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Two Harvard University students have adapted the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and computer software to create spectacles utilizing existing face recognition technology to identify people in real time.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 12, 2024

Are face-scanning smart glasses a problem or prophecy?

A hack by two Harvard University students raises concern about the unforeseen risks of artificial intelligence and mixing of existing technologies.
A firefighter works to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's Mar Elias street, Lebanon, on Sunday.
WORLD
Nov 18, 2024

Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah's media relations head

Israel has rarely hit senior Hezbollah personnel who do not have clear military roles.
A screen displays trading information about the shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group, outside the Nasdaq Market site in New York on March 26.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 18, 2024

Truth Social and late calls take over economists’ lives under Trump

The end goal for economists is to produce accurate forecasts to help traders, businesses and governments navigate the new chaotic world.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 27, 2024

Musk pushes his preferred political picks via X. Trump isn't always swayed.

Several high-profile cases show some early limits to the billionaire's influence even as he has emerged as one of the president-elect's most powerful allies.
In an interview in Tokyo with the BBC that was published on Thursday, Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai said the company does not source cotton from China's Xinjiang region.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 29, 2024

Uniqlo criticized in China after CEO says retailer does not use Xinjiang cotton

Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing, said it does not source cotton from the region, which has faced allegations of forced labor.
Hiroyuki Fukuda is due to become the new president of Nippon Television Holdings in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2024

Four Nippon TV affiliates to integrate management in April

The aim of the merger is to stabilize their business base and address the increasingly tough business environment resulting from media diversification.
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 2, 2024

Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms

“Futehodo” — a nickname for a TV drama that depicts the generational gap between the Showa and Reiwa eras — has been crowned the most trending word of 2024.
Ten people are suspected of forcibly entering a club in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Dec. 17 last year and assaulting a male security guard.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024

Alleged operator of anonymous X account arrested over club assault

Z-Ri, a pun on the name of the kung-fu actor Jet Li, is an influential account that posts about the inner workings of Japan's underworld.
The decision significantly raises the prospects of an unprecedented ban in just six weeks on a social media app used by 170 million Americans.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 7, 2024

U.S. appeals court upholds TikTok law forcing its sale

The decision is a major win for the Justice Department and opponents of the Chinese-owned app and a devastating blow to TikTok parent ByteDance.
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Dec 17, 2024

Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube

Cat memes continued to thrive and evolve in 2024. In Japan, they're not just for jokes — they’re for storytelling, venting and a little therapy.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief on Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his Jan. 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 28, 2024

Trump asks Supreme Court to pause law threatening TikTok ban

Trump said the court should give him time after his Jan. 20 inauguration to "seek a negotiated resolution” of the dispute over the social media platform.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends a conference organized by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Poland, in January 2024.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2025

Musk projects his hard-right influence in Europe

The multibillionaire has demanded new elections in Britain, promoted Germany's far-right, blasted the European Commission — and that's just the start.
TikTok has discovered that their TikTok Live feature has facilitated money laundering, allowed users to sell drugs and fund terrorism, according to a new lawsuit, which also accuses the social media company's livestream feature of exploiting and "grooming” minors to perform sexual content.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 6, 2025

TikTok’s live video feature ‘groomed’ minors, Utah AG claims

Tiktok has emphasized its commitment to enforcing its policies and said it shut down more than 45 million streams last year.
Signage at the TikTok offices in Singapore, on Aug. 4, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 7, 2025

TikTok ban thrusts Apple and Google into U.S.-China geopolitical fray

TikTok creators are posting videos promoting ways to get around a looming shutdown of the app in the U.S., which could spell trouble for companies required to enforce the ban.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices on Friday expressed skepticism about a challenge from TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 13, 2025

What happens after the TikTok ban?

