Companies

• Fanuc posts 42% profit drop on China machinery orders plunge; October-December results suffer as trade war rages on (Nikkei)
• Uniqlo rival Zozo sees 1st profit decline as tailor-fit strategy flops; CEO Maezawa’s ambitions fall to earth as shoppers snub polka-dot measurement suit (Nikkei); Zozo’s ceo is apologizing for the failure of its much-hyped zozosuit fitting system (qz)
• Japan’s Nintendo, Line developing ‘Dr. Mario World’ mobile game (Reuters)
• ASE Technology is gearing up for the arrival of 5G. The synergy combining the group’s IC ATM expertise with Universal Scientific Industrial Shanghai’s (USI) specialization in module-level manufacturing services will help grow its business in the 5G field (Digitimes)
• Innodisk has launched comprehensive M.2 solutions for embedded expansions; The M.2 form factor is instrumental for the next generation IoT applications as more and more platforms are adopting it as their main port (PRNW)
• Mindtree not in talks to buy out biggest shareholder VG Siddhartha: CEO (Forbes)
• InfoEdge Infuses 28 Crore into NoPaperForms (SI)
• Shorts circle NextDC; NextDC’s chief executive Craig Scroggie’s (now private) Instagram account began doing the rounds in the market: Scroggie hopping on and off private jets; in flashy cars; on a golf course. (AFR)

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

• How WeChat is changing China’s travel bug (SCMP)

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

• With almost a billion users, 90+% loyalty rate, 95% satisfaction, 120 million paid subscriptions and 75 million new users/yr, the analysis of Apple as a services company is becoming interesting. (Asymco)
• Amazon Mystery: Where Did the Growth Go? Higher margins are great, but it’s not exactly what investors have been paying for. (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft Forfeits Most-Valuable Crown to Amazon (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s P2P lending sector a ‘disaster zone’ of fraud: government official (Technode)
• Korea puts forth new ways to support new media startups (Investor)
• South Korea pins hopes on start-ups to power economic growth; Tough regulation and low levels of investment hold back emergence of new technologies (FT)
• Almost 30% of Go-Jek, 5% of Grab e-hails in Indonesia are fraudulent, study claims (Reddit)
• Explainer: What are India’s new foreign direct investment rules for e-commerce? (Reuters); Amazon removes numerous products from India site as new e-commerce rules bite (Reuters)
• Banking royal commission: Regtech software a pathway for post-Hayne compliance (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Venmo is finally venmo-ing big revenue to its less cool parent (qz)
• ‘Mind reading’ technology poses ethical questions; Advertisers or employers could exploit individuals’ neural signals for own gain (FT)
• What Happens When a Startup Goes Bust (Fortune)
• Executive at Wirecard suspected of using forged contracts; Internal presentation pointed to possible ‘falsification of accounts’ (FT)
• What Will Software Look Like Once Anyone Can Create It? (HBR)

Life

• Value investing is long on virtue but has been short on reward; Value indices can seem like dumping grounds for problem industries (Economist)