Drone-piloting Beijing videomakers earn their pie in the sky

Drone-piloting Beijing videomakers earn their pie in the sky

Wednesday, 06 November, 2013, 6:26pm

Wu Nan nan.wu@scmp.com

Business for a Beijing aerial film crew took off after their images of a rooftop folly went viral

The business model is simple enough – take something interesting but out of reach. Give people a bird’s eye view of it, literally. And fame and fortune follow. That, in brief, is the remarkable story of Beijing FlyCam Culture and Media, an aerial photography firm that struck it rich thanks to the determination of a couple of Beijingers to turn their hobby of flying model aircraft into a money spinner. Read more of this post

Chinese developer makes free map and audio guide apps for 100+ tourist spots, reports 1 million active users

Chinese developer makes free map and audio guide apps for 100+ tourist spots, reports 1 million active users

November 6, 2013

by Paul Bischoff

Now plastered on a wall at the south entrance to Nanluoguxiang, one of Beijing’s most popular tourist streets, is a billboard-sized advertisement with a QR code. Scanning it will prompt you to download an app containing a map of the area spotted with several points of interest. Tapping on any of those points gives you free access to a professional audio guide, user-submitted photos and reviews, and a detailed description.

Read more of this post

Baidu splashes money on Digione, a mobile firm that wants to overthrow Xiaomi as China’s smartphone king

Baidu splashes money on Digione, a mobile firm that wants to overthrow Xiaomi as China’s smartphone king

November 6, 2013

by Josh Horwitz

Today Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), the search giant that’s slowly expanding its software ecosystem, announced an investment in Digione, a mobile logistics company based in Shenzhen. The exact sums and conditions haven’t been disclosed, but according to Techweb, the deal officially makes Baidu the company’s biggest investor. Before we dive into more specifics about the partnership, let’s backtrack a bit and ask: What is Digione and why should I care? The answer might surprise you. Read more of this post

Aging Gracefully, China’s Internet Heads to Launch Insurance Venture

November 6, 2013, 10:05 PM

Aging Gracefully, China’s Internet Heads to Launch Insurance Venture

When the two biggest names in the Chinese Internet sector get together to start an online insurance business, it can mean only one thing: China’s heroes of online innovation are getting old. Speaking together at an event in Shanghai on Wednesday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Jack Ma, 49, andTencent Holdings Ltd.TCEHY +1.00%Chief Executive Pony Ma, 42, both agreed that growing older in the fast-changing tech sector is a challenge. Read more of this post

15 big stats in Asia’s tech world for October (INFOGRAPHIC)

15 big stats in Asia’s tech world for October (INFOGRAPHIC)

November 6, 2013

by Anh-Minh Do

Once again, we bring you some of the most significant data points coming out of Asia last month. It’s a lot fo wrap your heads around so we’ve customized our infographic as much as we could to give you a good idea of what is most telling. China, India, Japan, and Indonesia are showing some serious growth numbers in online commerce and internet users. It’s a good time to be in Asia tech.

Samsung Promises Higher Dividend Yield, but Not High Enough; Despite Huge Cash Pile, It Will Still Fall Short of Apple and Even Sony

Samsung Promises Higher Dividend Yield, but Not High Enough

Despite Huge Cash Pile, It Will Still Fall Short of Apple and Even Sony

AARON BACK

Nov. 6, 2013 3:09 a.m. ET

There was one figure offered up at Samsung Electronics 005930.SE -2.29% ‘ big analyst day in Seoul that will make an impression on investors: 1%. That is the dividend yield Chief Financial Officer Lee Sang-hoon said he is aiming for this year. True, that would be up from the current yield of just 0.5%, suggesting that a substantial year-end payout could be in the works. But a 1% yield is unlikely to excite investors when they can get 2.3% from archrival Apple. AAPL -0.25% Even Sony, 6758.TO +1.20% which fell into the red last quarter, offers a 1.5% yield. Read more of this post

Acer Looks for New Direction as CEO Steps Down; “A merger is still quite unlikely, as one thing about people that build brands is that they are very stubborn”

