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H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 September 2018) – The next phase of semiconductor growth will not depend on smartphone sales: Tokyo Electron CEO + Leadership and Life Lessons from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 September 2018) – The next phase of semiconductor growth will not depend on smartphone sales: Tokyo Electron CEO + Leadership and Life Lessons from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

Companies

• The next phase of semiconductor growth will not depend on smartphone sales: Tokyo Electron CEO (CNBC)
• Taiwan flexible PCB firms expand market presence. Through the upcoming debut of its China-based subsidiary Avary Holding on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), Zhen Ding is expected to raise CNY3.6 billion (US$527.2 million). Flexium Interconnect has been engaged in the development of new technologies and products associated with 5G communication applications, and has obtained new orders for such high-margin products including communication management modules and high-frequency wireless transmission modules from both the notebook and handset sectors (Digitimes)
• Citadel is a technology business that offers secure enterprise management software that helps people working in security, defence, healthcare and education make decisions with the right information. (MF)

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

• How Jack Ma went from English teacher to tech billionaire (CNN)

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

• Which Apple Suppliers Win, and Lose, From New iPhones (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• ByteDance to enter China’s long-form streaming video market, challenging iQiyi, Tencent Video (SCMP)
• IT home service company ShanXiuXia hauls in 80M RMB Series B; Founded in 2015, ShanXiuXia is currently providing IT home repair services in 30 cities. (KRA)
• Rare billion-dollar beast: Aussie tech unicorn Canva makes a profit (Age)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Here’s Why Yelp and Grubhub Could Keep Rising (Barron’s)
• This $2 Billion HR Startup Wants To Humanize How Small Businesses Pay Their Staff (Forbes)
• With no true competitive threats, wide-moat commercial real estate data provider CoStar Group is a borderline monopoly. (Morningstar)
• MoviePass Woes May Be Opportunity for Competitors; Rivals seek to satisfy newfound demand for theatrical subscription option (WSJ)
• Inside Deliveroo’s dark kitchens, the food delivery fight’s new front (Age)

Life

• Leadership and Life Lessons from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos: Make three good decisions a day and no meetings before 10 a.m. (WSJ)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 September 2018) – UUUM enters Instagram and acquires Lemonade’s Influencer One for 500 million yen + Munger and the Power of Persistence: The guru’s life has been full of tragedy, but this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dreams

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 September 2018) – UUUM enters Instagram and acquires Lemonade’s Influencer One for 500 million yen + Munger and the Power of Persistence: The guru’s life has been full of tragedy, but this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dreams

Companies

• UUUM enters Instagram and acquires Lemonade’s Influencer One for 500 million yen; the number of Instagram creators who are registered to Influencer One is 2,800. Together with the 6,570 YouTube channels that UUUM currently supports, UUUM will support nearly 10,000 creators in the future. The number of monthly viewing times of UUUM’s YouTube channels has surpassed 4 billion times (August 2018) and boasts overwhelming strength in the field of YouTuber management. (Techcrunch)
• iQiyi hopes to capture a slice of China’s silver economy with short video app Jin Shi (SCMP)
• Chinese online chemist 111 looks beyond lacklustre Nasdaq debut to strong growth at wholesale unit (SCMP)
• Tencent-Backed Personalized News App Qutoutiao’s IPO Downsized To $86M (CMN)
• China’s Nio may be facing the same issues as Tesla, according to analysts; Chinese electric-car maker burns through a lot of cash and has ‘ambitious’ sales goals (MW); NIO’s Wild Ride May Blaze Trail for More U.S. IPOs From China (Bloomberg)

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

• Ant Financial rolls out China’s first blockchain-powered electronic medical prescription service (Technode)
• Alibaba-backed internet car startup Banma secures RMB 1.6 billion in first financing round (Technode)
• What Taobao makers tell us about today’s China (Technode)
• Tencent, Lego look to pull China’s games market out of the doldrums with new offering (SCMP)

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

• The iPhone Franchise (Stratechery)
• Why it’s smart for Apple to be the Christian Dior of tech (CNN); New Apple watch could take bite out of Swiss market (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Asia Tech Stocks Diverge From U.S., With Biggest Gap Since 1998 (Bloomberg)
• Dashed hopes and expectations: Israeli startups view China with a wary eye (Technode)
• China’s tech is addicted to debt (Technode)
• Japan’s HiNative Q&A app for language learning hits 3.4M registered users, raises $6M (Bridge)
• Epharmacies: Click to heal; The market for epharmacies is substantial but evolving a profitable business model will take time (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Procore Built The Cloud’s Hottest Unicorn By Bringing Software To Low-Tech Construction Sites (Forbes)
• Is Software Eating Value Investing? (Ben Carlson)
• Walmart’s purchase of Mexico food delivery app set to spur e-commerce (Reuters)
• Spotify attracts eyes as well as ears with video ads (Reuters)

Life

• Munger and the Power of Persistence: The guru’s life has been full of tragedy, but this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dreams (GF)
• 21 Quotes That (If Applied) Change You Into a Better Person (Medium)
• M&A costs to rise under proposed change to global accounting: Asian and European companies face billions of dollars in goodwill amortization (Nikkei)
• Profitable, difficult, or important? (Seth)
• Warren Buffett on P/E ratios and the future looking different from the present (VIW)
• How Self-Reflection Can Help Leaders Stay Motivated (HBR)
• Pixar’s Braintrust — Why It‘s Important for a Creative Culture (Prototypr)
• Mental Models: Make Decisions You Don’t Regret (DF)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 September 2018) – Kakao injects W513b into new contents subsidiary Kakao M + Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most Hardcover

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (13 September 2018) – Kakao injects W513b into new contents subsidiary Kakao M + Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most Hardcover

Companies

• Shanda Games to sell online gaming affiliate to Shenzhen-listed company at $4.4 billion (Technode)
• Pinduoduo stock soars 19 per cent as it aligns with genuine brands to clean up counterfeit image (SCMP)
• Kakao injects W513b into new contents subsidiary Kakao M (Investor)
• Backend firm Kingpak expanding capacity for auto CIS (Digitimes)
• LG Display struggles for footing after LCD forecasting error leads to crisis (Reuters)
• Xero to hero: Accounting platform finds its feet as Rod Drury steps back (Age)

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

• Alibaba-backed apparel-sharing company YCloset brings sharing economy to a new level (KRA)

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

• Apple’s new innovation: tap fear as well as greed (Reuters); The new Apple Watch is going to have more of your health data than your doctor (qz); Apple Adds Heart-Monitoring, Fall-Detection Features to Its Watch; Addition of medical apps broadens appeal of device originally marketed as fitness and fashion product (WSJ)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Coffee pod company iCapsulate collapses into administration after being offered biggest ever Shark Tank deal (SmartCo)
• Driverless cars are coming as on-demand Intellicar prepares to hit Perth streets (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Goldman Sees Only Headwinds for Semiconductors (Bloomberg); Semiconductor Pricing Woes May Linger, Prompting Cuts at Goldman (Bloomberg)
• ‘Expedia of Latin America’ Could Jump 140% (Barron’s)
• Wayfair: Without a Clearer Path to Profits, the Stock May Be ‘Topping Out’ (Barron’s)
• How Tech is Drawing Shoppers Back to Bricks-and-Mortar Stores; Innovative dressing rooms. Apps to choose clothes in advance. Introducing the digitally enhanced shopping trip (WSJ)
• Opendoor Acquires Open Listings To Make Buying A Home Easier (Crunchbase)
• The global smartphone supply chain needs an upgrade: Its vulnerabilities are smartphone saturation, weak firms and protectionism (Economist)

Life

• Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most Hardcover – September 4, 2018 (Amazon)
• a16z Podcast: Seeing into the Future – Making Decisions, Telling Stories (a16z)
• How to Be a Person Who Can Make a Damn Decision (MM)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 September 2018) – Vision-automation technology is taking over the factory floor + Fear, Joseph Campbell noticed, often reveals itself as a purpose

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (12 September 2018) – Vision-automation technology is taking over the factory floor + Fear, Joseph Campbell noticed, often reveals itself as a purpose

Companies

• See Food: Why Robots Are Producing More of What You Eat; Vision-automation technology is taking over the factory floor, a testing ground for adoption in self-driving cars, drones. While vision sensors are good at scanning images for what’s missing, robotic eyes face a wall in inspecting objects from multiple angles, according to engineers at Kyoto, Japan-based Omron Corp. Their proposed solution: big data. To teach a sensor to distinguish a chocolate chip from a burned bit in a cookie, for example, Omrom is using AI to analyze thousands of inspection results. (WSJ)
• This Big Chip Deal May Be Small Enough to Win: No major red flags for Renesas’s IDT acquisition in politically risky climate for chip deals (WSJ)
• In Tesla’s shadow, China’s NIO prices IPO at low end of target: source (Reuters)
• Delta Electronics August revenues hit record (Digitimes)
• Leading taxi-hailing app providers in Japan and South Korea – Japan Taxi Co. and Kakao Mobility Corp – to collaborate (JT)

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

• Alibaba takes a 10% stake in one of Russia’s biggest tech players Mail.Ru Group for $484m (WSJ)
• Hong Kong’s first pure digital insurance venture, Tencent-backed Blue, to start selling policies (SCMP)

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

• New Way to Play FANG Stocks Falls Short for Some Investors; ‘Auto-callable’ notes tied to tech stocks are gaining in popularity but aren’t always delivering large payouts (WSJ)
• US-made iPhones would cost $150 more, supplier says as tariffs loom; Trump’s dig at Apple underscores challenge for assemblers of rethinking China supply chain (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China suspends carpool services following murders (AsiaOne)
• Didi falls way behind Uber on road to IPO (Reuters)
• Got a problem? Ask China’s online agony aunts (Tribune)
• Funding squeeze to deflate China’s startup ‘bubble,’ says US incubator (Nikkei)
• How a Taoist Temple Scion Grew His Quirky Online Retailer 1,600%; The 486 founder has built a cult following with Youtube advice (Bloomberg)
• Telehealth apps rise in Southeast Asia due to doctor scarcity (Nikkei)
• Personal finance portal MoneySmart Group aims to equip consumers with the tools to become their own best financial advisers. (BT)
• India’s top digital payments firm bets on local expertise to fend off rivals (Reuters)
• More than a hotel-listing platform: Zuzu Hospitality Solutions also acts as a consultancy, helping small independent hotels manage their operations and marketing. (BT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Roku: A Premium Is ‘Warranted’ as the Company Grows (Barron’s)
• More Enterprise-Tech Ventures Going Public (WSJ)
• SEC Seeks Software To Monitor Market-Moving Social-Media Posts (ZH)

Life

• Fear, Joseph Campbell noticed, often reveals itself as a purpose, a trade, or an occupation. These are endeavours that rapture the individual, but are, perhaps, looked upon by the ego and society as disagreeable for many reasons. The dragon is everything that you fear. It holds your anxieties, your lack of confidence, the expectations of others and also your own limiting expectations of yourself (Medium)
• How to Maintain a State of Creative ‘Flow’ (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 September 2018) – Trend Micro and HITRUST Launch New Company to Provide Cyber Risk Management as a Service to Select U.S. Enterprises + Where the wild things are. It’s a law of the universe: Creativity always starts at the edge

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (11 September 2018) – Trend Micro and HITRUST Launch New Company to Provide Cyber Risk Management as a Service to Select U.S. Enterprises + Where the wild things are. It’s a law of the universe: Creativity always starts at the edge

