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JD.com ignited a three-way battle with Meituan and Alibaba in China’s food delivery and instant commerce markets. Photo: Reuters
JD.com

JD.com quarterly sales beat expectations but food delivery foray slices profit

The Beijing-based firm reported sales of US$49.7 billion for the quarter ended June, about 6 per cent above projections.

Banking & finance

Chinese PE fund bets big on AI as it sees tech shaping the future

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Technology

The You’ve Got Mail era is ending: AOL shuts down dial-up

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Indonesia

Game over? Indonesia eyes Roblox ban over child safety concerns

Indonesia’s education minister says the game has ‘a lot of violence’ that could lead young children to mimic harmful behaviours.

The Roblox gaming platform is seen on a tablet computer. It is not yet clear if or when a ban on Roblox will take effect. Photo: AP
Indonesia

How Indonesia’s AI-generated ‘Italian brainrot’ memes conquered Gen Z

Italian Brainrot, a quirky AI trend, has captivated Gen Z with its bizarre characters, sparking memes and cultural exchanges across nations.

Semiconductors

Unicorn Z.ai adapts models for Huawei chips to broaden China’s AI ecosystem

Huawei’s Ascend processors used on AI servers and Kirin chips that run inside smartphones are now compatible with Z.ai’s GLM models.

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Banking & finance

China Renaissance founder Bao Fan set free more than 2 years after disappearance

News of Bao’s release could provide some relief for his company, which recently invested in stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group.

Bao Fan, founder of China Renaissance Holdings. Photo: Nora Tam
Law

Legal Tales | How Hong Kong can regulate the harm caused by deepfake porn

Creators of deepfake pornography may exist in a legal vacuum, with existing laws unable to properly govern or penalise their culpable conduct.

Semiconductors

‘No kill switches and back doors’: Nvidia reasserts security of its AI chips

Embedding weaknesses into chips would ‘undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology’, Nvidia says.

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TikTok

Egypt arrests TikTok creators in latest morality crackdown

Interior ministry said the creators’ videos ‘violate public morals’, while rights defenders claim the move mainly targets women online.

Egyptian authorities have arrested at least eight TikTok content creators in less than a week on vague charges. Photo: Getty Images
The Philippines

‘Silent epidemic’: how online gambling is ravaging Filipinos’ lives

As addiction to online gambling grows, rehabilitation groups in the Philippines are urging the government to act – before it’s too late.

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A game of roulette being played on a smartphone. The Philippines raked in gross gaming revenue of US$7 billion last year. Photo: Getty Images
Africa

Mali ex-PM charged over social media post attacking military rule

Moussa Mara has openly questioned moves to dissolve political parties and grant the military government a five-year mandate without elections.

Women and gender

Sex, lies and video games: the heated debate over sexism and misogyny in China

Controversies ranging from a rape case to a popular game about gold diggers are fuelling intense discussions and ‘gender antagonism’.

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Hong Kong society

Should Hong Kong plug legal gaps to stamp out AI-generated porn?

Tech sector warns of dangers of overregulation, as case involving deepfakes of HKU students reveals ‘complicated’ legal questions.

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Illustration: Brian Wang
E-commerce

Meituan, JD.com build central kitchens to ratchet up China’s delivery war

China’s catering industry is transforming, as internet platform operators become more involved in the food supply chain.

Instant commerce rivals JD.com and Meituan are changing mainland China’s catering industry. Photo: Shutterstock
Malaysia

Malaysian parents back curbs on ‘brain rot’ excess of social media

Government weighs ban on children below the age of 13 from having social media accounts to protect them from harmful content.

United States

Too white? Sydney Sweeney’s ‘blue genes’ campaign ignites social media storm

While some have criticised the campaign for its racial undertones, others have applauded it as a sign that ‘woke is broke’.

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United States

Dating intel app for women suffers massive hack, exposing IDs

The ‘Tea’ app, which is designed to protect women from bad dates, has now exposed their identities following a major hack.

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“Tea” boasts a “sisterhood” of more than 1.6 million women who can share dating advice and experiences anonymously on the platform. Photo: AP
Music

What the Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ scandal says about privacy for us all today

‘There’s no such thing as the private life any more,’ says one expert as the fallout from Coldplay concert saga continues.

Crime in Hong Kong

Explainer | After 3 Hong Kong data breaches, here’s how to protect your private info

Customers’ details held by Cathay Pacific, Louis Vuitton and Hongkong Post targeted in recent string of data breaches.

Google

Google street nude? Man pictured naked in his yard gets payout

Argentine court rules Google violated dignity by capturing and publishing homeowner’s image from his backyard.

A Google Street View camera. File photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Tencent’s AI-powered programming tool fully automates app development

CodeBuddy IDE provides a ‘conversation-is-programming’ approach, enabling even a non-technical user to design and build applications.

Tencent’s foray into sophisticated, AI-powered tools for developers reflected the significant advances being made by Chinese tech companies. Photo: Shutterstock
Semiconductors

Singaporean chip tool maker ASMPT sees steady growth amid AI infrastructure boom

‘The massive buildout of data centres will drive a lot of demand for AI chips,’ CEO Robin Ng says.

US-China relations

Chinese hacking groups are behind SharePoint attacks, Microsoft says

Microsoft said it identified 2 groups as leveraging flaws in SharePoint software; China said it firmly opposes all forms of cyberattacks.

United States

US tech CEO in viral Coldplay concert video resigns

The clip of Andy Byron embracing an alleged colleague fuelled countless memes about them purportedly being caught having an affair.

A fan holds up a sign as referencing Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve and Astronomer CEO Andy Byron as Altuve comes up to bat against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning of a baseball game in Seattle on Friday. Photo: AP
United States

Coldplay’s jumbotron captures – what exactly? The internet has its theories

A US firm is investigating after a viral clip sparked speculation that its CEO and HR chief had been caught on camera while having an affair.

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs in Las Vegas in June. Photo: TNS
China’s private sector

Firefox web browser to close China entity amid competition from Chrome, Safari

Firefox grew to become the world’s second largest browser by 2009, when its global market share reached 30 per cent.

Books and literature

Can AI authors really replace a human writer’s touch?

Staring into the abyss of AI-generated fiction and finding something both ‘hilarious and bleak’ staring right back.

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