Nov 6, 2013

Acer Looks for New Direction as CEO Steps Down

EVA DOU

Acer Inc.’s2353.TW -6.89% top executive is resigning. Now the question is, what are the changes in store for the company? Acer Chairman J.T. Wang attends a news conference in Taipei on June 3, 2013. Late Tuesday, Mr. Wang said he’s stepping down as both chairman and chief executive, taking the blame for the Taiwanese personal computer maker’s poor financial results. His announcement came on a day when Acer, the fourth-largest PC maker globally, announced a worse-than-expected third-quarter net loss and plans to eliminate hundreds of jobs. Read more of this post

Patent Tug-of-War Prompts Congress to Catch Up to Courts

Patent Tug-of-War Prompts Congress to Catch Up to Courts

U.S. lawmakers, influenced by companies including Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Qualcomm Inc., are considering the second set of patent-law changes in three years as the courts try to race ahead of Congress. The goal is to rein in entities that buy patents and demand royalties from as many companies as possible. Often derided as “trolls,” such firms filed 19 percent of all patent lawsuits from 2007 to 2011, the Government Accountability Office found. Read more of this post

Sony to charge monthly fee for multiplayer games on PS4: Nikkei

Sony to charge monthly fee for multiplayer games on PS4: Nikkei

Tue, Nov 5 2013

(Reuters) – Sony Corp plans to charge a monthly fee of $9.99 in the United States and 6.99 euros ($9.40) in Europe for playing multiplayer online games on its PlayStation 4 (PS4) console scheduled to debut this month, the Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources. Multiplayer games can be played for free on PlayStation 3. Sony plans to charge 500 yen ($5.00) a month for multiplayer games in Japan when the new console debuts in February, the Nikkei said. The $9.99 monthly option was announced by the company in June this year, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America told Reuters. In addition to the monthly option, the company will continue to offer its online multiplayer games service at an annual membership fee of $49.99 or less than $5 a month, the spokeswoman said. Sony plans to make PS4 more attractive by including more social networking functions, such as the ability to chat with fellow players, the Nikkei reported. Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One will also launch this month.

Intel creates new business division for connected gadgets

Intel creates new business division for connected gadgets

Tue, Nov 5 2013

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Intel Corp has set up a business division aimed at making money out of a new technology wave that can link up a host of electronic devices. The Santa Clara, California chipmaker and other technology companies are betting that what they call the ‘Internet of Things’ – a trend toward connecting everything from bathroom scales to skyscraper ventilation systems via the Internet – will create massive demand for new electronics and software. Read more of this post

Apple Passes ZTE in China Smartphones to fifth place with 5% market share, behind Samsung (14%), Lenovo (13%), China Wireless’ Coolpad (11%), Huawei (9%)

Apple Passes ZTE in China Smartphones With IPhone Early Release

Apple Inc. (AAPL) captured fifth place in China’s smartphone market in the third quarter, surpassing ZTE Corp. (000063) and Xiaomi Corp., after it included the Asian nation in the latest iPhone’s global debut. Shipments of the iPhone rose 32 percent year-on-year to hand Apple 6 percent of the country’s smartphone market in the three months ended September, Nicole Peng, the China research director for Canalys, said in a phone interview today. Cupertino, California-based Apple had ranked seventh, with a 5 percent share, in the second quarter, she said. Read more of this post

LG uses a flexible OLED, or organic light emitting diode, display in its new smartphone, which is covered by a special kind of glass

NOVEMBER 5, 2013, 6:34 PM

LG Shows Off the Bend in Its Flex

By ERIC PFANNER

LG uses a flexible OLED, or organic light emitting diode, display in its new smartphone, which is covered by a special kind of glass.

