China’s Xiongan New Area is accelerating its hunt for technology firms as the city, designed partly to house state-owned institutions relocated from Beijing, moves to nurture its own industries, according to people familiar with its plans and local officials. Officials were looking to attract tech companies that could reach valuations of 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), hoping some would list on stock markets, including Hong Kong’s, in the next few years, sources said, adding that the key...

Some of these accessories actually look pretty cute.

The latest US-China summit covered a wide range of topics including artificial intelligence (AI). However, the official readouts from both countries did not touch upon an issue that has generated heated debate: whether the United States and China should agree to pause or slow down the development of frontier AI. That absence has triggered considerable discussion. During my recent visit to New York, many US friends asked whether Beijing would ever agree to some form of arrangement. Before...

On September 22, the global artificial intelligence landscape spun on its axis within a matter of hours. In Beijing, Xiaomi engineers went live with an unusual broadcast, streaming the training run of their new MiMo-V2.6 model. In San Francisco, Anthropic unveiled its frontier Opus 5.5 model. About an hour later, OpenAI crashed the party with the surprise release of its GPT-6 Sol and Luna models. For tech executives and developers trying to keep pace, it was just another overwhelming day in the...

On September 22, the global artificial intelligence landscape spun on its axis within a matter of hours. In Beijing, Xiaomi engineers went live with an unusual broadcast, streaming the training run of their new MiMo-V2.6 model. In San Francisco, Anthropic unveiled its frontier Opus 5.5 model. About an hour later, OpenAI crashed the party with the surprise release of its GPT-6 Sol and Luna models. For tech executives and developers trying to keep pace, it was just another overwhelming day in the...

Even more stunning, the merch comes paired with already popular Sony products, like its flagship WH-1000XM6 headphones.

An Nvidia-backed US start-up has unveiled an open-weight model to challenge China’s dominance in freely available artificial intelligence, releasing a system that early third-party testing suggests could be one of the most token-efficient open models in its class. Reflection AI on Monday debuted Beam, its first open-weight model built for coding, reasoning and agentic tasks. The US firm said Beam was “competitive” with GLM-5.2 from Z.ai – also known as Zhipu AI – and was “approaching” Alibaba...

Even as geopolitical frictions and market swings unsettle venture investors, Hong Kong-founded Hermitage Capital is sticking to a global strategy of backing frontier technology companies wherever they emerge. With a US$1.5 billion war chest that is 80 per cent in US dollars, with the remainder in renminbi, the private equity firm is ramping up investments across artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics, mainly in the US and China, capitalising on a market turnaround triggered by the...

These headphones will likely sound different, thanks to a new tuning partner.

October looks like it could be crazy busy month for Apple and its users and fans.

The new DGX Spark retains the same GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip as the 128GB model.

The pop-up also features racing challenges, exclusive rewards and 10 life-sized LEGO F1 minifigures hidden around Suntec City.

Xiaomi’s wind-sculpted concept car will arrive alongside the PlayStation-exclusive game’s EV Experience mode.

MANILA, Philippines —The Philippines slipped two places to 52nd in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII), as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) called for increased government and private-sector investment in research and development (R&D) to strengthen the country’s innovation capacity. The country ranked 69th in innovation inputs, down from last year, while it

At a TikTok Table Talk with the social media app’s local executives, I got the perfect chance to ask about brainrot content on the platform, and whether it’s getting in the way of children’s creativity in their most formative years. I described in detail how repetitive it was, like a looped version of children’s shows

Hong Kong lawmakers have backed the government’s proposed tax incentives for large innovative companies, but many said on Monday that the planned five-year concession period is too short to attract major firms to establish headquarters or expand operations in the city. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his policy address last month said the government planned to submit a bill introducing preferential profits tax rates of either 5 per cent or 8.25 per cent, which was half of the city’s standard...

US chip giant Qualcomm has agreed to pay to licence and acquire patents from China’s Huawei Technologies for the first time as part of a “multi-year, broad patent licence agreement” covering 5G, computing and artificial intelligence. The deal involved cross-licensing between both firms’ patent portfolios, the Shenzhen-based firm said in a statement on Monday, adding that it included Qualcomm’s purchase of specific Huawei US patents across compute, AI, networking and other technologies. The...