TikTok's future in the U.S. is uncertain as the Supreme Court weighs security concerns, with a potential ban or forced sale looming on Jan. 19. Here's how it could play out.
By selling video content to AI companies, YouTubers have a way to diversify their income beyond advertising deals with brands.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 13, 2025

YouTubers are selling their unused video footage to AI companies

Unused video created for networks like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, is selling for somewhere between $1 and $2 per minute.
The TikTok logo is displayed outside the offices of the social media app's company offices in Culver City, California, in 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 14, 2025

China discusses sale of TikTok U.S. to Elon Musk as possible option

Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X would take control of TikTok U.S. and run the businesses together.
Elon Musk, left, with Vivek Ramaswamy on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 5.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2025

SEC accuses Elon Musk of bilking Twitter investors out of millions

The agency’s complaint accuses Musk of failing to promptly report that he had amassed more than 5% of the social media platform’s stock in early 2022.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has expressed ambitions to build an "everything app," and adding TikTok to X, formerly Twitter, could bring him closer to that vision.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2025

Elon Musk won’t save TikTok

A Musk takeover of TikTok remains far from a done deal. It would require a wildly complex spinoff and it’s not immediately clear how he would fund a purchase.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s potential role in any plan to save TikTok remains both intriguing and complicated. The ban is set to take effect just one day before his inauguration, and while it has been reported that President Joe Biden won’t enforce the ban on day one, the decision on what to do long-term will become Trump’s problem almost immediately.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2025

TikTok’s fate rests on Trump after U.S. Supreme Court upholds law

U.S. President -elect Donald Trump’s potential role in any plan to save TikTok remains both intriguing and complicated.
After months of legal tussles, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would ban TikTok in the name of national security.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 19, 2025

TikTok shuts down U.S. access as Trump seeks app's reinstatement

Only months after overwhelmingly backing the law, lawmakers are now fretting about the ban, with all eyes on whether Trump can swoop in and find a way to save the app.
A message welcoming users back and thanking U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is displayed on the TikTok app on a smartphone Sunday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 20, 2025

TikTok restoring U.S. service after Trump says he will stall ban

Trump said he would "extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security."
A message welcoming users back and thanking U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the TikTok app
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2025

A beauty industry hooked on TikTok braces for an uncertain future

Last year, TikTok was one of the top 10 largest beauty e-commerce platforms in the U.S.
TV star Masahiro Nakai abruptly announced his retirement Thursday as the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against him continued to expand.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2025

Ex-SMAP member Masahiro Nakai to retire amid sexual misconduct allegations

The 52-year-old former SMAP member said his contracts had been wound up, and that negotiations with sponsors were in progress.
TikTok boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users and has become a major driver of culture and politics among young Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 24, 2025

TikTok’s possible buyers, from Elon Musk to MrBeast

There will be no shortage of interested acquirers for the popular video service, which boasts 170 million monthly U.S. users.
Fujitsu and the National Institute of Informatics have launched a full-scale industry-academia collaboration to curb the spread of disinformation, including deepfakes created through generative artificial intelligence.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 27, 2025

Japan launches industry and academia tie-up to combat online disinformation

Nine companies and academic institutions aim to put an integrated system for combating false information into use by March 2026.
People were more concerned about the direct and specific impact of the Bank of Japan's latest rate hike on their personal lives, according to an artificial intelligence-driven analysis of various platforms, including social media.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2025

Japan begins feeling the pain of BOJ rate hikes more concretely

As time goes on, the BOJ’s rate increases appear to be having a stronger impact on people’s everyday lives, shifting from more abstract concepts to more concrete effects.
Relatives of people who died in Spain's disastrous floods, as well as protesters, demonstrate against Valencia's regional leader, demanding his resignation for his handling of the emergency, in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 29.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025

Chinese online operation called for toppling Spain's government: report

The online operation from China, called Spamouflage, has been operating in several countries since 2017, online analysis outfit Graphika said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Illinois on Jan. 26.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 1, 2025

TikTok influencers leverage power of gossip to thwart ICE raids

They say that as authorities ramp up raids in the early days of the Trump administration, they’re trying to inform migrants of their rights.
The Imperial Household Agency's Instagram account boasts over 1.8 million followers.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2025

Imperial Household Agency finds success on Instagram amid public relations push

With the account boasting over 1.8 million followers, the agency is aiming to boost engagement.

Longform

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