Companies

• Trend Micro and HITRUST Launch New Company to Provide Cyber Risk Management as a Service to Select U.S. Enterprises (BW)
• Renesas to Acquire U.S. Chipmaker IDT for $6.7 Billion (Bloomberg)
• Altaba Will Raise $4.3 Billion by Exiting Yahoo Japan Stake (Bloomberg)
• China’s Ctrip in talks to invest $100m in Zomato’s $400m round (KRA)
• Video streamer iQiyi signs deal with India’s Eros to bring Bollywood blockbusters to China (SCMP)
• Gentrack launches AWS cloud integration services for utilities (Reseller)

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

• Why Jack Ma thought about quitting Alibaba in 2001 (TIA); Jack Ma: A Showman Who Has Shown China a New Way to Do Business; Alibaba’s executive chairman has helped light his nation’s tech boom and inspired countless followers (WSJ); Alibaba’s New Boss: The Finance Vet Who Quietly Shook Things Up (Bloomberg); Jack Ma’s exit plan just raises more questions (Reuters)
• Hitachi and Tencent team up on ‘internet of things’ (Nikkei)
• Samsung and Hyundai Investing in Solid-State Battery Producer (Bloomberg)

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

• Facebook and Its Users Are Telling Different Stories (Bloomberg)
• Amazon’s Trademark Applications Hint at More Fashion (Bloomberg)
• Apple becomes the most shorted stock in the US as iPhone Xs launch looms (AFR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• ZhouPu Data creates ERP system with a sharing economy in warehousing to increase supply chain efficiency in retail (KRA)
• China’s Didi Chuxing rolls out in-car audio recording as part of safety overhaul (SCMP)
• China’s games industry at a turning point amid regulatory crackdown, with Korea offering a vision of its future (SCMP)
• Indonesia is suffering from early stage fatigue (KRA)
• Indian Shopping Sensation Finds Online Retailing Is Rabidly Competitive (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Airbnb structures its data to help users find relevant search results (TIA)

Life

• The Hong Kong Researcher Pointing Out Red Flags at Chinese Firms (Bloomberg)
• Where the wild things are. It’s a law of the universe: Creativity always starts at the edge. (Perell)
• Disruption By Design (Prototypr)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (10 September 2018) – Japan’s Recruit employs AI to stop workers from quitting

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (10 September 2018) – Japan’s Recruit employs AI to stop workers from quitting

Companies

• Digital media upstarts step up assault on Japan’s news business; Uzabase’s NewsPicks’ paid subscriber base has been growing fast, though it still comes to only about 74,000 (Nikkei)
• Japan’s Recruit employs AI to stop workers from quitting (Nikkei)
• Taiwanese firms losing interest in China: MOEA; a string of Taiwanese electronics firms including Delta Electronics, New Kinpo Group, and Merry Electronics have began to switch some of their Chinese manufacturing to Southeast Asia (Taiwan News)
• Xero to hero: Accounting platform finds its feet as Rod Drury steps back (Age)

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

• As Jack Ma Prepares to Move on, Here’s a Look at Alibaba’s Journey (Bloomberg); Jack Ma’s Letter to Staff on His Retirement: Full Text (Bloomberg); Alibaba’s Jack Ma: Smart People Need a ‘Fool’ to Lead Them (Bloomberg); Jack Ma to unveil Alibaba’s succession plan, paving the way for younger talent to take over (SCMP); Meet Daniel Zhang, the ‘free and unfettered spirit’ who will succeed Jack Ma as Alibaba’s chairman (SCMP)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Online insurance start-up OneDegree raises HK$200 million to fund push to cover Hong Kong’s dogs and cats (SCMP)
• OKEx blowout exposes soft underbelly of lightly regulated cryptocurrency transactions (SCMP)
• A short history of the QR code in China and why Southeast Asia is next (Technode)
• They’re the king of lock-screen advertising. Next stop: world domination (TIA)
• Go-Jek fuels digital content strategy by backing online media firm Kumparan (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Former Coles Myer CEO Dennis Eck says the rise of e-commerce giants such as Amazon has reshaped the retail landscape and paved the way for the rise of micro-brands in consumer goods that are able to build a presence very quickly. (AFR)

Life

• The Shadow Side of Greatness: Many of the qualities that make people great have shadow sides as well. (James Clear)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (8 September 2018) – Sinbon Electronics hits record sales for the sixth consecutive month + The current tech bubble is a Chinese import: A raft of tech IPOs have arrived on U.S. shores from China, with minimal operating histories and convoluted corporate structures

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (8 September 2018) – Sinbon Electronics hits record sales for the sixth consecutive month + The current tech bubble is a Chinese import: A raft of tech IPOs have arrived on U.S. shores from China, with minimal operating histories and convoluted corporate structures

Companies

• Jinri Toutiao rival Qutoutiao reduces IPO financing volume by nearly 50% (Technode)
• Universal Scientific Industrial (Shanghai) Co., which makes Wi-Fi modules for products such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone, expects earnings to improve in 2019 as the squeeze from surging component costs and lackluster shipments eases. (Bloomberg)
• Mechanical motion control component and industrial robot maker Hiwin Technologies posts strong August revenues (Digitimes)
• Leica Geosystems has selected Getac’s fully rugged ZX70 Android tablet for the new Leica Zeno GG04 Plus Tablet package, designed for utilities, public services, transportation and construction. (GPSW); Getac sees August revenues increase 17% on year (Digitimes); Toledo police have selected Getac to provide 305 body cameras for all field officers after technical problems with previous cameras led to their return (MJN)
• Cable assembly and connector maker Sinbon Electronics has reported consolidated revenues of NT$1.471 billion (US$47.9 million) for August, hitting a record for the sixth consecutive month with growth of 3.18% sequentially and 21.07% on year (Digitimes)

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

• Alibaba Invests Undisclosed C1 Round In Chinese Mobile Phone Recycling Firm Huishoubao (CMN)
• Alibaba’s Jack Ma to retire as chairman on Monday (Nikkei)
• Goldman Sachs, Tencent Leads $450M In Chinese Fresh Produce E-Commerce Platform MissFresh (CMN)
• After just a few weeks, WeChat’s new challenger is fading away (TIA)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• The current tech bubble is a Chinese import: A raft of tech IPOs have arrived on U.S. shores from China, with minimal operating histories and convoluted corporate structures (MW)
• Thailand’s aCommerce to go for IPO in 2020; expansion to Vietnam on the anvil (e27)
• Lippo tycoon looks to young-gun grandson to build digital empire; Mochtar Riady’s heir apparent, John Riady, makes mark in Indonesian e-payments (Nikkei)
• Food fight! The battle for the food delivery market; With so many players battling it out, is the food delivery business model viable? (BT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The Story of Box: A Unicorn’s Journey to Public Success (Barron’s)
• How E*Trade CIO Faces Obstacles to Agile; ‘It’s all well and good until you run into cultural barriers,’ Lance Braunstein says (WSJ)

Life

• Why great leaders seek out uncomfortable truths; Individual and group biases make us blind to risks and our own weaknesses. (MT)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (7 September 2018) – Japan’s Nidec sees electric vehicles driving profits as it plans for future

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (7 September 2018) – Japan’s Nidec sees electric vehicles driving profits as it plans for future

Companies

• Japan’s Nidec sees electric vehicles driving profits as it plans for future (Reuters)
• Daifuku exhibits top logistical technology in Thailand (AN)
• Tencent Music will reportedly file for its US-based IPO on September 7. The company hopes to raise $2 billion at a valuation of up to $31 billion (Technode)
• Meituan wants to help restaurants manage better with $4.4bn IPO (Nikkei)
• Billionaire Founder Locked Up? JD.com’s Board Can’t Meet Without Its Mighty Boss; Corporate clause shows Liu Qiangdong’s tight control of his company; many tech firms have structures that give founders a viselike grip (WSJ); At JD.com, CEO Richard Liu has an iron grip and no clear successor (Reuters)
• Touch and fingerprint sensor supplier Elan Microelectronics hit record revenue for 2nd consecutive month (Digitimes)
• Realtek posts record August revenues (Digitimes)
• Himax teams up with MediaTek, Megvii for 3D sensing solutions (Digitimes)
• KakaoTalk users look forward to more improvements (Investor); Kakao Mobility taps Japanese taxi market (Investor)
• Nearmap Ltd wants $70 million to fund its international expansion plans (Yahoo)
• HDFC Bank’s fintech footprints; The private sector lender was one of the earliest to partner fintech firms for digital solutions (Forbes)

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

• Alipay opens unmanned apparel shop in Hong Kong; Ant Financial looks to promote mobile payments in city (Nikkei)
• Billionaire Jack Ma Prepares for Life After Alibaba (Bloomberg)
• Tencent signs partnership deal with coffee startup Luckin in challenge to Alibaba-Starbucks tie-up (SCMP)
• SoftBank Is Seeking Loans From Banks Pitching for Big IPO (Bloomberg)

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

• Apple: A Media ‘Bundle’ Worth $37 Billion? (Barron’s)
• In Apple’s Third Act, the iPhone Plays Supporting Role; Wearables are today a relatively tiny business for Apple, but they could someday be the company’s biggest driver of revenue and customer retenti (WSJ)
• Facebook’s Shrinking Margins Top List of Woes Weighing on Stock (Bloomberg); 1 In 4 Facebook Users Delete Facebook App As Millennial Exodus Continues (ZH)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Didi admits RMB 4 billion net loss in the first half of 2018 (Technode)
• China’s 5G Bonanza May Leave Investors on Hold (Bloomberg)
• China’s bike sharing industry is ‘immature and unreasonable’, needs regulation, says state media commentary (SCMP)
• Roger Yuen is the CEO of Clozette, an online lifestyle and social network that has a collective reach of more than 450 million eyeballs, drawn to the content created by the platform’s 3,000 content creators. (BT)
• GIC still sees gems in tech sector despite stretched valuations; Fund has found firms with substantial technology capabilities that trade at ‘old economy’ valuations (BT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Innovation to drive future semiconductor market growth, says Morris Chang (Digitimes)
• Mutual Fund Giants Make DevOps Startup PagerDuty a Unicorn (Bloomberg)
• Everybody Wants to Take a Bite Out of Big Tech (Bloomberg)
• Waymo, Uber Driverless Projects Make Scanning Sensors Cheaper (Bloomberg)
• Car-Sharing Boom Gets An Unlikely New Entrant (Bloomberg)
• As Tech Selloff Worsens, Options Traders Brace for More Bleeding (Bloomberg)
• MasterClass Has Celebrity Instructors and $136 Million. Will Students Show Up? Would you pay $90 for a video cooking lesson from Gordon Ramsay? (Bloomberg)
• Financial software maker SS&C to buy Intralinks in $1.5 billion deal (Reuters)
• Elastic, a search-focused software-as-a-service (SaaS) company Files To Go Public (CrunchBase)
• Insight Venture Partners buys content management platform Episerver for $1.1 billion (Techcrunch)
• Short seller Andrew Left sues Tesla and Elon Musk, claiming stock manipulation (CNBC)

Life

• Stop Wasting Time on the Unimportant: 7 Questions to Eliminate the Non-Essential and Focus on the Critical (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 September 2018) – Are Robots All Hype? One Company May Have the Answer; Japanese motor maker Nidec, a bellwether for manufacturing trends, has been investing heavily in automation + Friedrich Nietzsche: Why Life Isn’t Meaningless

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (6 September 2018) – Are Robots All Hype? One Company May Have the Answer; Japanese motor maker Nidec, a bellwether for manufacturing trends, has been investing heavily in automation + Friedrich Nietzsche: Why Life Isn’t Meaningless

Companies

• Are Robots All Hype? One Company May Have the Answer; Japanese motor maker Nidec, a bellwether for manufacturing trends, has been investing heavily in automation. (Bloomberg)

