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The popular dating app Tinder is being used by a German animal shelter to find homes for unwanted pets. According to the Munich Animal Shelter, more pets have been abandoned since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and during the summer holiday. Profiles have been created for 15 of the shelter’s most eligible pets o…
A start-up in Israel is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to rescue and protect beehives. Vital for agricultural pollination, beehive colonies have declined at an average annual rate of 30 per cent since 2006-2007, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Using AI and smart technology, the Is…
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, which runs the world’s largest video gaming business by revenue, has significantly cut down playing time for minors on its flagship game Honour of Kings. The measures were taken in apparent response to claims that video gaming is harming teenagers in China. A report published by …
The Tokyo Olympic Games has come alive to scores of the host city’s disabled children, thanks to cutting-edge technology. Provided by Japanese companies, the set-up allowed the youngsters to interact with athletes through a camera, dance with a robotic mascot, and view the matches inside a virtual reality dome.
Despite the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global aviation, the boss of AirAsia says the Malaysia-based regional budget carrier is plotting a new course for expanding into Southeast Asia’s crowded field of so-called super apps. Company CEO Tony Fernandes says he sees AirAsia build a “low-cost unicorn…
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed millions of people worldwide, disrupted international trade patterns and greatly reduced international travel. However, there is another crisis that has happened concurrently. The world has been suffering from a major shortage of semiconductors. These microchips are used in essential…
Visitors now have to show a special Covid-19 pass to ascend the Eiffel Tower or to visit French museums and cinemas, following a government decree. As new rules took effect on July 21, 2021, masked workers at the Eiffel Tower scanned QR codes on digital health passes, or asked tourists for a printed vaccine or Covid…
The malevolent posting of personal details on digital platforms in Hong Kong must be prevented, but there is a need for balance, according to SCMP special projects editor Cliff Buddle, who says it is also time for laws that make legitimate access to information easier.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasted into space on his rocket ship New Shepard’s first crewed flight on July 20, 2021. The launch by his company, Blue Origin, was seen as another step into commercialising space flight.
Hong Kong is preparing to outlaw doxxing and cyber harassment, with a bill expected to go before the Legislative Council by October 2021. It outlines severe penalties not only for offenders, but also online platform operators that enable them to leak private information. The Post’s Hong Kong news editor Denise Tsang…
As part of China’s attempt to rein in the Wild West of the internet, Beijing has been tightening its grip on cybersecurity. And under fire are big tech companies, like ride-hailing giant Didi. A cybersecurity review of Didi has kicked off a new era in China that prioritises data security over unfettered growth for t…
Chinese e-commerce companies have been developing new technology to meet surging consumer demand for express delivery. The volume of packages processed in China jumped from 2.3 billion units in 2010 to 83.4 billion units in 2020, thanks to the exponential growth of China’s e-commerce. At the same time, the country’s…
Students at this South Korean university can pay for their coffee by using the eco-friendly ‘BeeVi toilet’, which helps power a school building by turning faeces into methane gas. Those who use the invention at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology can earn digital currency, Ggool, which allows them…
China’s Olympic ski jumpers have a new national training base in Baoding, a city in the northern province of Hebei. Athletes can train for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics throughout the year at the facility that uses cutting edge technology to mimic a winter environment. It is one of three national training bases i…
Jellyfishbot, a sea-cleaning robot, helps collect marine waste. The remote-controlled device invented by a French company can pick up rubbish from narrow spaces where trash tends to accumulate but remains inaccessible for cleaners with nets.
While podcasting has long been on the media menu in the West, the digital audio downloads have only recently started gaining popularity in China. More than 7,000 new podcasts went online in the country in 2020, with an audience estimated to be nearly 10 million. But under the country’s tightly managed media ecosyste…
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheung Yuet-ngor said on July 6, 2021, that the planned overhaul of the city’s data privacy laws will only target illegal doxxing activities. She was responding to a joint industry submission that includes Google, Facebook and Twitter, voicing concerns over the broad wording of t…
It has survived two world wars, the fight against colonialism and bankruptcy. The Mumbai Samachar is considered Asia's oldest newspaper still in print. Founded in 1822 for businessmen living in the key port city, the paper this year entered its 200th year on July 1, 2021. The Gujarati-language daily is struggling, b…
In this digital age, nearly everyone has a smartphone or two that has a great camera capable of instantly snapping a collection of photos anywhere, any time. But not long ago, images capturing the highlights of a person’s daily life were not so easy to come by. Few people understand that as well as 48-year-old Ke Mi…
A prototype flying car completed a 35-minute flight between two airports in Slovakia on June 28, 2021.
A lion that was illegally smuggled into Cambodia by a Chinese national has been confiscated by local authorities after the owner posted footage of the animal on the video-sharing app TikTok in late April 2021. Animal rescue non-governmental organisation Wildlife Alliance supported the police raid. The NGO wrote late…
Throughout Asia, the race is on to lead not just the region but the world in the blockchain and digital currency space. China may have been first out of the gate, but the rest of Asia is scrambling to keep up.
Electrician Wang Jin conducts operations on live-transmission grids to ensure steady power supply in China’s eastern Shandong province. He works at altitudes of more than 100 metres (328ft) high on 500-kilovolt power lines. Wang and his team have been working on several innovations, including developing new technolo…
Hongkongers bought their last edition of the Apple Daily on June 24, 2021. The tabloid folded operations after its editor-in-chief, publisher and three other executives were detained on June 17 under the national security law, and its assets were frozen, leaving it unable to pay its staff's salaries. The decision to…
A court hearing for two executives of Hong Kong’s tabloid Apple Daily charged under the city's national security law drew crowded outside West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on June 19, 2021. On June 17, police raided the homes of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Ryan Law Wai-kwong, and four others, including publisher…
More workers are becoming digital nomads as they flee Manila to work remotely at Philippine beach resorts. The influx of mobile workers at resorts has helped the country’s tourism industry stay afloat.
