Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

Takuya Hirai (left), chair of the Liberal Democratic Party's Public Relations Headquarters shows the party's new poster bearing a slogan created by generative artificial intelligence, at the party's headquarters on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 15, 2024
AI creates Japan ruling party's new poster slogan
The LDP will print about 150,000 copies of the new poster and put them up across the country.
Canada has become ground zero for Facebook's battle with governments regarding laws that force internet giants to pay media companies for links to news published on their platforms.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024
When Facebook blocks news, studies show the political risks that follow
The blocking of news links has led to changes in the way Canadian Facebook users engage with information about politics, two unpublished studies found.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a meeting on AI strategy held at the Prime Minister's Office in December. Japan is beginning to draw global attention for its potential as an AI market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024
Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI
Sakana is setting out to train low-cost generative AI models using small datasets, unveiling three AI models for Japanese speakers last month.
Despite being the home of TSMC’s new factory, the Kyushu region is facing hurdles toward expanding its semiconductor-related transactions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024
Developing Kyushu's chip supply chain still a challenge for TSMC
The issue partially stems from the high barrier of entry into the key semiconductor industry.
An Apple store in Shanghai. Apple manufactures iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam and suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2024
Activists press Apple over Vietnam's detention of climate experts
Apple manufactures iPads, AirPods and Apple Watches in Vietnam and suppliers for MacBooks are also investing in the country.
The U.S. Department of Commerce building in January 2022
WORLD / Politics
Apr 11, 2024
Firms aiding Chinese military to get AI chips now face blacklist
The companies are "involved with providing AI chips to China's military modernization programs"
Microsoft President Brad Smith
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 10, 2024
Microsoft to invest $2.9 billion to boost AI and cloud in Japan
The company will also open a lab in Japan focused on AI and robotics, while deepening its cybersecurity collaboration with the Japanese government.
Towa’s compression molding equipment. The firm commands two-thirds of the world’s chip molding equipment market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2024
AI demand spurs 390% surge in Kyoto chip company’s stock price
A growing demand for AI technology has been a boon for Towa, a little-known company that makes an essential component.
Simon Harris, Ireland's prime minister-in-waiting, is among a vanguard of European politicians embracing the Chinese-owned social media platform, calculating that the need to reach younger voters outweighs security concerns.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
European politicians embrace TikTok despite security fears
Ahead of elections, mainstream politicians are wary of ceding ground to fringe parties who have successfully exploited its short video format.
James Manyika, who heads Google’s technology and society team, delivers the keynote address at Google I/O in Mountain View, California, in 2023. OpenAI, Google and Meta ignored corporate policies, altered their own rules and discussed skirting copyright law as they sought online information to train their newest artificial intelligence systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2024
How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI
The companies’ actions illustrate how online information has increasingly become the lifeblood of the booming AI industry.
In one of the biggest changes to the alliance in decades, U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to agree on revamping the U.S. military’s command in Japan to help strengthen operational planning with the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 8, 2024
At Biden-Kishida summit, tech tie-ups are as important as defense deals
The two leaders are also expected to announce boosted cooperation on supply chains and cutting-edge technologies, all with an eye on China.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, at the Viva Technology conference in Paris on June 16, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024
Brazil judge opens inquiry into Musk over blocked accounts on X
Musk has challenged a decision by a Supreme Court judge ordering the blocking of certain accounts.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to TSMC's new plant in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Saturday
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 7, 2024
TSMC’s first Japan plant to hit 60% local procurement by 2030
Japanese officials are hoping TSMC’s arrival will help boost local suppliers’ technology and business.
Drivers in California’s Marin County rely on a single hydrogen fueling station.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 6, 2024
Few stations and $200 to fill up: Life on California’s ‘hydrogen highway’
Fuel shortages and soaring prices have stalled the adoption of hydrogen cars — but proponents aren’t throwing in the towel.
A worker inadvertently discovered that the latest version of the open source software program XZ Utils had been deliberately sabotaged by one of its developers, a move that could have carved out a secret door to millions of servers across the internet.
WORLD
Apr 6, 2024
Why a near-miss cyberattack put U.S. officials and the tech industry on edge
Security experts say it’s only because a change was accidentally spotted that the world was spared a digital security crisis.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2024
Apple shifts focus from EV to home robotics as ‘next big thing’
Apple’s pursuit of the "next big thing” has been an obsession since the Steve Jobs era, but it’s hard to envision a product that could match the iPhone.
People wait to collect drinking water on March 14 amid an ongoing water crisis in Bengaluru, which has been hit by drought.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2024
India’s most innovative cities are running out of water
Drought is crippling India's tech hubs of Bengaluru and Hyderabad, casting a dark shadow on these cities' attractiveness in the era of climate change.
Japan will provide ¥590 billion in additional subsidies to chip venture Rapidus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024
Japan approves extra ¥590 billion in aid to chip startup Rapidus
The additional funding will help Rapidus buy chipmaking equipment and also develop advanced back-end chipmaking processes.
The European Commission has been investigating Microsoft's tying of Office and Teams since 2020.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024
Microsoft to separate Teams and Office globally amid antitrust scrutiny
The company started selling the two products separately in the EU and Switzerland on Oct. 1 last year.
The Alphabet unit allegedly surreptitiously collected user browsing data when they were in "incognito" mode.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024
Google agrees to delete web browsing data as it settles ‘incognito’ lawsuit
The case, filed in 2020, alleged that Google surreptitiously collected user's browsing history when they were in "incognito" mode.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals