H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 April 2019) – Linkbal Inc., an operator of an e-commerce portal website for matchmaking events, has offered the CoupLink online dating app since July 2016 that enables users to “get to know 1.5 million event attendees online”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 April 2019) – Linkbal Inc., an operator of an e-commerce portal website for matchmaking events, has offered the CoupLink online dating app since July 2016 that enables users to “get to know 1.5 million event attendees online”

Companies

• Linkbal Inc., an operator of an e-commerce portal website for matchmaking events, has offered the CoupLink online dating app since July 2016. As the app enables users to “get to know 1.5 million event attendees online,” many of its users became members after attending actual events (Kyodo)
• Nidec to add 600 engineers with Omron unit purchase; Japanese motor producer expands footprint in EV industry (Nikkei)
• Sony becomes Uber’s newest rival in Japan (EG); Sony’s Next PlayStation Won’t Mean the Death of Physical Videogames (Barron’s)
• DB HiTek mass produces FHD image sensor for China’s CCTV makers (PN)
• Info Edge India, the Indian job board, has invested in Etechaces, an India-based financial technologies marketing company. (SI)

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

• Alibaba will let you find restaurants and order food with voice in a car (TC)
• Tencent’s auto intelligence arm teams up with weather data site (Technode, KRA)

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

• Amazon’s Twitch Clones Tencent Music’s Karaoke Platform; But what works in China probably won’t work in its core market of U.S. gamers. (MF)
• Microsoft’s new Xbox ditches discs, will offer only downloaded games (MW)
• Google to Block TikTok in India, Hurting Chinese Startup (Bloomberg)
• How the Disney-Netflix streaming war will create collateral damage (MW); Netflix promises more information on what people are watching (MW); Netflix is burning money and lacks a good business model, this tech investor says (MW)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• The uphill road: battery limitations to test China’s electric vehicle ambitions (Reuters)
• A beta version of “CACICA” is released, which allows AI to visualize improvements to sites simply by installing tags. (TC)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Zoom Video IPO: 5 things to know about the videoconferencing company (MW)
• US and China tech giants look increasingly similar; Apple is moving into payments, films and gaming to diversify from phones, much like Xiaomi branched out into entertainment and finance (FT)
• Zalando’s Return to Fashion Could Just Be a Fad (Bloomberg)
• Match Group restructures exec team with focus on Asia (TC)
• Dropbox challenger pCloud just became profitable (TC)
• Ro, a direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, reaches $500M valuation (TC)
• Leapwork raises $10M for its easy process automation platform, plans US expansion (TC)
• Walmart partners with subscription-based children’s clothing startup, Kidbox (TC)
• Get ready for a new era of personalized entertainment (TC)
• Nearly two dozen of SiriusXM’s talk shows come to Pandora as podcasts (TC)
• Logitech’s new remote ditches the touchscreen for Alexa (TC)
• Jack Dorsey says it’s time to rethink the fundamental dynamics of Twitter (TC)
• Expedia Stock Rallies as Media Moguls Barry Diller and John Malone Reach a Deal (Barron’s
• Disney and the Future of TV (Stratechery)
• Lex in depth: can Snap survive? As pressure from Facebook intensifies, the group has three years to make a profit before it will need to raise fresh funds (FT)
• Who Goes Public When? Tech Companies Maneuver to Stand Out in the Horde (NYT)

Life

• Let’s say you could choose between a life that is full of meaning but also includes suffering, or a life that is devoid of suffering but lacks meaning. Most people would choose the life of meaning. (Medium)