Animoca Brands, a tech company recently valued at more than US$1 billion, is pioneering the integration of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, in video games. NFTs are a blockchain-recorded ledger of who created and owns a specific gaming asset, a new technology that Animoca chairman and co-founder Yat Siu thinks can revo…
Authorities in China have been monitoring a herd of 15 Asian elephants wandering across Yunnan province. A system utilising a series of drone and infrared cameras to track the elephants in real-time has been put in place. The technology helps to warn authorities when the herd gets too close to populated areas.
China experienced food-security issues when lockdowns were imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation spurred the rise of greenhouse-grown foods after Chinese policymakers called on local authorities to build massive networks of greenhouses to supply critical staples. Dutch-run company FoodVentures is one o…
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has released its very own operating system, Harmony OS, which can be installed across an array of devices, and work as an alternative to Google's Android OS. Huawei started hyping the new system for its smartphones after losing access to Google services on the official version of Andr…
South Korean designer Paeng Minwook has invented a gadget called a “third eye” to help keep smartphone addicts safe as they walk while looking at their phones. Paeng said the device is meant to criticise modern-day phone users, whom he calls “Phono sapiens”.
The WHO approval of Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use on June 1, 2021, will help ease the global vaccine shortage. Sinovac Biotech has already distributed more than 600 million doses of its CoronaVac vaccine to nearly 40 countries, as of May 31, 2021. It uses an inactivated virus to trigger a p…
SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket, with 60 Starlink internet satellites, into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida, on May 26, 2021. Falcon 9 is a reusable rocket developed for reliable and safe transport for people and payloads into Earth’s orbit and beyond. Starli…
For more than a decade, huge fortunes have been made and lost in the world of cryptocurrency. While China has played a big role in the cryptocurrency boom, Beijing has been tightening its grip on the volatile market in recent years because of concerns it could disrupt the economy. Raymond Yeung, economist, and autho…
A “super blood moon” took place on May 26, 2021, when a total lunar eclipse coincided with the moon being at its closest to Earth. The rare cosmic event drew skywatchers across the Asia-Pacific region and the west coast of the Americas. The next such phenomenon is expected in 2033.
The price of bitcoin bounced back to around US$40,000 on May 20, 2021, one day after China announced new regulatory restrictions that sparked a massive meltdown in cryptocurrencies. The latest volatility in the digital coins was triggered by a joint warning issued by three Chinese state-backed financial associations…
Appearing by video link, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took part in a virtual ceremony on May 19, 2021, to launch the construction of four new reactors at two nuclear plants in China. The reactors use Russian technology and the two plants – Tianwan in Jiangsu province and Xu…
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation released this animation on May 18, 2021, showing how a robotic arm it’s currently constructing would work in the Tiangong Space Station.
An all-robot band named MOJA took centre stage at Beijing’s Tsinghua University to perform using traditional Chinese instruments. The robotic group performed on the Chinese harp, bamboo flute and paigu drums for the April 27, 2021, performance called Phantom of the MOJA. The robots were created by students, professo…
Shen Chongfeng, rotating president of China’s biggest corporate software maker Kingdee, says the company is investing heavily in cloud services at the expense of short-term profits to capitalise on a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for domestic tech firms. Kingdee has also been undergoing a transformation of its ow…
The ancient Roman Colosseum is once again going to have a floor by 2023, thanks to a new, hi-tech project announced by the culture ministry on May 2, 2021.
The world's largest plane made its second test flight on April 29, 2021, above the Mojave desert in the US state of California. Nicknamed “Roc”, the aircraft is designed to provide easy access to space for hypersonic vehicles launched from the plane while it is in flight. It is being developed by Stratolaunch, a com…
Although non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have recently been generated controversy over concerns about energy inefficiency, interest in them continues to rise. The Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX), an NFT merchant, shared a video on Earth Day 2021 to provide consumers with some details about the company's technology.
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have been around in some form for decades, but started booming during the Covid-19 pandemic. And the SPAC boom has been sensational. The shell companies designed solely to raise money from investors to buy assets – usually private, unlisted firms – raised more money in 2…
Nasa successfully flew and landed a mini helicopter on Mars on April 19, 2021, achieving the first powered and controlled flight by an aircraft over the surface of another planet. Ingenuity rose to about three metres (10 feet), hovered and then landed. It managed almost 40 seconds of flight, overcoming the challenge…
Chinese smartphones were once thought of as cheaply made, unreliable and not very durable. But in recent years, Chinese smartphone brands have made large inroads to take a bigger share of the global market. The Chinese models have earned a reputation for being powerful yet affordable, and because they support advanc…
From a self-portrait painted by Sophia the Robot, to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, to Beeple’s US$69 million JPEG, digital NFT creations also known as “nifties” have been fetching eye-watering prices on auction in the first few months of 2021, and in turn making the global arts scene sit up and take …
A Japanese start-up is working to create man-made meteor showers for use in mass entertainment. The company ALE Co Ltd aims to launch satellites that will release small pellets into the Earth's atmosphere and create artificial shooting stars.
Xpeng, a leading Chinese smart electric vehicle (EV) company, said on Friday that its P7 mid-size car, guided by its Navigation Guided Pilot function, a newly released feature, had “set some of the most successful records to date over long distances in real road conditions in China”. A fleet of the battery-powered c…
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on March 22, 2021, blasted the “grotesque” growing gap between the number of coronavirus vaccines administered in rich and poor countries, branding the inequity a global “moral outrage”. The UN health agency chief also appealed to vaccine producer…