These tablets have impressive specs, and equally impressive price tags.

In February 2023, the budget shopping platform Temu announced itself on the world stage in the brashest way possible: becoming one of the youngest ever brands to buy a Super Bowl advertising spot. “Download the Temu app and shop like a billionaire,” a voice proclaimed in the 30-second commercial, as a woman danced on screen and ordered a series of outlandishly cheap items: from a US$8.99 dress to a US$4.99 wig. The commercial – which aired twice during the game, costing Temu an estimated US$14...

In February 2023, the budget shopping platform Temu announced itself on the world stage in the brashest way possible: becoming one of the youngest ever brands to buy a Super Bowl advertising spot. “Download the Temu app and shop like a billionaire,” a voice proclaimed in the 30-second commercial, as a woman danced on screen and ordered a series of outlandishly cheap items: from a US$8.99 dress to a US$4.99 wig. The commercial – which aired twice during the game, costing Temu an estimated US$14...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei seems to believe that he, the American artificial intelligence (AI) industry and the United States are the only ones who should have the right to determine the fate of humanity. While he pays lip service to involving other democracies in AI development, which ones remotely approach the technological capacities of the US and China? Do other non-democratic developing countries not count? His self-belief is far more dangerous than mere commercial greed. Like Peter Thiel,...

Just got a new iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max? You’ll want to read this first before setting it up.

Two decades after stepping away from the spotlight, iconic actress Joey Wong made an unexpected return to the screen – not through a traditional production, but via artificial intelligence-powered reconstruction. In a two-minute video by NetEase this summer, Wong, one of the most well-known actresses of the 1980s and 90s, had some of her most celebrated roles recreated, including the beautiful ghost in A Chinese Ghost Story and an alluring snake demon in Green Snake. The revival is just the tip...

As global adoption of the open-source RISC-V chip architecture accelerates, US intellectual property provider MIPS is collaborating with Chinese firms at an unprecedented level, according to a senior executive, highlighting how cross-border cooperation persists despite intense tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing. MIPS, which was acquired by US chipmaker GlobalFoundries last year, was driving RISC-V standardisation “very closely with China”, chief technology officer Yankin Tanurhan said...

After Ping An Bank became the first listed Chinese lender to formally adopt rules governing its use of artificial intelligence, analysts said more mainland institutions were likely to follow, with the move setting an early benchmark for how far the sector can go in applying the technology. The Shenzhen-listed bank said in a filing on Wednesday that its board had approved AI management measures, following a regulatory push for banks to strengthen oversight of AI use. The full rules have not been...

TOKYO, Japan – Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch globally on October 29, 2026, (excluding mainland China), bringing Capcom’s iconic monster-hunting franchise to mobile devices. The game is positioned as a more accessible entry point for both longtime fans and newcomers. While Monster Hunter Outlanders marks a significant shift for a franchise traditionally associated with PC

Finally, a Klook alternative for eSIM packages has been unveiled. As someone who travels at least once a month on international trips, I’ve been looking for other alternatives to popular eSIM apps apart from eSIM.io and Klook. As a SMART subscriber for more than 10 years, I’ve been on the hunt for something closer to

Starting today, Oct. 2, subscribers can pre-order the iPhone 18 Pro with Smart Postpaid Plans+ 1499 starting at P3,713 per month, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at P4,050 per month, with zero-interest credit card installment for up to 24 months with select banks.  Under this plan, subscribers can enjoy the freedom of having an open-line device, along with

All aboard the Pokemon truck! The Pokémon Company is pleased to announce that the Pokémon Truck will begin its tour of Metro Manila on October 2. The truck welcomed more than 250,000 visitors in total across its tours in Malaysia and Singapore, receiving an enthusiastic response from fans. Now, fans in the Philippines can look

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate on September 30 ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the Batang Ligtas Act, which would expand online child protection requirements and give authorities additional tools to investigate technology-facilitated crimes. The measure consolidates Senate Bill No. 1819 and House Bill No. 9461 and covers online sexual abuse and exploitation of