News Archive
Pick a date to read that day's stories.
Days with a blue dot have stories.
- 01 of 10DEFENCE TECH
Rakuten teams up with German drone maker Helsing
Japan's Rakuten Group will work with Berlin based Helsing on self flying drone technology. The pair have raised the possibility of building the drones in Japan.
OUR TAKEA shopping and banking group moving into drones. Loyalty points on that are going to be interesting.
Read more → - 02 of 10CLOUD
Hong Kong cloud firm bets on Chinese open models
A provider called Antimatter is helping regional businesses run Chinese open weight models instead of American ones. It sells lower running costs and clearer control over where data sits.
OUR TAKECheaper, closer to home and no awkward calls at three in the morning. Hard to argue with.
Read more → - 03 of 10DATA CENTRES
Akita lines up one of Japan's largest AI sites
A planned facility in Akita Prefecture could be the biggest AI computing site in Japan when finished. Operations are targeted for 2030 at the earliest.
OUR TAKENorthern Japan gets the servers, the jobs and the heating bill discount. Not a bad trade.
Read more → - 04 of 10RETAIL TECH
Swiggy gives Indian restaurant owners an assistant called Guru
The delivery firm launched a helper that handles order tracking, menu edits and day to day admin for its restaurant partners. It is aimed at small kitchens with no back office.
OUR TAKEEvery small restaurant now has an admin assistant who never asks for a break. The chefs might be jealous.
Read more → - 05 of 10NATIONAL STRATEGY
Mozambique presents its AI plan to Vodacom
The government set out a draft national AI strategy to the telecoms operator as it looks to build capacity at home. It follows a run of African states putting formal plans on paper.
OUR TAKEPitching the national plan to the phone company. Practical, if slightly cheeky.
Read more → - 06 of 10LANGUAGE
UAE researchers teach AI the dialects of Arabic
A project led by the Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI is working to make models understand regional Arabic and the culture around it. It targets a gap that has annoyed users for years.
OUR TAKEArabic has dozens of living dialects. Treating them as one has never gone well for anyone.
Read more → - 07 of 10STARTUPS
Singapore firm takes AI services to three continents
Trident Digital Tech Holdings formed a joint venture with DIG to sell AI tools to smaller businesses across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The agreement covers every country in those regions.
OUR TAKEEvery country in three continents. Someone in sales is going to have a long year.
Read more → - 08 of 10POLICY
Lesotho drafts an AI roadmap and data centre plan
Lesotho's ICT ministry is writing a national AI strategy alongside plans for a domestic data centre. The work is led by minister Nthati Moorosi.
OUR TAKESmall country, clear plan, written down before the spending starts. Others could copy the order of operations.
Read more → - 09 of 10VOICE
West Africa builds AI that listens rather than types
Developers across West Africa are focusing on speech tools instead of chasing chatbots and giant models. The work is shaped around local languages and how people actually communicate.
OUR TAKEHalf the world would rather talk than type. West Africa noticed first.
Read more → - 10 of 10ROBOTICS
Taiwan think tank warns of China's robotics build up
Researchers at the DSET institute say Beijing is running a national effort in robotics much as it did with drones and electric cars. They expect the same effect on global prices and supply.
OUR TAKEWe have seen this film twice already. Cheap drones, cheap cars, and now cheap robots.
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