H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 March 2019) – Danawa interview with CEO Sohn Yung-hwan; Unicorns in winter: China’s formerly white-hot tech sector is in the doldrums

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (9 March 2019) – Danawa interview with CEO Sohn Yung-hwan; Unicorns in winter: China’s formerly white-hot tech sector is in the doldrums

Companies

• Overseas buying of surging Han’s Laser Technology hits 28 per cent limit on foreign ownership; MSCI responds by saying the hot company will no longer be in its basket of A-shares in its global indexes (SCMP)
• Danawa interview with CEO Sohn Yung-hwan (ETN)
• Delta Electronics acquires lighting solution brand Amerlux (Digitimes)
• For IDP Education, India is the new China (AFR)

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

• Baidu invests further in WM Motor to raise stakes in smart mobility (Technode)

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

• Facebook’s Pivot to Messaging Puts Advertisers In a Tight Spot; While marketers are very familiar with Facebook’s wide-open community, they are far less experienced with messaging apps (WSJ)
• Facebook Says It’s Evolving, So What About Its $55 Billion in Ad Sales? (Barron’s)
• Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Emulate WeChat. Can It? (NYT)
• Apple could launch augmented reality headset in 2020 (TC)
• I Want to Stop Liking Microsoft Again. Why Is It So Hard? (Barron’s)
• How Microsoft built the Hololens 2 (FT)
• Google just launched an app to teach Indian kids to read (CNN)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s game streaming site Panda TV confirms it will end service amid cash crisis; Panda TV still ranked as China’s No. 3 game streaming network in terms of active users at the end last year (SCMP)
• Unicorns in winter: China’s formerly white-hot tech sector is in the doldrums; Technology startups are finding it harder to attract venture capital and are shedding staff (Economist)
• Tech culture: Chinese consumers are buying cars online using VR, without kicking the proverbial tyre; Amid the recent economic slowdown more and more ordinary Chinese are turning to the second-hand car market to meet their driving needs (SCMP)
• China’s tech moguls bet on 5G to help lift economy amid increased security scrutiny in the West; Nationwide 5G capital spending forecast to range from 900 billion yuan and 1.5 trillion yuan between 2020 and 2025 (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Wearable devices may help prevent stroke: Monash wants $100m for trials (AFR)
• The Servant Economy: Ten years after Uber inaugurated a new era for Silicon Valley, we checked back in on 105 on-demand businesses. (Atlantic); The Sharing Economy Was Always a Scam; ‘Sharing’ was supposed to save us. Instead, it became a Trojan horse for a precarious economic future. (Medium)
• Salesforce at 20 offers lessons for startup success (TC)
• Scaleway releases cloud GPU instances for €1 per hour (TC)
• With Big Stars and Paid Subscriptions, Luminary Aims to Be the Netflix of Podcasts (NYT)
• How a 250-year-old government department is digitising Indian maps using drones (qz)
• How Turning Down A Nearly $1 Billion Acquisition Deal Helped Foursquare See Its 10th Anniversary (Forbes)
• A $2,000 Phone Won’t Cure an Industry’s Midlife Crisis; Folding screens, ultra-luxe devices and 5G won’t solve the problems of the no-growth smartphone market. (Bloomberg)
• AI Researchers Are Pushing Bias Out of Algorithms; Practical ideas for ensuring that artificial intelligence is ethical and fair are gushing from inside the tech profession. (Bloomberg)

Life

• Stan Lee unleashed the heroic power of the outcast (Wired)