• Alipay partners with Yahoo Japan to expand mobile payments reach (Nikkei)
• China’s Tesla Wannabe Is Asking Investors to Pay for Potential; NIO seeks market cap above $8 billion with limited production. Tencent-backed NIO among 5 local EV makers considered unicorns (Bloomberg)
• Meituan Dianping to halt ride-hailing expansion in China amid crisis at industry leader Didi (SCMP)
• Chinese e-commerce portal Yunji Weidian taps banks for U.S. IPO – source (Reuters)
• Kakao to link Korea-Japan taxi-hailing apps; South Korean company will invest $14m in JapanTaxi (Nikkei)
• Xero launches open API for banks to integrate (AFR)

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

• Tencent Bets $1 Billion on China Housing Boom With Stake in Property Brokerage; The fundraising is likely to value the Beijing-based company, which has plans for an IPO, at about $13 billion (WSJ)
• Deal-shy chipmaker TSMC says it’s open to memory acquisition; Apple supplier under pressure to diversify as demand shifts beyond phones (Nikkei); TSMC founder Chang warns of Chinese dominance in chip industry; Industry icon sees 6% growth in sector over 20 years, double that of global GDP (Nikkei)

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

• The End of Amazon: How, when and why the e-commerce giant will fall. (BOF)
• Amazon enters Japan’s cashless payments fray; US conglomerate sees opportunity to sway reluctant Japanese consumers (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Online home leasing platform Ziroom caught in scandal after death of tenant (Technode)
• AI powerhouse SenseTime shifts focus to cars and medicine; Hong Kong unicorn will reach beyond surveillance, says co-founder (Nikkei)
• ‘Social buyers’ deal Japanese goods to online shoppers in China (Nikkei)
• Zomato acquires $18m online catering marketplace (TIA)
• Two Years Ago, India Lacked Fast, Cheap Internet-One Billionaire Changed All That; Mukesh Ambani’s national 4G network for Reliance Jio, which charges pennies for data, is bringing hundreds of millions online for the first time (WSJ)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The Tension Is Building Between Spotify and the Music Industry (Bloomberg)
• Airbnb for Work expands to include experiences, offsite meeting services (AFR)
• Technology delivered: Implications for cost, customers, and competition in the last-mile ecosystem (Mckinsey)
• Booming technology stocks are testing the limits of investors’ appetite for one sector (CNBC)

Life

• Friedrich Nietzsche: Why Life Isn’t Meaningless (Medium)
• The State of Your Attention Determines the State Of Your Life (Medium)
• Concealed Emotions (Morgan Housel)
• Thriving in a Digital World: My Conversation with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson [The Knowledge Project Ep. #40] (Farnam Street)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 September 2018) – Trend Micro adds analytics capabilities to Deep Discovery + Our Crisis of Heart: How compassion can strengthen our emotional responses, our minds — and our tech

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (5 September 2018) – Trend Micro adds analytics capabilities to Deep Discovery + Our Crisis of Heart: How compassion can strengthen our emotional responses, our minds — and our tech

Companies

• Trend Micro adds analytics capabilities to Deep Discovery (TP); Trend Micro Teams Up with Moxa to Secure and Accelerate Industrial Internet of Things Applications (BW); Trend Micro Emphasizes Importance of IoT Security at Pwn2Own Tokyo 2018 (BI)
• Line to upgrade mobile payment with $1.3bn bond issuance; Chat app provider will allocate money to fintech and AI development (Nikkei); Japan’s Line raising $1.3 billion via convertible bonds for money businesses (Reuters)
• China’s iQiyi Sports gets more cash to expand football, tennis and golf video streaming (SCMP)
• China’s AI-Powered English Teacher LAIX Files For US$100M US IPO (CMN)
• Chinese mobile games player CMGE seeks Hong Kong listing after quitting Nasdaq (SCMP)
• Meituan updated prospectus reveals huge losses in Mobike ahead of HK IPO (KRA); Meituan’s war footing helps keep it on top in tough Chinese on-demand services market (SCMP)
• ASE COO sheds light on future IC development (Digitimes)

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

• Samsung Joins Race to the Bottom for Global Smartphone Prices; South Korean company targets India to fend off Chinese companies trying to dominate market for inexpensive phones (WSJ)

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

• Facebook thinks it can make social video happen where Netflix couldn’t (qz)
• Instagram building a standalone shopping app for users: The Verge (Reuters)
• Amazon Joins Apple in Climb to $1 Trillion Market Value (Bloomberg); Amazon at $1 Trillion Is More Dream Than Reality; Its market value is a vision of the future, not the present. (Bloomberg); Always ‘leaning into the future,’ Jeff Bezos rockets to richest person on the planet, worth $166 billion (JT); Jeff Bezos: Customer Trust ‘Is What Allows You to Expand’ (Barron’s); At $1 Trillion, Amazon Is Still Not Its Stock Price (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s tech ecosystems and the barriers between them (Technode)
• In China, a new app is taking on WeChat (TIA)
• Who Wins and Loses If China Creates a New Mobile-Phone Giant (Bloomberg)
• GoGoVan founder gets a crash course in management after expanding into mainland China (SCMP)
• Morris Chang to deliver speech at forum marking 60th year of IC development (Digitimes)
• Indonesia’s Go-Jek to partner with peer-to-peer lending firms (Reuters)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Morgan Stanley’s Long Romance of Palantir Pays Off as IPO Nears (Bloomberg)
• Zara owner Inditex to sell all its brands online by 2020 (Reuters)
• Tesla’s RoboTaxi Worth a Fraction of Waymo, Morgan Stanley Says (Bloomberg)
• How Slack’s Content Strategy Expanded from a Single Page to a Media Company (Medium)
• Pinterest and Grubhub’s Former Growth Lead on Building Content Loops (FR)

Life

• 12 Brutally Honest Lessons about Life and Entrepreneurship (Medium)
• A Few Principles for Thinking Clearly (Medium)
• The Decision Matrix: How to Prioritize What Matters (Farnam Street)
• Here’s how to learn absolutely anything, according to a world expert (qz)
• How Two Designers Created Airbnb-and Turned It Into a $30 Billion Company (PH)
• Our Crisis of Heart: How compassion can strengthen our emotional responses, our minds — and our tech (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 September 2018) – Delta Electronics cumulative LED streetlamp shipments reach over 600,000

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (4 September 2018) – Delta Electronics cumulative LED streetlamp shipments reach over 600,000

Companies

• Shin-Etsu to boost silicone output by 50% as new rules and trade war hit China rivals; Japanese chemicals major to spend 110bn yen to disperse production (Nikkei)
• Tencent-Backed movie ticketing service Maoyan files for Hong Kong IPO (Technode)
• Chinese home improvement platform Tubatu heads for $200M HK IPO (KRA)
• JD CEO’s arrest steps on governance landmine (Reuters); Richard Liu, high-flying CEO of JD.com, has fostered ‘clean’ reputation (Reuters); JD goes into ride-hailing (Technode)
• ‘Made in China 2025’ companies slump as subsidies taper; Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. and BOE Technology Group — the world’s largest producers of automotive batteries and liquid crystal displays — reported sharply lower profit (Nikkei)
• Delta Electronics and GM want to speed up electric-car charging (DT); Delta Electronics cumulative LED streetlamp shipments reach over 600,000 (Digitimes)

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

• Alibaba Cloud to scale down US expansion efforts (Technode)
• Alibaba-Backed Souche Raises $578 Million in New Financing; The online car-trading service is valued at almost $3 billion; Souche is trying to build a software suite for car dealers (Bloomberg)

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

• In India, Google races to parry the rise of Facebook (Reuters)
• Amazon’s pricing tactic is a trap for buyers and sellers alike; The retailer’s behaviour parallels financial groups’ lending practices pre-2008 crash (FT)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• A look at Toutiao’s $75b valuation: Warranted premium or overpriced stock? Is Toutiao’s $75b valuation justified or just a hype? (KRA)
• South Korea allots first money from $9bn start-up fund: Seoul aims to boost growth areas including drone tech and AI to stay competitive (FT)
• Berkshire Hathaway’s Deal With Paytm Is A Game Changer For India’s E-Commerce (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The Risk of a Vicious Funding Circle in Fintech; High hopes and valuations have a habit of bumping into reality. (Bloomberg)
• PayPal disrupts $2.5b gift card market with digital shopfront (AFR)

Life

• John Malone: ‘I told Warren Buffett not to invest in Bill Gates before Microsoft went public’ (Telegraph)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (3 September 2018) – Appen targets new sectors, but doesn’t need new customers for growth + How to Be Brave When You’re Feeling Scared: The Secret to Performing Under Pressure (

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (3 September 2018) – Appen targets new sectors, but doesn’t need new customers for growth + How to Be Brave When You’re Feeling Scared: The Secret to Performing Under Pressure (

Companies

• Nidec to buy 5 German robotics makers for $450m (Nikkei)
• China’s Meituan Dianping said to price Hong Kong IPO, valuing services platform at up to US$55 billion (SCMP)
• JD’s FMCG B2B unit partners with China Mobile on convenience store project (Technode)
• 10 questions with TechnologyOne chief Ed Chung (AFR)
• Afterpay and the US: a match made in heaven, or a potential disaster? (AFR)
• Appen targets new sectors, but doesn’t need new customers for growth (AFR)

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

• Alibaba leads China’s drive to secure new blockchain technologies; Tech companies forge ahead in patent applications for alternative uses (Nikkei)
• Alisports CEO says e-sports to move away from violent content as it seeks Olympics inclusion (SCMP)
• Tencent’s AI aided diagnosis can indentify people with Parkinson’s diseases in three minutes (Technode)
• QQ, the grandaddy of China’s social media scene, gains new life by appealing to Generation Z (SCMP)

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

• Apple’s next big product will be computer glasses, mounting evidence suggests (AFR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Apple Music taps Douyin to boost subscriber base in China (KRA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Quantum computing: the power to think outside the box; With potential applications in healthcare and finance, the technology promises an exponential gain in computing power (FT)
• Women turn to podcasting to have their voices heard; from comedy to controversial topics, medium offers a platform away from traditional male-led media (SCMP)

Life

• How to Be Brave When You’re Feeling Scared: The Secret to Performing Under Pressure (Medium)
• What Einstein teaches us about founding a startup (TIA)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 September 2018) – Tech Stocks Could Be Winners in Big Sector Shift + 100 Inspirational Quotes from the World’s Best Business Leaders

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (1 September 2018) – Tech Stocks Could Be Winners in Big Sector Shift + 100 Inspirational Quotes from the World’s Best Business Leaders

Companies

• Renesas chases $6bn deal for IDT to enhance self-driving chips: Once-troubled Japanese chipmaker is on the hunt in US (Nikkei); Renesas steps into fabless future to lead self-driving age; Acquisition plan reflects industry’s shift from production to chip design (Nikkei)
• China’s Meituan Dianping sets HK IPO valuation at up to $55 billion: sources (Reuters)
• Delta Electronics to develop extreme fast EV charger with subsidy from US Department of Energy (Digitimes)
• Touch panel supplier General Interface Solution (GIS) is expected to kick off shipments of its third-generation ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors in the second half of 2018 for premium smartphone models be launched in 2019 (Digitimes)
• Taiwan suppliers of network communication chips are busy ramping up their shipments to fulfill increasing orders from web giants, cloud service providers and datacenter operators mainly in the US and China (Digitimes)
• Serko is a technology company that develops software to help client firms better manage their business travel expenses. (MF)

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

• China’s Latest Step to Curb Games and Play Wallops Tencent (Bloomberg); Can China’s Government Really Limit How Long Kids Play Games? (Bloomberg)

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

• Warren Buffett: Apple investing in Tesla is a ‘very poor idea’ (MW)
• What the hell is going on with Apple? There’s a creeping undercurrent of discontent among its customers as quality control and customer service seem to be slipping from their previous heights. (qz)
• A Market Shakeup Is Pushing Alphabet and Facebook Out of the Tech Sector (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese tech giants burn cash and users are paying for it (Technode)
• Audio sharing platform Ximalaya FM launches smart speaker to aid Communist Party members with studies (SCMP)
• Payments via QR codes slowly becoming more widespread in Japan (JT)
• Buzzvil acquires No.1 lockscreen app in India, Pakistan (Investor)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Tech Stocks Could Be Winners in Big Sector Shift (Barron’s)

• Salesforce Duo Makes the Case for Co-CEOs in Tech (Barron’s)
• Mobile App Allows Users to Invest in Classic Cars (Barron’s)
• Why Walmart Shoppers are Finding More Items ‘Out of Stock’; Retailer has changed e-commerce system so that it doesn’t fulfill orders it deems too expensive to ship (WSJ)
• SEC Shouldn’t Open Up Unicorn Hunting to Mom and Pop; The private market’s ability to limit hype and investment is a feature, not a bug. (Bloomberg)
• Medtech firms get personal with digital twins (Reuters)

Life

• 100 Inspirational Quotes from the World’s Best Business Leaders [Infographic] (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (31 August 2018) – Treat Failure Like a Scientist

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (31 August 2018) – Treat Failure Like a Scientist

Companies

• NEXTDC to invest over $2b in data centres (AFR)

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

• Alibaba pioneers online doctor consultations, round-the-clock medicine delivery (SCMP)
• China Unveils Plans to Curb New Games and Play, Hitting Tencent (Bloomberg); China regulators plan to restrict number and usage of new games amid concerns over child health (SCMP)
• Tencent and Square Enix team up with global gaming ambitions; WeChat operator seeks new pastures as China cracks down on video games (Nikkei)
• SoftBank Pulls Plug on Plans to Invest in Chinese Tesla Rival: The Japanese tech giant had been considering buying about $200 million worth of shares in NIO’s IPO (WSJ)

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

• YouTube is fighting for a slice of the premium-video market (Economist)
• To boost Amazon Pay in India, Amazon reportedly acquired Tapzo, an ‘all-in-one’ aggregator app, for $40M (Techcrunch)
• Buffett Buys More Apple, Says iPhone Is ‘Enormously Underpriced’ (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• “Big Chinese” is edtech’s next big thing, but its path overseas is unclear (Technode)
• China’s top tech flocks to inland cities to develop AI; Attracted by low tax and cheap labor, Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu seek partnerships (Nikkei)
• Bezos, Buffett Bet On a $250 Billion Unclaimed Internet Market (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Digital Music: Spotify and Pandora Are ‘Stronger Than Perceived’ (Barron’s)
• WeWork and the vanishing bond rating (FT)
• Why startups are leaving Silicon Valley; Its primacy as a technology hub is on the wane. That is cause for concern (Economist)
• ‘Digital Graffiti’ on Mapbox Highlights the Pitfalls of Open Data (Bloomberg)
• Sequoia-Backed Qualtrics Interviews Banks for 2018 IPO (Bloomberg)

Life

• Treat Failure Like a Scientist (James Clear)
• a16z Podcast: The Basics of Growth – User Acquisition (a16z); a16z Podcast: The Basics of Growth – Engagement & Retention (a16z)
• BlackRock’s Decade: How the Crash Forged a $6.3 Trillion Giant; Ten years later, its shrewd moves are a master class in capitalizing on others’ risk. (Bloomberg)
• Vinyl visionary: How a digital dealmaker revived a 112-year-old record-player brand (Forbes)
• Superstar chief executives can self-destruct: Charismatic and unruly entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk are risky business titans (FT)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (30 August 2018) – Global accounting body to consider revamping ‘goodwill’ rule; “The risk is that goodwill just keeps on accumulating over time even when the economics do not justify this”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (30 August 2018) – Global accounting body to consider revamping ‘goodwill’ rule; “The risk is that goodwill just keeps on accumulating over time even when the economics do not justify this”

Companies

• Auto diode maker Actron eyeing bigger global market share (Digitimes)
• Semiconductor giant Inari Amertron Bhd’s net profit dropped 12.86% to RM57.1mil for the fourth quarter ended June 30 due to an increase in effective income tax rates for the group’s largest operating subsidiary (Star)
• Vista profit climbs 36 per cent, boosted by Mexico cinema business buy (NZ Herald)
• IRESS to process home loans for Australian challenger Xinja; IRESS is a market leader in the UK, where one in every four home loans are processed using IRESS technology. (Ibis, Finextra)

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

• Facebook Launches International Video Product to Rival Google (Reuters, Bloomberg)
• Apple Buys Augmented-Reality Display Startup Akonia Holographics (Bloomberg, Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese ride-hailing pioneer returns with blockchain app to boost safety, income as Didi mired in crisis (SCMP)
• China’s Makeblock raises $44m for robot-building kits for kids; Funding reflects country’s appetite for deep technology and “Made in China “2025” (Nikkei)
• China’s Plan to Spread Tech Wealth Fizzles With Delay of CDR (Bloomberg)
• The Worst Might Be Over for Airbnb in Japan (Bloomberg)
• When cars fly? Japan wants airborne vehicles to take off; The government has launched an initiative with the likes of Boeing and Airbus to develop and commercialise futuristic vehicles (SCMP)
• India’s Paytm Mall looks to deepen partnerships in fight with Flipkart, Amazon (Reuters); Warren Buffett’s Paytm Investment Will Be a First for Berkshire Hathaway (Fortune)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Moody’s Pulls WeWork Credit Ratings, Citing Lack of Information (Bloomberg)
• The Search for Battery Riches Starts Here; Sweden’s archive of drilling samples is key to unlocking its potential to mine the rare metals needed for the next generation of cars. (Bloomberg)
• Attention, Walmart Skeptics: This Stock Has Legs; Walmart is becoming an exciting growth story as its e-commerce operations take off. In 2017, Walmart already was the fourth largest e-commerce company in the U.S. with around $15 billion of sales, according to eMarketer. That puts it well behind Amazon’s nearly $200 billion, but ahead of everyone else besides eBay and Apple (WSJ)
• Short Bets on World’s Biggest Tech Stocks Surge to $37 Billion (Bloomberg)
• SurveyMonkey, Tiger-Backed Online-Polling Provider, Files for IPO (Bloomberg)

Life

• Global accounting body to consider revamping ‘goodwill’ rule; “The risk is that goodwill just keeps on accumulating over time even when the economics do not justify this” (Reuters)
• Hubris always seems ridiculous – until it’s our own (TFB)
• Software as a craft, the product of a 10-year-old development manifesto (qz)
• Ordinary People Focus on the Outcome. Extraordinary People Focus On the Process. (Ascent)
• Criticism Stings — Here are Three Steps to Turn It into your Secret Weapon: How to Embrace the Critics and Grow Forward (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (29 August 2018) – The first internet company to be listed in India, Info Edge’s ability to consistently generate cash allows it to invest in different avenues of growth + Lincoln and the Art of Transformative Leadership

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (29 August 2018) – The first internet company to be listed in India, Info Edge’s ability to consistently generate cash allows it to invest in different avenues of growth + Lincoln and the Art of Transformative Leadership

Companies

• Litalico Inc., a Japanese social enterprise, will use a South Korean startup’s technology to tap the global hearing aid market and provide hearing aids at a much more affordable price (Japan Times)
• Battery maker TDK scales new heights on iPhone buzz (Nikkei)
• Xiaomi-Backed Smart Home Appliances Supplier Viomi Seeks $150M US IPO (CMN)
• Chinese EV maker Nio expects to raise $1.32 billion in IPO (Reuters)
• JD turns to Google, Walmart to build global e-commerce empire (SCMP)
• ASX tech darlings defy the sceptics and shorts (AFR)
• Altium to Host 2nd Annual “AltiumLive” PCB Design Summit (WBRC)
• The first internet company to be listed in India, Info Edge’s ability to consistently generate cash allows it to invest in different avenues of growth (Outlook)

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

• AI tools from Alibaba and Founder do advertising grunt work; Chinese IT companies help human copywriters focus on creativity (Nikkei)
• Tencent’s investment strategies revealed (Brennan)
• GlobalFoundries’ exit a boon for chipmaker TSMC; Taiwanese company set to cement dominance of advanced computer chip production (FT)

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

• Amazon plans new video app for Fire TV users: The Information (Reuters)
• Amazon and Alphabet Have a New Number One Fan on Wall Street (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Is on the Prowl for Movies From Sony, Paramount (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft is the right company to build the “Netflix of gaming”; Traditional consoles won’t go anywhere without big investments in streaming. One company is well-positioned to make it happen. (FastCo)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Didi’s founder says vanity and breathless expansion contributed to tragedy of passenger rape-murder (SCMP)
• Chinese smartphones and apps break through to young Japanese (Nikkei)
• Grab to invest $250 million in Indonesian startups in race against Go-Jek (Reuters); Go-Jek sparks an Indonesian banking revolution; E-payments pave the way to bank loans and financial inclusion (Nikkei)
• Indonesia offers a fresh battleground for fintech; From microloans to cryptocurrency, startups are competing for a huge market (Nikkei)
• An Indian robotics startup wants to beat Amazon at warehouse automation (qz)
• Australia’s Simple lands $17M to grow its marketing intelligence platform worldwide (Techcrunch)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Uber’s Bundles (Stratechery); Cabcharge CEO says Uber, Taxify and DiDi in a race to the bottom (AFR)
• Waymo’s self-driving cars are far from perfect, report says (Cnet)

Life

• Lincoln and the Art of Transformative Leadership (HBR)
• Why Adding More Products Isn’t Always the Best Way to Grow (HBR)
• Elad Gil – How to Identify Interesting Markets – [Invest Like the Best, EP.101] (OSAM)
• Learning from Les Schwab (Masters Invest)
• Book Review: The Harriman Book of Investing Rules (Alpha Ideas)
• Why liars lie: what science tells us about deception. “If you give people multiple opportunities to lie for their own benefit,” said Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London who led the research, “they start with little lies and get bigger and bigger over time.” (Age)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (28 August 2018) – Tencent Music reportedly pins its US IPO date on October 18; Tencent Music controlled 78% of China’s music streaming market in 2017 + 100 Things I Learned Reading The Same Book 100 Times Over 10 Years

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (28 August 2018) – Tencent Music reportedly pins its US IPO date on October 18; Tencent Music controlled 78% of China’s music streaming market in 2017 + 100 Things I Learned Reading The Same Book 100 Times Over 10 Years

Companies

• Tencent Music reportedly pins its US IPO date on October 18. Tencent Music is the operator QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo. The three music streaming businesses claimed 254 million, 227 million and 111 million mobile users respectively in the first quarter of 2018, data from iResearch shows. Tencent Music controlled 78% of China’s music streaming market in 2017 (Technode)
• Online entertainment platform Bilibili reports revenue surge but warns China content crackdown will hit costs (SCMP)
• How big data helped ‘China’s Netflix’ iQiyi decide to back The Story of Yanxi Palace, a summer blockbuster about back-stabbing concubines (SCMP)
• Powerchip to build $9bn chip manufacturing plants in Taiwan: Founder and CEO says island’s chip sector continues to outperform China (Nikkei)
• Demand for data to power artificial intelligence technologies has driven the ongoing fast growth rate of ASX-listed language data and search services provider Appen. Appen shares up as revenue lifts 106 per cent (AFR)

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

• Alibaba emerges as the platform of choice for foreign sellers; Japanese cosmetics makers gear China strategy toward online sites (Nikkei)
• Alibaba drives grocery openings, fusing bricks and clicks; Cashless supermarkets doubles as delivery fulfillment center (Nikkei)
• Can SoftBank Really Meet Investors’ Expectations? Two researchers are skeptical that the $100 billion Vision Fund can deliver, and made their case in a new analysis. (II)

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

• Amazon India’s fintech play; The ecommerce behemoth is making strategic investments to build an ecosystem of financial products and services to take on Flipkart and Paytm (Forbes)
• Amazon’s Whole Foods Is Starting to Steal Trader Joe’s Shoppers (Bloomberg)
• Facebook and Google Chase a New $1 Trillion Payments Market (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Dark Clouds Gather as Tech Stockpiles Hit Pre-Crisis Levels; Weaker turnover, rising inventories. Something’s gotta give. (Bloomberg)

• Didi Backlash Sounds a Warning for China’s Unicorns; Pursuing growth while losing public trust is a recipe for trouble. (Bloomberg)
• China added as much battery-storage capacity in 2018 as all previous years combined (qz)
• Toyota to invest US$500m in Uber for self-driving cars; The companies’ aim is to solve the enormously challenging problem of how to mass produce self-driving cars for shared fleets, including ride-hailing services. (SCMP)
• NSW invests $123m for smart technology system by Cubic to ease traffic (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• GlobalFoundries drops out of race to develop next-gen semiconductor technology (Reuters)
• VMware to acquire startup CloudHealth in push to grow cloud offerings (Reuters)
• If Spotify wants to dominate podcasting, it’s time to step up its ambitions; The streaming music giant wants to expand into more audio entertainment but as its initiatives in podcasting reveal, it’s moving too slowly and too tentatively. (FastCo)

Life

• 100 Things I Learned Reading The Same Book 100 Times Over 10 Years (Medium)
• Tim Ferris podcast on Drew Houston – The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox (#334) (Tim Ferris)
• The Disproportional Power of Anecdotes (Farnam Street)
• Organizational Grit (HBR)
• Reid Hoffman’s 4 lessons to prevent your startup from becoming the next Theranos: What risks are ethical when pursuing rapid growth? (FastCo)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 August 2018) – Rakuten Details Plan to Fight Back Against Amazon, SoftBank + 10 Reasons Why It’s Tough to be a True “Intelligent Investor”

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (27 August 2018) – Rakuten Details Plan to Fight Back Against Amazon, SoftBank + 10 Reasons Why It’s Tough to be a True “Intelligent Investor”

Companies

• Rakuten Details Plan to Fight Back Against Amazon, SoftBank (Bloomberg)
• Trend Micro steps forward to help plug IT security skills gap in KSA; Trend Micro launches security program for Saudi nationals (Menafn); Trend Micro Saudi Academy for Cybersecurity aims to address lack of security skills in the Kingdom (ITP)
• US high-tech manufacturer Revasum to target tech-hungry ASX investors with IPO; Jerry Cutini, CEO of Revasum, which plans to list on the ASX before the end of 2018, after seeing its US peer Pivotal Systems thrive. (AFR)
• Excelpoint seeks growth in R&D acquisitions; Tech group starts entrepreneurial and investment arm PlanetSpark to invest in early to mid-stage startups with good R&D. (BT)

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

• The Samsung sandwich: Squeezed between Apple and Chinese rivals, South Korean giant must break out with innovations (Nikkei)

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

• Why No One Can Catch Netflix; Streaming service is so far ahead of the competition and knows how to please its customers (WSJ)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Investor warns of day of reckoning for 90 per cent of Chinese AI start-ups as funding dries up (SCMP)
• Global Tech Rally Fractures as Investors Cool on Chinese Firms; Investors’ concerns about recent dips in Chinese tech stocks raise uncertainty for sector’s continued surge (WSJ)

• China’s Tech Growth Is Getting More Expensive; Investors need to reassess profit assumptions. (Bloomberg)

• Can Uber and Didi chuxing take japan for a ride? Tokyo has banned ride-sharing services and its fabled transport system means there’s limited demand for them anyway. Even so, Uber and Didi Chuxing are keen to gain a foothold in the world (SCMP)
• Southeast Asia’s seed investors bulk up for ‘mega’ fundraising; Veteran venture capital firms scale up investment to keep pace with capital-hungry startups (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The Startups Rocket CEO Samwer Wants to Become the Next Zalando (Bloomberg)
• The Chip That Changed the World; Jack Kilby built the first integrated circuit 60 years ago. We need a new Moore’s Law. (WSJ)
• MoviePass needs a serious side hustle if it’s going to survive (qz)

Life

• 10 Reasons Why It’s Tough to be a True “Intelligent Investor” (Validea)
• How Gmail happened: The inside story, as revealed by creator Paul Buchheit (TIA)
• The 3 steps to building a monopoly, according to Peter Thiel (TIA)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 August 2018) – 3M India: “We are essentially a material science company—materials that are used to enhance the performance of other materials or processes” + What Business Leaders Can Learn from Honeybees: How to scale — and protect what’s most important

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (25 August 2018) – 3M India: “We are essentially a material science company—materials that are used to enhance the performance of other materials or processes” + What Business Leaders Can Learn from Honeybees: How to scale — and protect what’s most important

Companies

• Trend Micro announces advanced analytics for Deep Discovery (ITWire)
• CareerIndex joins forces with Joins-Job (AIMS)
• Sony to launch revamped Aibo robot dog in U.S. (JT)
• Pegatron will likely get about 60% of the 2018 budget for iPhone orders (Forbes)
• Afterpay announces UK expansion as sales volume soars (AFR)
• Scans show the bones of Pro Medicus’ impressive growth story (AFR)
• Vista Group Signs Multi-year Contract with Cineworld (NZX)
• 3M India: Dial M for efficiency; “We are essentially a material science company—materials that are used to enhance the performance of other materials or processes” (Forbes)

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

• Microsoft wants to nudge us to be more productive. Do we want its help? (qz)
• How Netflix outsmarted everyone else in TV; On Recode Media, Redef CEO Jason Hirschhorn calls it “the greatest land grab in the history of media ever.” (Recode); Netflix Earnings: Where Accounting Meets Showbiz (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Top Asian insurers dig deeper into fintech and health tech (Nikkei)
• China must face its weakness in semiconductors squarely, says head of state-backed fund (SCMP)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• GoDaddy Wants $5 Billion in Sales and 23 Million Customers by 2023 (Barron’s)
• Starboard Wants to Help Symantec Grow. Symantec is struggling to grow in a growing industry, and is trading near its five-year low in an industry trading near its highs. Operational stumbles have contributed to this, but the biggest reason has been an accounting investigation. Symantec’s consumer businesses (Norton and Lifelock) have low growth but high profitability. But the enterprise business, with low operating margins, is experiencing very little growth. (Barron’s)
• What’s Waymo Worth? Evercore ISI analysts estimate Waymo’s present value to be as much $100 billion (Barron’s); Waymo, Alphabet’s Self-Driving Unit, Steers Into China (WSJ)
• The Videogame Industry Reaches for the Cloud (Barron’s)
• A Cloud Gaming Upstart OnLive That Fell to Earth (Barron’s)

Life

• How Airbnb Proved That Storytelling is the Most Important Skill in Design: It’s a method that has helped the company design many of its breakthrough innovations. (Inc)
• What Business Leaders Can Learn from Honeybees: How to scale — and protect what’s most important (Medium)
• Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself Hardcover – August 21, 2018 (Amazon)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 August 2018) – Trend Micro Simplifies Advanced Threat Detection and Network Analysis + How to Be Kind to Yourself: Stop Chasing Self-Confidence

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (24 August 2018) – Trend Micro Simplifies Advanced Threat Detection and Network Analysis + How to Be Kind to Yourself: Stop Chasing Self-Confidence

Companies

• Trend Micro Simplifies Advanced Threat Detection and Network Analysis (FP)
• Nikon Takes on Sony With Mirrorless Camera. “Mirrorless is no longer a niche product. It offers advantages in size and weight and battery that make mirrorless a very competitive premium technology.” While Nikon and Canon dominated the pro market for decades, first with film and then with digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, it’s becoming clearer that devices without the mirror-and-prism system offer significant benefits. Thanks to advanced image sensors and sophisticated software, mirrorless systems can grab light faster and stay in focus, making it easier to capture crisp images of fast-moving objects. (Bloomberg)
• Why China’s top hook-up app Momo is going into show business (SCMP)
• Hey Xiaomi, Maybe Your Future Really Is in Smartphones; The internet services dream isn’t showing much potential. (Bloomberg); Xiaomi’s share surge falls victim to investor worries over outlook for Chinese tech firms (SCMP)

• How Pinduoduo did in three years what took Taobao five (Technode)
• Innodisk Demonstrating Cloud-Based Solutions to Industrial IoT Challenges at VMworld 2018 (BI)
• IP surveillance camera maker Vivotek is setting up a manufacturing base consisting of five production lines initially at a factory belonging to Delta Electronics, its parent company (Digitimes)
• Webjet shares have soared to a record high after the online travel group posted a 63 per cent jump in underlying full-year profit as bookings surged across its divisions. (Nine)

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

• Alibaba moves into automotive aftermarket in competition with Didi (KRA)
• Alibaba’s Exceptions Are the New Rule for Earnings: “If not for” was the mantra for the June quarter’s earnings. (Bloomberg); Alibaba Spends for Sales Growth as Most Lucrative Business Slows; Profit plummets after share-based compensation jumps; Alibaba’s trying to diversify as competition intensifies (Bloomberg); Alibaba’s New Ventures Aren’t Making Much Money; Jack Ma’s e-commerce empire is moving into less profitable new regions (WSJ); Alibaba delivers 61 per cent growth in revenue amid increased New Retail investment; Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders slid 41 per cent to 8.7 billion yuan (SCMP)
• How Alibaba’s Taobao solved the trust problem in China and changed the way people shop; From humble beginnings as a local platform going up against then-incumbent eBay, Alibaba is now the clear leader in China’s vast US$1 trillion e-commerce marke (SCMP)
• Ant Financial Profit Sinks as Spending Surges in Battle With WeChat (WSJ)
• Tencent executive refutes criticism company has forsaken innovation to buy growth (SCMP)
• Inside Tencent’s Struggle to Bring World’s Hottest Game to China (Bloomberg)
• Samsung’s $161bn splurge may be about more than business (Economist)
• SoftBank and Toshiba lead pack of cash-rich Japanese companies; Shareholders demand strategic investment or share buybacks (Nikkei)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Internet Heavy China ETFs Take a Hit as Trump Applauds Tariffs (Bloomberg)
• Delayed wages, lower profits – Chinese gaming firms fret as approval freeze bites (Reuters)
• Brushing off trade war, Chinese startups flock to US for IPOs (Nikkei)
• How Klook became a billion-dollar activities booking giant (TIA)
• Drones offer high-tech help to Japan’s ageing farmers (Reuters)
• Coupang launches new service ‘Coupang Flex’ (Investor)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• DocuSign Chairman Calls Speed the ‘Ultimate Weapon’ (Barron’s)
• Short-Sellers Circle Apple Supplier That’s Loved by Analysts; Shares in Austria’s AMS have plunged, short interest rising (Bloomberg)
• Dropbox Doldrums Could Get Worse When Insiders Get Chance to Sell (Bloomberg)
• After a disastrous redesign, declining daily usage, and an inability to turn a profit, the company and CEO Evan Spiegel embark on a self-improvement quest. (Bloomberg)
• Eventbrite Files for U.S. IPO (Bloomberg)
• Venmo Considers Making It Harder to See What Other People Are Buying (Bloomberg)