SEOUL, South Korea — LG Electronics of South Korea took the wraps off its new curved smartphone, the G Flex, on Tuesday, showing off the device at a gathering of mostly Korean journalists at its headquarters here. It turns out the G Flex does live up to its name. At least, sort of. No, this is not the fully flexible handset that engineers and analysts have been promising for some time. It does not roll up into a scroll shape, wrap around your wrist or fold in half. Read more of this post

How Automattic/WordPress Grew Into A Startup Worth $1 Billion With No Email And No Office Workers

How Automattic Grew Into A Startup Worth $1 Billion With No Email And No Office Workers

JULIE BORT NOV. 5, 2013, 2:31 PM 5,169 2

Of all the cool work cultures we’ve ever heard of, none is more impressive than Automattic, the company responsible for the popular blogging platform, WordPress. Automattic is so unusual, it’s the subject of a new book “The Year Without Pants” by its employee Scott Berkun. Berkun is a former Microsoft employee who documented how Automattic grew into a 190-employee company with a $1 billion valuation, while nearly all employees work from home. Even though the company has a gorgeous San Francisco office, Automattic doesn’t consider location when hiring employees. Workers are scattered across 141 cities and 28 countries and get a $2,000 stipend to decorate or improve their home offices (in addition to a new Mac and other tech equipment), WordPress creator and Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg told Business Insider. Read more of this post

Car sharing zips into a new era

November 5, 2013 5:18 pm

Car sharing zips into a new era

By Henry Foy

If you cannot beat them, buy them. The fast-growing business of car sharing hit the big time in January when Avis Budget announced it would acquire Zipcar, the largest operator in the nascent industry, for $500m. While confirming the rise of Zipcar and its smaller rivals from alternative lifestyle choice to serious business model, the acquisition also highlighted how traditional car-rental agencies and manufacturers are scrambling to keep pace with the rapidly changing ways in which people look at driving. Read more of this post

Cable TV CEO Is ‘Surprised’ That 1.3 Million Out of Of His 5.5 Million Customers Want The Internet But NOT Television

Cable TV CEO Is ‘Surprised’ That 1.3 Million Of His Customers Want The Internet But NOT Television

JIM EDWARDS NOV. 5, 2013, 4:27 PM 3,080 16

Tom Rutledge, the CEO of cable TV company Charter Communications, told Wall Street this week he was “surprised” that 1.3 million of his 5.5 million customers don’t want TV. They just want broadband internet. They’re actively NOT subscribing to TV in addition to the web. “Our broadband-only growth has been greater than I thought it would be,” he added. Rutledge is not alone. A lot of people are having difficulty processing the idea that now it’s so easy to watch shows or movies online, whenever you want, that cable and broadcast TV just aren’t something that everybody wants anymore. Read more of this post

British supermarket chain Tesco is installing face-scanning cameras at its 450 gas stations across the U.K. to target customers with customized ads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L5ujICDj1U

A British Supermarket Chain Is Installing ‘Creepy’ Face-Scanning Cameras To Track Consumers

HAYLEY PETERSON NOV. 5, 2013, 9:19 PM 738 10

British supermarket chain Tesco is installing face-scanning cameras at its 450 gas stations across the U.K. to target customers with customized ads. Cameras at each register will scan customers’ facial features to determine their gender and age range, and then a targeted ad will pop up on a nearby screen intended to spur an impulse buy, the BBC reports. The system is 95% accurate in spotting men and 87% accurate in spotting women, according to an independent study on the website of French company Quividi, which developed the software. The system, which is licensed by the British firm Amscreen, has raised some privacy concerns. Read more of this post

NZ sharemarket darling Xero dubbed ‘Apple of accounting’

Sharemarket darling Xero dubbed ‘Apple of accounting’

November 6, 2013 – 12:16PM

Dual listed accounting software start-up and sharemarket highflyer Xero has been dubbed the ‘‘Apple of accounting’’ by heavyweight investment bank Credit Suisse, which has become the first global bank to seriously assess the company’s prospects. In a note to clients this morning, it slapped an ‘‘outperform’’ rating on Xero shares with a price target of $NZ45.70, well ahead of its record-high $NZ35.75 trading level on the New Zealand stock exchange and $31.75 on the ASX, where it’s up 10 per cent for the day. This was just the start for the growth-oriented firm, Credit Suisse argued in the note, as Xero could grow to a $10 billion Nasdaq stock within five years – around three times its present sharemarket worth.

Shares surge 425% Read more of this post

South Korean mobile messenger app expands reach into Asia

November 5, 2013 9:30 pm

South Korean mobile messenger app expands reach into Asia

By Song Jung-a

In South Korea, nearly all smartphone users are KakaoTalk subscribers. Kakao Corp brought “mobile big bang” to the country by launching the popular messaging service three years ago. Now, it is the main means of communication among smartphone users. KakaoTalk boasts 110m registered users, with 40 per cent of them believed to be from outside South Korea. They enjoy free instant messaging, photo sharing, mobile games and shopping on its platform. Read more of this post

South Korea sees technology as key to rejuvenation

November 5, 2013 9:30 pm

South Korea sees technology as key to rejuvenation

By Simon Mundy

Some 65 years after the Republic of Korea was born amid a landscape of desperate poverty, its armed forces recently brought central Seoul to a standstill with a huge anniversary parade. As tanks, missiles and thousands of troops coursed through the streets of the capital, the gleaming office buildings and trendy coffee shops surrounding them bore testament to one of the past century’s most stunning economic success stories. Yet, amid the flag-waving children and the confetti, last month’s display reflected the military tensions that continue to haunt the Korean peninsula and which have been unresolved since its formal division in 1948. And while South Korea’s annual output has grown since then from an estimated $86 a head to $22,590 last year, it is gripped by a nervous debate over its path to continued economic development. Read more of this post

Japan Limits Scope of Online Pharmaceutical Sales; The Closely Watched Decision Dilutes Prime Minister Abe’s Pledge to Deregulate Medical E-Commerce

Japan Limits Scope of Online Pharmaceutical Sales

The Closely Watched Decision Dilutes Prime Minister Abe’s Pledge to Deregulate Medical E-Commerce

TOKO SEKIGUCHI

Nov. 5, 2013 9:43 p.m. ET

TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government on Wednesday said it would impose strict limits on the online sale of some over-the-counter medicines, diluting a pledge to deregulate medical e-commerce and heightening concerns about a broader effort to free up business and spur growth. Mr. Abe’s effort to wipe out distinctions between online and brick-and-mortar drugstores—one of the few specific pledges he made when he unveiled a sweeping growth strategy in June—has gotten mired down amid safety worries and lobbying by traditional pharmacies. The plan epitomized the type of deregulation Mr. Abe said would liberate Japanese commerce, long constrained by the type of rules abandoned in other advanced economies. Read more of this post

MomentCam, a smartphone application that converts pictures of the user into cute cartoon characters has become a hit overnight in China

MomentCam app, China’s latest overnight sensation

Staff Reporter

2013-11-06

Three cartoon portraits made with the MomentCam app. (Internet Photo)

A smartphone application that converts pictures of the user into cute cartoon characters has become a hit overnight in China, with the number of subscribers topping 20 million in the fourth months after its launch. The application, called MomentCam in English — a phonetic rendering of the Chinese which means “magic manga camera,” rose to the top of the free apps category on the Apple online store in China in just three days and notched a record 3.25 million subscribers a day. On the back of its rapid success, it recently attracted a 10 million yuan (US$1.64 million) loan. Read more of this post

Alibaba lends smarter in China; Lending arm uses information instead of assets to be sure of loans

November 5, 2013 2:27 pm

Alibaba lends smarter in China

By Paul J Davies

Lending arm uses information instead of assets to be sure of loans

Wantou is a small village in the flat farmland of Shandong province about 350km south of Beijing. It has little to set it apart from hundreds of thousands of similar Chinese villages but for one thing – a long tradition of wicker and straw handicrafts that are becoming hugely popular among online shoppers. The An family, the first to start selling their handmade homewares, have been profiled by a number of Chinese news outlets after becoming wealthy from their trade and encouraging friends and neighbours to follow suit. This has turned Wantou into one of retailer Alibaba’s “Taobao Villages”, where groups of people form a mini-industry by selling similar products online. Their activity can boost the local economy by creating demand for other goods and services. Read more of this post

