Missed out on the best Asia tech news from the past seven days? Worry not, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our roundup of the week’s top stories, sorted by popularity.
1. Baidu claims its data is more accurate than Microsoft, Paul the Octopus, at World Cup predictions
China’s top search engine, Baidu, says it scored 100 percent accuracy in predicting the outcome of World Cup quarter-final and group of 16 games.
2. Singapore passes law to curb online piracy; Pirate Bay first in the firing line
The Bill allows owners of copyrighted material to get local Internet service providers (ISPs) to block “flagrantly infringing sites”.
3. Part-time model, full-time GrabTaxi executive Natasha Bautista introduces us to GrabCar’s stoic drivers
GrabTaxi executive Natasha Bautista introduces us to the drivers of GrabCar.
4. 10 must-follow thought leaders in the Philippine tech scene
Following these business thought leaders will improve your Twitter experience.
5. Forget food blogging: this startup aims to show that table reservations are the real money-makers
One of the biggest problems Benson Chang identified while running a restaurant was the lack of manpower to take reservations during peak periods.
6. 14 startups in Asia that caught our eye
Here’s our newest round-up of the featured startups on our site this week.
7. Expedia makes a big push for Asia with $659 million acquisition
Travel booking titan Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) is making a big push for new users and revenue streams in Asia today with the A$703 million (US$659.5 million) acquisition of Australia-based Wotif Group (ASX:WTF). It runs a number of travel sites in the region, such as Wotif.com, Lastminute.com.au, Travel.com.au, LateStays, and GoDo.com.au (hat-tip to The Next Web).
8. WeChat’s future is in hardware, and it can thank Polaroid for the inspiration
When Polaroid discontinued its instant photo-churning film and camera in 2008, the world mourned the death of a loveable but hopelessly antiquated piece of technology. Make no mistake, smartphones and digital cameras rendered the clunky and lo-fi Polaroid camera redundant.
9. Launch of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note in Singapore sees 5,000 phones sold within 42 seconds, breaking last record
This means that Singapore continues to hold the record for the fastest Xiaomi debut sell-out among all the new countries that the Chinese phone-maker has gone to.
10. Following disruption of other foreign services, Instagram mysteriously disappears from China’s Android app stores [UPDATED]
In the latest development among a trickling of disruptions on China’s internet, popular photo-sharing app Instagram appears to be no longer available for download in China’s many third-party Android app stores. [Scroll down for updates] Chinese tech blog Pingwest first spotted Instagram’s disappearance from China’s Android app stores late last night.
11. Startup basics: the sales learning curve
The purpose of a startup is not to make a lot of money, says Peng T. Ong, celebrated Singaporean tech entrepreneur and investor.
12. Baidu is secretly developing unmanned self-driving bicycles for China: report
The bike sans rider can sense its environment well enough to avoid obstacles and navigate complicated road conditions. We could see a prototype this year.
13. This startup is solving Indonesia’s mobile payments problem, bypassing banks altogether
Hendra Sutandinata, Founder and CEO of MVCommerce. Indonesia is a country where 12.5 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and nearly one third of locals don’t have access to traditional bank accounts. However, there is one thing that even the poorest people in the country do have access to: mobile phones.
14. GrabTaxi hits at Uber in Singapore with launch of premium service GrabCar
While GrabTaxi currently has the second largest fleet of cab drivers locally, it remains to be seen if they can replicate their performance with luxury car hires.
15. Japan’s Viibar wants to turn underappreciated video producers into well-paid freelancers
Viibar, a Tokyo-based startup, is on a mission to liberate technical professionals from the stifling world of industrial video production. Founded by Yuta Kamisaka and three others in April 2013, Viibar is a crowdsourcing solution for animated or live action video production and has already received US$3 million in funding. Kamisaka, a former director and producer for commercials and television shows, was inspired by his time in the industry.
16. Mothers I’d like to fund: Chinese social network for moms gets $20 million
A Chinese social network for mothers has secured US$20 million in series B funding to help it grow. LMBang already has 20 million registered users.
17. Crowdfunding in Japan: waterproof coating, stackable circuit boards, and ‘good smelling balls’
Tech in Asia rounded up six Japanese crowdfunding projects, ranging from interesting to absurd, with time still remaining. Things get weird at number five.
18. Why did FPT just buy VNG’s dead ecommerce site for $500,000? [UPDATED]
Sendo, FPT’s main ecommerce site, just acquired VNG’s 123mua ecommerce site. These are Vietnam’s two most massive tech companies exchanging databases and consolidating the ecommerce market in Vietnam.
19. This app exchanges your free time for mobile credits, and it just raised $2.5M
Pokket is an Indian startup that has created a marketplace for consumers to get apps, games, and other digital content without paying a single cent.
20. India sets up $1.6B fund for startups, backs a new era of software product innovation
The new Modi government’s move to set aside INR 100 billion fund for startups exceeds expectations. This is the first fund of its kind in India.
For other ways of reading us, try our tailored RSS feeds, or find us within Flipboard.
20 of our hottest tech stories on Asia in the past week
No comments:
Post a Comment