Life

• How to Be Kind to Yourself: Stop Chasing Self-Confidence (Medium)
• First Mover Disadvantage (AVC)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 August 2018) – Trend Micro Research Launches New Program to Help IoT Device Makers Tackle Risk at Source + Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (23 August 2018) – Trend Micro Research Launches New Program to Help IoT Device Makers Tackle Risk at Source + Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition

Companies

• Trend Micro Research Launches New Program to Help IoT Device Makers Tackle Risk at Source; ZDI’s expertise in vulnerability detection offers chance to combat connected device flaws (BW)
• CookpadTV raises 4 billion yen from Mitsubishi Corporation and will jointly plan a new business (Techcrunch)
• Super Mario Creator Warns Gaming Industry: Don’t Be Too Greedy; Shigeru Miyamoto at odds with focus on free-to-play model; Charging smaller, predictable fees more sustainable: Miyamoto (Bloomberg)
• Chinese beauty app reveals ugly tech reality (Reuters); China Selfie App Giant Disenchants Investors as Losses Continue (Bloomberg)

• Wanted in China: Detailed Maps for 30 Million Self-Driving Cars; China’s strict rules keep foreign players out of the competition to develop the next generation of digital maps. With the support of Tencent Holdings Ltd., NavInfo is preparing to battle it out with ventures backed by local web giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. (Bloomberg)
• LinkedIn’s China rival Maimai raises $200 million ahead of US IPO in the second half of 2019 (Technode)
• Pinduoduo shutters 1,128 stores and removes 4 million listings following concerns over fake goods (Technode)
• Afterpay announces UK expansion as sales volume soars (AFR)
• IRESS shares rise on stronger than expected results (AFR)
• Juggling Is the Key Skill in Sea’s E-Commerce Future; Trimming marketing costs while stoking revenue growth won’t come easy. (Bloomberg)

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

• Alibaba steps up push into on-demand local services as overseas expansion intensifies; Investments in Ele.me will expand the Shanghai-based subsidiary’s business beyond transporting meals to consumers into other on-demand services (SCMP)
• Tencent Invests In Chinese Smart Parking Solution Provider Keytop (CMN)
• Battle Royale: China’s Pause In Gaming Approvals Reminds Tencent And Rivals Who’s In Charge (Forbes)

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

• Apple and Google Face Growing Revolt Over App Store ‘Tax’ (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Why China’s internet companies are hot for subscriptions (TIA)
• TPG, Orchid Asia Co-Lead $110M Series C Round In Chinese SaaS Firm Duiba. Founded in 2014, Duiba Group provides solutions for companies to obtain and manage users on their apps. The company operates a SaaS platform Duiba and an interactive advertising platform Tui’a. Duiba launches marketing campaigns such as giving away red packets – or small monetary rewards – on WeChat to help businesses to obtain new users (CMN)
• From Shopee’s 9.9 to Alibaba’s 11.11, ten winning strategies for online shopping festivals (KRA)
• Asia’s dating apps reflect a rich mix of cultures: From Malaysia to Japan, societies use technology to reflect or defy prevailing values (FT)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Adyen’s First Earnings After Record IPO Excite Investors (Bloomberg)

Life

• Unknown Unknowns: The Problem of Hypocognition: We wander about the unknown terrains of life, complacent about what we know and oblivious to what we miss (SA)
• The Power of Patience Pt. 2: Some of the best advice from ‘The Art of Stock Picking’ (GF)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 August 2018) – Altium outlines 2025 market dominance vision after record results: “I believe the PCB market is moving to a winner takes all … similar to desktop publishing” + How To Be Productive When Your Life Is In Chaos

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (22 August 2018) – Altium outlines 2025 market dominance vision after record results: “I believe the PCB market is moving to a winner takes all … similar to desktop publishing” + How To Be Productive When Your Life Is In Chaos

Companies

• Sony learns how to mass-produce robot dog aibo; After months of trial and error, company manages to reduce defective models (Nikkei)
• Ping An Good Doctor to expand medical services platform in Southeast Asia this year (SCMP)
• Has Chinese phone giant Xiaomi lived up to its pre-IPO hype? (SCMP)
• Korea’s Naver backs Southeast Asia-based e-commerce startup iPrice (Techcrunch)
• Altium outlines 2025 market dominance vision after record results: “I believe the PCB market is moving to a winner takes all … similar to desktop publishing” He also set a new ambitious goal for the company – 100,000 subscribers and 40 per cent market share by 2025, which it believes is the level required to consider the company as having a “market dominance” position. “[Market dominance] is needed to support Altium’s transformative agenda which at its core is to connect the design space to the manufacturing floor. That will let Altium participate in a larger market beyond PCB design software.” (AFR)
• Carsales forecasts local and international growth (AFR)

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

• Israeli chipmaker taps Baidu to enhance driverless car technology; Intel unit Mobileye targets 2020 as the year ‘robo-taxis’ will take off (Nikkei)

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

• Facebook is rating the trustworthiness of its users on a scale from zero to 1 (WaPo)
• How Facebook — yes, Facebook — might make MRIs faster (CNN)
• Google’s ‘Tell me something good’ might just restore your faith in humanity (TNW)
• How Netflix scales their UI design as it expands to 26 languages (TIA)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese startup makes facial recognition glasses for police; Xloong counts on demand for surveillance products from authorities (Nikkei)
• The Chinese internet boom in charts: Number of users now exceeds 800m, more than the US and India combined (FT)
• Medical equipment and service unicorn Remote Horizon in debt crisis (Technode)
• Israeli medical startups beat a path to aging Japan; Rising investment drives spread of innovations like smartphone urinalysis (Nikkei)
• Hitachi to launch AI analysis of hospital leftovers to hasten inpatient recovery (Japan Times)
• Machine learning: Japan to boost English teaching in schools with AI robots (SCMP)
• Valued at US$500m, Carousell books $1.73m revenue and $29.8m loss in 2017 as monetization begins (TIA)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Logitech unveils US$150 gamer mouse in bet on future of esports; Sales in the company’s gaming division increased 57% in the past year, making it Logitech’s fastest-growing and largest division (Star)
• The undertakers of Silicon Valley: how failure became big business (Guardian)
• Slack was able to become a $7 billion company by playing nice with others (qz); Unicorn IPOs: come on, Slackers: While a public listing can be delayed, it cannot be avoided indefinitely (FT)
• The future of transport is massive warehouses filled with robot minivans (qz)

Life

• Accruals Momentum as an Investment Strategy. We find that firms that consistently report high levels of discretionary accruals experience low subsequent returns. Our results also show that the accruals momentum impact is more pronounced for low growth firms, suggesting that the overpricing of stocks with high accruals momentum is driven by managerial discretion to manage earnings. This refutes the possibility that our results are driven by the growth anomaly. (AA)
• When Companies Want to Innovate, But Investors Won’t Let Them (HBR)
• How To Be Productive When Your Life Is In Chaos (DF)
• LuxNet chairman, Hsing Kung, has founded three companies. Among them, SDL was established in 1983, specializing in manufacturing optical communication devices. It was sold for US$41.1 billion 16 years later, awarding early investors a 10,000 times return on their investment (Digitimes)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (21 August 2018) – GlobalWafers, Wafer Works continue to enjoy strong silicon wafer demand + Why Honor Matters

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (21 August 2018) – GlobalWafers, Wafer Works continue to enjoy strong silicon wafer demand + Why Honor Matters

Companies

• Trend Micro’s ‘virtual patching’ to protect firms against cyber attacks (Quint)
• Fujifilm instant camera finds new life on social media; ‘Photo-in-a-photo’ craze inspires sales target of 10 million units (Nikkei)
• China start-up’s US$300 million IPO risk disclosure: no licences, Ebola virus; Shanghai-based Qutoutiao, a company backed by Tencent, operates a mobile app that aggregates Chinese news and short videos (SCMP)
• A unit of Universal Scientific Industrial will take a 60 percent stake in electronic manufacturing services firm Chung Hong Electronics Poland to gain a foothold in the EU market (Yicai)
• Ping An Good Doctor to expand medical services platform in Southeast Asia this year; The company will give users in the region access to artificial intelligence-assisted online medical consultations, medicine delivery and appointment bookings (SCMP)
• TouchPal keyboard developer CooTek files for a $100 million IPO (Technode, CMN)
• GlobalWafers, Wafer Works continue to enjoy strong silicon wafer demand (Digitimes)
• Atlassian’s head of product urges startups to ‘dig deeper’ (Age)

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

• Ant Financial delays IPO plans again (Technode)
• Alipay launches “shared parking” service in Hangzhou (Technode)
• Tencent’s WeChat wallet is luring Malaysian users with free money (TIA)
• Gaming the right way? Tencent’s overseas investment strategy (TIA)

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

• In China, Google must go by any other name; Internet search company should use a different brand for censored results (Nikkei)
• Nvidia Unveils New Chip Design for Gaming Machines Sending Shares Higher (Bloomberg); New Nvidia gaming chips aim to boost realism of graphics (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Chinese investors protest in Shanghai’s financial district over P2P woes (Reuters)
• Some Techies Are Shunning Silicon Valley for the Japanese Dream (Bloomberg)
• How Micromax, Intex, Lava and Karbonn-aka MILK-lost their dominant position (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• How Crowded Are Tech Stocks? (CFA)
• Startup adviser Elad Gil is worried that we’re losing our ability to be optimistic about tech (Recode)
• Farfetch is succeeding in luxury fashion where Amazon has failed (qz); Farfetch: clue is in the name: Luxury retailers are meant to be costly, but online aggregator is running at a loss (FT); The Crowded Market for Luxury Tech; Online luxury specialist Farfetch isn’t as unique as the first draft of its IPO prospectus would have investors believe (WSJ); Farfetch targets New York listing as luxury web sales thrive (Reuters)
• Fitbit: As Smartwatches Boom, a New Tracker Arrives (Barron’s)
• Tech stars have no reason not to be profitable: DocuSign’s Dan Springer. The chief executive of $12.5 billion e-signature company DocuSign, Dan Springer, has called out tech companies that aren’t profitable by the time they hit $500 million in revenue as “lazy”. “I don’t understand the concept of when you’re at scale, not running a profitable business. It’s a weird message to send to employees and it raises questions for investors” (AFR)
• Videogame Developers Are Making It Harder to Stop Playing; Players are logging more hours as developers find new ways to keep them engaged (WSJ)
• LinkedIn Will Allow Economics Researchers to Mine Its Data (Bloomberg)
• Cloud Companies And 10x Revenue Multiples (Crunchbase)

Life

• Why Honor Matters (Farnam Street)
• The Akrasia Effect: Why We Don’t Follow Through on What We Set Out to Do and What to Do About It (James Clear)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 August 2018) – Those Busy Fanuc Robots Are Taking a Breather: The Japanese company’s beaten-up stock belies underlying demand for automation.

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (20 August 2018) – Those Busy Fanuc Robots Are Taking a Breather: The Japanese company’s beaten-up stock belies underlying demand for automation.

