Eastly: Asia Tech News Direct From The Source
Welcome to Eastly, your weekly infusion of all the top tech stories from the world’s innovation powerhouse: East Asia!
Every Sunday we’ll bring you a short, sharp roundup of the biggest stories our team in China have spotted – the kind of stuff that takes a few weeks for the Western media to notice.
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Alibaba’s foray into Dropbox territory is clear evidence that, even when a particular area doesn’t seem particularly profitable, brand dominance is still a key factor in winning China’s hotly contested tech war.
But that’s not to say there’s no room for new blood – or collaboration, for that matter. After all, as the saying goes – if you can’t beat them, join them.
WeChat Trials ‘Group Live Broadcast’
WeChat vs. Zoom?
Date: 02 September, 2020
WeChat is trialling a "group live broadcast" feature – allowing up to 500 people into a single chat and for any user to essentially start their own live broadcast.
First introduced during quarantine, in the first half of this year, WeChat launched the group broadcast function to help schools with remote teaching and enable businesses to carry out multi-party remote video conversations.
WeChat has more than 1 billion daily active users. Its video function has been live for the last six months and already has daily active traffic of over 200 million.
Source: https://36kr.com/p/862864739441288
Alibaba’s ‘Dropbox’ Leaked
China’s competing against the old dog - Dropbox
Date: 02 September, 2020
News that Jack Ma-owned Alibaba intends to introduce a cloud file sharing and storage service – similar to US-based Dropbox – was leaked this week; throwing down the gauntlet to a competitor, Baidu, whose ‘NetDisk’ service dominates the sector in China.
While a bold move into Baidu’s space – and into an area not typically seen as profitable – many are encouraged by the Alibaba service's proposed download speeds – rumoured to be 11 MB per second.
Source: https://36kr.com/p/864587329116547
Biotech Boost As Longevity Giant Acquires AI Company
Stay forever young
Date: 03 September, 2020
Hong Kong-listed longevity company, Regent Pacific, announced the acquisition of Deep Longevity this week – an artificial intelligence research company that was founded just six months ago.
Following the buyout, said to be worth HK$29.56 million (US$3.8 million), the two companies will develop a large, integrated platform for biotechs focused on the pursuit of longer lives.
A spinout venture from artificial intelligence molecule designer, Insilico Medicine, Deep Longevity develops artificial intelligence systems to track the rate of ageing at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, system, physiological, and psychological levels.
Source: https://36kr.com/p/866023101405576
Wuhan To Build China's Biggest 5G Autopilot Test Zone
5G in the fast lane
Date: 03 September, 2020
Work will soon begin work on China’s largest self-driving pilot zone – located near the central Chinese city of Wuhan – which will work using 5G networks and cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems.
No less than 78 kilometres of the open road will be built – expanding on the 28 km road which last opened September. Already there’s been significant interest from major auto manufacturers, including; Dongfeng Motor, Baidu, DeepRoute, Haylion Technologies, DeepBlue Technology, and AutoX.
Source: https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/wuhan-to-build-china-biggest-5g-autopilot-test-zone-by-year-end-
Qutoutiao & Kuaishou to Turn Novels Into Short Dramas
Who doesn’t love a little drama?
Date: 03 September, 2020
News aggregator, Qutoutiao, and video sharing platform, Kuaishou, have announced they’re to join forces and begin producing short video dramas based on material already available in news aggregator's online literature portal – Midu Books.
The move is viewed as a bid to attract more users and monetise content and – by focusing on short-form content instead of long series – curb the lengthy development times and high costs associated with other adaptation projects.
Source: https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/china-qutoutiao-kuaishou-to-turn-novels-into-short-dramas
Notes:
Qutoutiao: one of China’s leading media and news aggregation services, Shanghai-based Qutoutiao was founded in 2016 by Eric Tan. Literally translated, Qutoutiao means ‘fun headlines’.
Asia Markets
Asian stock markets remain quite vibrant: JPMorgan AM
Markets Summary: https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/world-indexes/asia-pacific
Top Tweet
Oh, the good old days… Watching Netflix on your… Apple Watch?
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Yours, Eastly
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