Time Warner has slimmed down to a pure television and film business

Last updated: November 5, 2013 8:17 pm

Media: Tight focus

By Matthew Garrahan

Time Warner has slimmed down to a pure television and film business

The monument to the worst merger in corporate history can be found at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, where two glittering towers loom over the southwest corner of Central Park. The Time Warner Center – originally called the AOL Time Warner Center – opened its doors in 2003, three years after AOL’s $164bn takeover of the media company whose roots lay in Henry Luce’s Time Inc and Jack Warner’s Hollywood studio. The deal, swiftly followed by a $100bn writedown, epitomised the hyper-inflated valuations of the dotcom era and the foolishness of combining mismatched old and new media cultures. Read more of this post

The 50,000% return: Twitter investors searching for next big thing

The 50,000% return: Twitter investors searching for next big thing

November 6, 2013 – 7:58AM

For Twitter early venture capital backers, some of whom stand to make over 500 times their investment when the company goes public, now is a time not just to celebrate but increase their stakes in mobile and social media. Take Bijan Sabet, the partner at Spark Capital who led his firm’s investment in Twitter in 2008. At the time, according to a person familiar with the matter, Twitter was valued at $US100 million ($105.4 million). This week, the company is seeking a valuation of up to $US13.6 billion in its initial public offering. Read more of this post

China’s PayPal extends its tentacles into US with big travel partnership

China’s PayPal extends its tentacles into US with big travel partnership

BY HAMISH MCKENZIE 
ON NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Chinese Internet companies are getting busy in the US.

While Tencent, Alibaba, and UC Web are making big-dollar investments in US startups, successful IPOs for travel portal Qunar and classifieds site 58.com have further improved the prospects for Chinese tech companies going public in the US. Now, ecommerce giant Alibaba, which is itself expected to soon file to go public, is extending its payments platform, Alipay, in the US. Read more of this post

Internet Finance: A Brave New World in China

Internet Finance: A Brave New World

11-05 15:45 Caijing

Competition and cooperation between dotcom companies and financial institutions will help upgrade the financial industry and ultimately benefit individual investors.

By staff reporters You Xi, Liu Wenjun, and Zhao Jingting
Internet companies, given their massive user bases, have achieved great success upon expanding into the financial sector, especially in the areas of online payment and fund sales.
A case in point is Baifa. A wealth management product co-offered by search giant Baidu and domestic fund company ChinaAMC, Baifa raked in over 1 billion yuan in sales revenue in just a few hours when it debuted Oct. 28. Baifa easily broke the record set by competing product Yu’ebao in late June. Yu’ebao, a currency fund launched by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, raised 50 million yuan on its debut day, which sent a shockwave across the industry.  Read more of this post

South Korea is stuck with Internet Explorer for online shopping because of security law

South Korea is stuck with Internet Explorer for online shopping because of security law

By Chico Harlan, Published: November 5

SEOUL — South Korea is renowned for its digital innovation, with coast-to-coast broadband and a 4G LTE network that reaches into Seoul’s subway system. But this tech-savvy country is stuck in a time warp in one way: its slavish dependence on Internet Explorer. For South Koreans who use other browsers such as Chrome or Safari, online shopping often begins with a pop-up notice warning that they might not be able to buy what they came for. Read more of this post

Road Voyeurism Fueling Surge in Black Box Sales in Korea; What began five years back as a way to protect local taxi drivers from passengers who run off without paying has caught on with other drivers – 2.2 million black boxes are already in use, more than the number of autos sold in Korea each year

Road Voyeurism Fueling Surge in Black Box Sales in Korea: Cars

In the world of the wired, South Koreans rule: millions got hooked on social networking years before Facebook; their mobile phones went broadband first; and Internet connections are faster than anyplace on the planet. Now they’re going pedal to the metal on the next hi-tech craze: “black boxes” for cars, devices that automatically record video and audio as well as time, location and speed. What began five years back as a way to protect local taxi drivers from passengers who run off without paying has caught on with other drivers — 2.2 million black boxes are already in use, more than the number of autos sold in Korea each year. Broadcaster SBS has enough clips from viewers that it aired more than 100 morning show segments on car crashes. Read more of this post