Companies

• Those Busy Fanuc Robots Are Taking a Breather: The Japanese company’s beaten-up stock belies underlying demand for automation. (Bloomberg)

• Meituan Dianping rumored to list in Hong Kong in September (Technode)
• JD looks to monetize logistics assets (China Daily)

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

• Walmart wants to take on Amazon with virtual reality shopping (qz)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Singapore Startup AirTrunk Raises $618 Million to Expand Datacenters (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Spotify is falling behind on lyrics and voice (Techcrunch)
• Fears About Tech-Stock Multiples Don’t Add Up, Bulls Say; Buoyant performance of U.S. tech stocks is driving some fund managers to dismiss longstanding valuation concerns as short-sighted (WSJ); Tech Firms Account For 60% Of Profit Margin Growth In The Past 20 Years (ZH)

Life

• Does culture eat strategy for breakfast? The higher your position, the more likely you are to agree (qz)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 August 2018) – Does Tencent Music Deserve a Spotify-Like Valuation?

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (18 August 2018) – Does Tencent Music Deserve a Spotify-Like Valuation?

Companies

• Does Tencent Music Deserve a Spotify-Like Valuation? Tencent Music this year could generate revenue less than half of Spotify’s projected $6 billion. Tencent Music is profitable, which is rare in music-streaming. The firm pulled in roughly two billion yuan ($290 million) in net income last year. Spotify, in contrast, reported a net loss of about $1.4 billion last year, although nearly $1 billion of that was due to a one-time financing charge. In terms of users, Tencent Music is way bigger than Spotify. Tencent Music operates streaming service QQ Music as well as karaoke and live-streaming music apps Kugou and Kuwo. The three services had a combined 700 million monthly users in China as of September 2017, according to Tencent Music. Tencent Music operates a fourth service, the karaoke app WeSing, which at the end of last year had more than 460 million registered users. By comparison, Spotify had 180 million monthly users and 83 million paid subscribers as of June, the company has said. But Spotify’s ratio of paid versus free users is higher than at Tencent Music, where only a fraction of its Chinese users pay for music. The secret of Tencent Music’s profitability is virtual goods and cheap music rights. Most of its revenue comes from non-subscription services including karaoke and live-streaming services, where users can pay to send virtual gifts to performers (The Info)
• Apple supplier Luxshare plans camera module IPO as next leap; Chinese company’s growth threatens rivals in Taiwan and South Korea (Nikkei)
• China’s online pharmacy 1Yaowang seeks $200m NYSE IPO (KRA)
• On-demand app Grab, which operates across Southeast Asia, is moving into healthcare, through a joint venture with Ping An Good Doctor (KRA)
• Foxconn Pursues Chip Ambitions With Plans for China Plant (WSJ)
• Kakao Bank gives regional lenders a run for their money (Investor)

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

• Chinese internet stock sell-off may shake faith in FANGs (Reuters)
• Samsung’s Galaxy empire in crisis; Amid strong competition from Chinese rivals, smartphone leader looks for innovation; semiconductor business is the largest contributor to its earnings, posting 35.2 trillion won in operating profit, or 65.6% of Samsung’s total operating profit (Nikkei)

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

• Why Amazon Picked Taiwan For Its Latest Innovation Center (Forbes)
• Tivo drops on report that Amazon is considering live TV recorder (FT)
• Amazon’s Dominance in Ecommerce (Visual)

• Google always watching, even when location tracking turned off (AFR)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• China’s ride-hailing resurgence is just another step into the future of mobility (Technode)
• Online health care service puts Grab and Go-Jek on collision course; Ride-hailing rivals fight it out in Indonesia with mostly mirror-image services (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Farmers Business Network: Data farming; FBN has built a network of more than 6,500 farms to which it offers information, an online store and marketing help—all with the goal of making farmers more profitable (Forbes)
• Late to the Driverless Revolution: America’s car industry dismissed the potential of autonomous driving for years as tech companies plunged ahead. Now Detroit is racing to catch up. (WSJ)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 August 2018) – Corporate Japan rakes in record quarterly profit + The Ultimate List Of Books To Base Your Life On

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (17 August 2018) – Corporate Japan rakes in record quarterly profit + The Ultimate List Of Books To Base Your Life On

Companies

• Corporate Japan rakes in record quarterly profit; Led by manufacturers, one in four companies posted all-time highs. Tokyo Electron booked another record profit as sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment grew. Nidec also posted a record thanks to steady sales of motor used in electric vehicles and robots. (Nikkei)
• Japan’s Start Today gives clothes retailers a glimpse of the future: A million or so Japanese are using the firm’s “Zozosuit” (Economist)
• Japanese regulators are investigating Apple Inc over allegations it unfairly pressured Yahoo Japan Corp to slow the expansion of its online games platform, which competes with Apple’s App Store (Reuters)
• China’s leading online parenting firm Babytree Group, backed by Alibaba, plans to raise up to $1 billion in a HK IPO in Oct (ISH)
• Apple supplier Luxshare plans camera module IPO as next leap; Chinese company’s growth threatens rivals in Taiwan and South Korea (Nikkei)
• com losses surge on soaring spending and investment (SCMP); China’s JD.com looks to warehousing assets to help revive profits (Reuters)
• Google to debut display-equipped AI speaker before holidays; Taiwan suppliers told to prepare for hardware blitz to challenge Amazon. Most of the Google Home lineup is produced by Quanta Computer, a key builder of Apple’s MacBooks.(Nikkei)
• The Makers of iPhones and Laptops Are Prepping for a Trade War. Taiwan’s six largest contract electronics makers — Compal Electronics, Foxconn flagship Hon Hai Precision, Inventec, Pegatron, Quanta Computer, and Wistron — raked in NT$9.11 trillion ($296 billion) of revenue in 2017 (Bloomberg)
• VGI spearheads regional growth of BTS with modern approach in advertising; VGI boasts of in-building advertisement billing worth about HK$78 million yearly from a total of about 175 buildings (SCMP)

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

• Alibaba tweaks a controversial legal structure; Jack Ma’s role in the firm’s “variable interest entities” will be reduced (Economist)
• Tencent Slump Shows What Happens When Beijing Flips the Switch (Bloomberg)
• SoftBank and Thai telecom firm to launch cheap, fast internet exchange service (JT)

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

• Amazon could be the next great disruptor in cinema (qz)
• Nvidia Clears Its Crypto Cloud: A volatile crypto market has been a distraction for the chip maker-and its investors (WSJ1, WSJ2); As Nvidia expands in artificial intelligence, Intel defends turf (Reuters); Nvidia’s Turing Makes Graphics Dreams Come True (EETimes)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Redcore CEO admits ‘100pc China-developed browser’ is built on Google’s Chrome, says writing code from scratch would ‘take many years’ (SCMP)
• China regulator orders bailout of peer-to-peer lenders by managers of distressed assets (SCMP)
• Digital payment firms fight for Hong Kong market (Reuters)
• Indian streaming firm Hotstar sees blended revenues as winning strategy (Reuters)
• Nazara Tech invests in VR gaming firm InstaSportz; With the acquisition, Nazara enters the offline gaming space with interactive entertainment through VR lounges in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities across India (Livemint)
• How This Google-Backed Startup Cracked The Code To Hyper Convenience In India (Forbes)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• The race is on to dominate quantum computing (Economist)
• The cautionary tale of Blue Apron’s growth strategy (qz)
• DoorDash Valuation Nearly Triples to $4 Billion in Six Months (Bloomberg)
• Why Can’t Europe Do Tech? This is the best moment in decades for the continent to battle its way back to relevance. Its startups need to act like it. (Bloomberg)
• Battery technologies seen as new class of ‘stranded assets’ as innovation rushes ahead (JT)
• Monzo poised to join ranks of Europe’s fintech ‘unicorns’; UK digital bank lines up $150m fundraising as it eyes $1.5bn valuation (FT)

Life

• The Ultimate List Of Books To Base Your Life On (Medium)
• Innovation renaissance depends on releasing our inner Medicis (AFR)
• Knowing When Your Investment Process Has Failed (Validea)
• The Half-Life of Investment Strategies (Ben Carlson)
• Top Insights from Twilio CMO Sara Varni: Five Tips on Marketing and Life (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 August 2018) – Japan still has the edge in solid-state batteries, with its companies holding nearly half the patents in the world for related technologies + Lessons From Da Vinci on Work and Life

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (16 August 2018) – Japan still has the edge in solid-state batteries, with its companies holding nearly half the patents in the world for related technologies + Lessons From Da Vinci on Work and Life

Companies

• Trend Micro Launches Product to Protect Telecom Networks Serving Business and Home Users; New security solution mitigates risks in high volume, dynamic network architecture environments (BW)
• In race for better batteries, Japan hopes to extend its lead; TDK began shipping samples of CeraCharge, a solid-state battery measuring just 4.5mm by 3.2mm by 1.1mm — smaller than a grain of rice. CeraCharge cells use a lithium-based ceramic oxide as the electrolyte, which is layered into a battery pack. TDK says the product maintains its performance in high- and low-temperature environments. Similar products designed for use in internet-of-things devices are also being developed by other Japanese companies, including Murata Manufacturing and Taiyo Yuden. Japan still has the edge in solid-state batteries, with its companies holding nearly half the patents in the world for related technologies. Japanese companies with key technologies include Toho Titanium, which has developed a high-output solid electrolyte that combines titanium and lanthanum, a rare-earth metal. It recently started shipping samples of the product. Optical glass maker Ohara has developed a glass-based electrolyte. It that could have wide commercial applications (Nikkei)
• Sony’s catch-up plan to break into pro camera market (JT)
• Chinese Online Drugstore 111 Inc. Files For $200M US IPO (CMN)
• Lenovo’s Sharp Knife Is Behind Those Meaty Profits; Cost savings are welcome. They’re also hard to repeat. (Bloomberg)

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

• Alibaba offers cloud computing for Southeast Asia’s retailers to embrace digitisation and big data (SCMP)
• Tencent’s first profit drop since 2005 blamed on wait for Chinese regulators to approve new games (SCMP); Tencent posts first profit decline since 2005 on lower gaming revenue, investment gains (SCMP)
• Tencent Slumps After First Profit Drop in at Least a Decade (Bloomberg); Regulatory limbo hits Tencent with first profit fall in nearly 13 years (Reuters); China Makes WeChat’s 1 Billion Users a Tempting Target for Tencent; With growth from games slowing, tapping the social network looks increasingly attractive. (Bloomberg)
• How WeChat became China’s everyday mobile app (SCMP)
• Tencent Is Participating In More Tech IPOs Than Anyone Else; Tencent was an investor in a whopping 12 tech companies that have gone public since the start of 2017. (CBI)

• SoftBank Ventures leads W10b investment in Bepro11 (Investor)

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

• Amazon Has a New Rival in India, and It Isn’t Walmart; A draft e-commerce law threatens the core of the company’s business model. (Bloomberg)
• Amazon Has YouTube Envy; It wants to turn its Twitch online hangout for avid gamers into a broader video service. (Bloomberg)
• 5 Reasons to Buy Nvidia Stock Now (Barron’s)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• An Uber for Trucks Is Hitting Obstacles in China; The industry is ripe for disruption, but it’s a lot tougher than ride-hailing. (Bloomberg)
• SynchroLife, blockchain-based restaurant discovery app from Japan, raises $720K (Bridge)
• Hospitals in Japan turn to high-tech to treat language barriers; Multilingual AI service among new offerings to help staff deal with foreigners (Nikkei)
• Visual recognition tech to drive O2O interactions in future: AIQ; VRT Technology in different vertical (KRA)
• Silicon Valley’s land-grab capitalism comes to the ASX (AFR)
• Bennett Coleman, India’s largest media conglomerate, is making rapid progress in building equity partnerships with foreign digital businesses, including arrangements with America’s Uber, Airbnb and Vice Media (Nikkei)
• Vietnam e-commerce leader draws $51m pan-Asian investment; SBI, Daiwa and SoftBank participate in Sendo Technology funding (Nikkei)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• We Still Don’t Know Whether Uber Is a Real Business: It has never had to live on the cash it generates. (Bloomberg) Is Uber Really Worth $62 Billion? (Barron’s)
• Why Two of Europe’s $1 Billion Startups Just Had Their Valuations Cut (Bloomberg)
• From blue lipstick to Facebook Live, home shopping networks refine their pitch (Reuters)
• Meet the man who’s building Sonos’ audio internet (Wired)
• A Decentralized Reputation System: How Blockchain Can Restore Trust In Online Markets (Forbes)
• The Trade Desk is a global tech company that enables ad buyers to purchase and manage data-driven digital advertising campaigns through a self-service omnichannel software platform. (Barron’s)
• Making Music Social: What Drives Streaming Revenues (Medium)

Life

• Lessons From Da Vinci on Work and Life. (Medium)
• The Trajectory of Great Ideas (Morgan Housel)
• How Companies Thrive by Making You Obsessed: Customer service is still king (Medium)
• Claude Shannon: How a Genius Solves Problems (Medium)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 August 2018) – Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (15 August 2018) – Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business

Companies

• Start Today’s Zozosuit brings customized fashion to the masses (JN)
• New defense bill bans the U.S. government from using Huawei and ZTE tech; ban also covers video surveillance and telecommunications hardware produced by Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision and Dahua Tech (Techcrunch)
• China’s NIO heads opposite way to ‘rival’ Tesla with New York listing (Nikkei)
• AirPod maker Inventec has alternatives to China production, executive says; Taiwanese supplier touts Shanghai location as advantage over inland rival (Nikkei)
• Strong growth in share registry company Computershare’s US operations has led the company to a record profit and its highest earnings growth since 2009. (AFR)
• SEEK chief executive Andrew Bassat says investment in technology in its core businesses and early stage ventures, which mean profit growth will be flat this year, will pay off for in five to 10 years and deliver investors greater growth and sustainability (AFR)

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

• Toutiao launches ad network Pangolin to compete with Baidu/Tencent for ad money (KRA)
• Alibaba Bought Stake In Turkish E-commerce Platform Trendyol At $750M Valuation (CMN)
• Battered Tencent looks for bottom after $208b wipeout (AFR, SCMP); Tencent rejection adds woes to China’s slowing game industry; Squeezed at home, mainland developers look to US, Japan and Europe for demand (Nikkei); China Freezes Game Approvals Amid Agency Shakeup. The halt has shaken Tencent as smaller players struggle; Regulatory administrations are said to be under restructuring (Bloomberg)

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

• Facebook is turning matchmaker. Is this a good thing? Do we really want Silicon Valley coders to predict who we may or may not like? (FT)
• Facebook’s Story Problem – and Opportunity (Stratechery)
• Amazon and Twitter Want to Bring You More Sports (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft’s Cortana Mistake: Relying on Windows: The software giant’s digital assistant debuted before Amazon’s Alexa, but is still struggling to find an audience (WSJ)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• Why Western Digital Firms Have Failed in China (HBR)
• Japanese startup cultivates e-money platform for Asian farmers; Cashless transactions planned to boost growers’ annual earnings by $1,000 (Nikkei)
• Expedia to focus on Korean market for its mobile innovation (Investor)
• Investors who backed online retailer Shoes of Prey have had the value of their investment written down to less than 13¢ in the dollar as the company faces a last-ditch bid to secure a funding lifeline. (AFR)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Square Shares Hit Record High on Cash App Report (Barron’s)
• Spotify’s $8 Billion Rally Is Attracting Loads of Hedge Funds (Bloomberg)
• Reddit is the best social media site because it gets community right (qz)
• Twitter’s Stock Is Flying High After an Analyst Said It Has ‘No Direct Competitor’ (Barron’s)
• Match Group: Facebook Might Not ‘Hurt Its Mojo’ (Barron’s)

Life

• Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business Hardcover – August 14, 2018 (Amazon)
• How To Read More Books — A Lot More (Ryan Holiday)
• Would you have found Berkshire Hathaway in 1975? John Rekenthaler, vice president of research for Morningstar, gives perspective when one feels they have missed out on a multibagger. (Morningstar)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 August 2018) – Firms create value through purpose — a moral or spiritual call to action

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (14 August 2018) – Firms create value through purpose — a moral or spiritual call to action.

Companies

• Lifull Home’s launches 3D property listings (AIM)
• China Literature Ltd., the e-books business spun off by Tencent Holdings Ltd., tumbled as much as 15% since its IPO after agreeing to buy New Classics Media from its controlling shareholder for as much as 15.5 billion yuan ($2.3 billion). Analysts are skeptical of the New Classics acquisition in part because one Tencent affiliate is buying another one at a price that may benefit the parent company. It’s also not clear the acquisition makes strategic sense for China Literature (Bloomberg)
• Tencent-Backed Chinese EV Maker Seeks $1.8 Billion U.S. IPO (Bloomberg)
• How Story of Yanxi Palace’s back-stabbing imperial concubines helped China’s iQiyi set a viewership record (SCMP)
• Sunny Optical faces cloudy outlook as shares head for biggest fall in 11 years on profit miss and yuan depreciation (SCMP)

• Trouble With COGS Hits Foxconn’s Profit Machine; Many component suppliers are hurting from higher prices. Some are winning. (Bloomberg)

• NCSoft’s Q2 operating profit up 325% to W159.5b (Investor); NCSoft to repurchase W237.5b stocks (Investor)

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

• People’s Daily article calls for mobile payments companies to tighten consumer protection measures (SCMP)
• Alibaba: The BABA 20-F….Financial Comedy Gold!! (DT)
• How Tencent used ‘micro-innovation’ to make WeChat a success (TIA)
• Tencent Drops After China Shuts Down PC Game Following Debut (Bloomberg, Reuters, WSJ)

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

• Amazon’s new cloud feature helps businesses avoid traffic crashes (CNN)
• YouTube: how vloggers became the new Oprah Winfreys; Some web stars make millions of dollars, but the stress of creating daily content can take its toll (FT); YouTube Offers Cash If Stars Stump for New Features (Bloomberg)
• Google’s DeepMind To Create Product to Spot Eye Disease; Clinical trial next for DeepMind project with U.K.’s Moorfields Eye Hospital (Bloomberg)
• Nvidia rolls out new chip technology for filmmakers (Reuters)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• How China’s mobile leasing platforms have made renting a home cheaper (SCMP)
• Former Tokyo-based engineer emerges as big winner from China’s love affair with the QR code; Beijing Inspiry Technology Co. is among companies cashing in on the shift to smartphone-based mobile payments in China (SCMP)
• Hospitals in Japan turn to high-tech to treat language barriers; Multilingual AI service among new offerings to help staff deal with foreigners (Nikkei)
• Three Indonesian tech unicorns unite to back digital insurance startup (Techcrunch)
• India Looks to Curb U.S. Tech Giants’ Power; Draft rules call for companies to store local user data in India and make it accessible to government (WSJ)
• India tech companies turn to AI-powered recruitment (Nikkei)
• India’s budget hotel network OYO moves into wedding banquet services (Techcrunch)
• How This Google-Backed Startup Cracked The Code To Hyper Convenience In India (Forbes)
• Azendian Solutions applies data science with human touch to keep employees sane (Edge)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Tech Giants Pledge to Ease Patient, Provider Access to Health Data; Promise seen as opportunity to bring on data-driven revolution in health care (WSJ)
• How Box Conquered the Enterprise and Became a $1.7 Billion Company in a Decade (PH)
• Understanding Truecaller’s Growth Model and how to Launch in New Markets (Medium)
• Roomi Wants to Help You Avoid Rooming With Sketchy Strangers (Bloomberg)
• Silicon Valley’s Unicorn Elite Are Sitting on $60 Billion in Untapped Wealth (Bloomberg)
• How a Billion-Dollar Autonomous Vehicle Startup Lost Its Way; Troubles at lidar company Quanergy point to difficulties in a highly-hyped industry. (Bloomberg)
• AI raises $8M to use artificial intelligence to improve call centers (Techcrunch)
• Jack Dorsey: Twitter Is ‘Thinking About Values’ to Adopt (Barron’s)
• Snapchat’s users slide in latest setback for social media (Australian)
• The Co-Founders of Wish Are Now Billionaires (Bloomberg)
• After Tesla Buyout Tweet, Some Investors Wonder: Where Was Nasdaq? Elon Musk’s ‘financing secured’ buyout tweet last week touched off 80 minutes of frenzied trading before Nasdaq called a halt (WSJ)
• Market’s Too Tough on Microchip (Morningstar)
• Banks and Retailers Are Tracking How You Type, Swipe and Tap (NYT)

Life

• 6 key lessons from Elad Gil’s High Growth Handbook (Reforge)
• 7 of Apple’s Top Execs Tell You How They Approach Feedback at Work (MA)
• What’s the Purpose of Companies in the Age of AI? Firms create value through purpose — a moral or spiritual call to action. (HBR)

H.E.R.O.’s Journey in Tech (10 August 2018) – NHN to acquire online fashion platform LA Showroom + “The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.”

NHN to acquire online fashion platform LA Showroom + “The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself.”

Companies

• Ximalaya secures $580m ahead of 2019 Hong Kong IPO; Ximalaya FM raises funds, after reconstructing its VIE structure. Ximalaya’s 1.195 per cent penetration rate of weekly active users surpassed rivals such as Qingting FM (at 0.468 per cent) and Irts FM (0.323 per cent). Details in an iMedia Research report indicates that as at January 2018, Ximalaya posted a 5.12 per cent penetration rate, ahead of competitor Qingting FM at 2.29 per cent, Yu Jianjun, Ximalaya FM’s co-founder, revealed to IPO 早知道 the long-term goal of shifting from operating as an audio app to offering an audio ecosystem encompassing smart hardware to access professional audio content. (KRA)
• NHN to acquire online fashion platform LA Showroom (Investor)

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

• Alibaba and Tencent in battle for China’s food delivery crown; Apps backed by rivials offer subsidies while fears rise over strategy and environment; Tencent and Alibaba are squaring off for control of China’s lucrative food delivery market (FT)
• SoftBank to Shun Tesla Deal as It Focuses on Other Car Bets, Sources Say (Bloomberg)

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

• Google-Facebook Dominance Hurts Ad Tech Firms, Speeding Consolidation (NYT)
• Zuckerberg’s failures must be your lessons (TNW)
• Google Woos Partners for Potential China Expansion; While its search engine and Gmail remain blocked, the tech giant provides tools to app developers, manufacturers and advertisers in the region (WSJ); Ask Google? How to win in China … without being evil (SCMP)
• Google’s Targeted Ads Are Coming to a Billboard Near You; The next big thing is matching promotions to people by harvesting mobile data. (Bloomberg)

Asia Tech & Innovation Trends

• What China’s history of overseas tech IPOs says about the current wave (Technode)
• Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China’s P2P lending crisis (Reuters)
• How Co-Working Space Operator Kr Space Is Going To Beat WeWork In China (Forbes); WeWork China Rival Raises $120 Million in Hillhouse-Backed Round (Bloomberg)

Global Tech & Innovation Trends

• Three theories on why MoviePass failed (WaPo)
• How movie theaters are surviving big tech (Axios)
• IAC, the internet giant that owns Angie’s List, is on fire (CNN); Match Dates May Not End Well, But They Helped IAC Hit a Record (Bloomberg)
• Sensors to Smartphones Bring Patent Wars to Diabetes Monitoring (Bloomberg)

Life

• “The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.” (Medium)
• The Challenge For Those With A Creative Mind (Medium)
• Investors are desperately trying to cut through the glut of information in search of meaning and knowledge. (13d)