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The latest news, analysis and opinion on Apps. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
A woman poses for photographs from an observation deck at N Seoul Tower in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea had shot down Google’s previous bids in 2007 and 2016 to be allowed to export the data, citing the risks that information ‌about sensitive military and security facilities could be exposed. Photo: Reuters
South Korea

South Korea to finally get fully functioning Google Maps

The move will appease Washington that has urged security-conscious Seoul to tackle what it says is discrimination against US tech companies.

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Google

Video | Google finally allowed to export South Korea map data

Australia

Australia mulls forcing app stores, search engines to axe unsafe AI services

Baidu

Baidu touts AI chips’ potential amid sluggish fourth quarter

Revenue from the company’s AI-related business for the December quarter rises 48 per cent year on year to more than US$1.6 billion.

Baidu reported revenue of 32.74 billion yuan for the fourth quarter. Photo: AFP
Singapore

As Deliveroo leaves Singapore, spotlight turns on city state’s tight market

The platform’s departure has underscored the challenge of turning a profit in a dense, tightly contested market.

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Artificial intelligence

AI apps soar in China as Lunar New Year giveaway battle boosts user growth

Tech firms score win as AI assistants become part of holiday consumption – from buying food and booking travel to planning entertainment.

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Ant Group

Ant’s AQ health app tops 100 million users amid holiday surge

Growth comes as China’s ageing population fuels demand for AI-assisted health monitoring tools.

The rise of AI health apps in China comes as the country navigates a rapidly ageing demographic. Photo: Handout
Social media

Are you addicted to social media, is it a problem and what can you do about it?

Social media addiction is not officially registered as a mental illness, but it affects adults and children. Here are tips on cutting down.

Germany

Germany’s ruling party seeks social media ban for children aged below 14

Spain, Greece, France, Britain and other countries are looking at similar social media bans or curbs.

United States

Meta’s Zuckerberg grilled in landmark social media addiction trial

The 41-year-old Meta CEO admits regret over slow youth safety progress in a high-stakes California lawsuit.

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a trial in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Photo: AP
Style Edit

Style Edit: Lane Crawford’s beauty rewards are gifts you’ll actually want

Elevate your self-care with Lane Crawford’s HK$8.8M Beauty Rewards Programme and redeem products from brands like Skit and Tom Ford Beauty.

Guerlain’s Tailor Made Treatment is one of the many offerings from Lane Crawford’s new beauty rewards programme. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

ByteDance ‘strengthening safeguards’ after Seedance AI video controversy

Pledge comes after Hollywood, governments speak out against tool amid deluge of video clips featuring celebrities, copyrighted characters.

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Meituan

Meituan warns of US$3.5 billion loss amid intense food delivery price war

Food delivery giant expects losses to continue into at least the first quarter of 2026 ‘due to ongoing competition’.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen tops 120 million orders in 6 days amid China’s AI shopping battle

Campaign has sparked a behavioural shift towards AI-powered shopping, which Alibaba says is becoming a more popular lifestyle choice.

The number of orders signals growing acceptance of AI-powered shopping. Photo: Getty
ByteDance

ByteDance joins Chinese rivals offering freebies in bid to acquire AI app users

TikTok parent plans to give more than 100,000 tech products as gifts, as well as red packets through lucky draws on the Doubao app.

Doubao is an AI app developed by TikTok owner ByteDance. Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
United States

California court begins social media trial amid mental health concerns

The case ‌will determine whether Instagram and YouTube harmed a woman’s mental health through addictive app design, testing Big Tech’s liability.

Artificial intelligence

ByteDance’s new model sparks stock rally as China’s AI video battle escalates

Seedance 2.0 thrills early adopters with cinematic realism and fuels debate over AI’s role in filmmaking and content creation.

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Sex and relationships

Why dating in Hong Kong is so hard and how people spend thousands on agencies

Hong Kong matchmakers share how they’re helping people find love in a city where everyone is both extremely busy and wants a younger partner.

Where does Hong Kong turn to when digital romance fails? More of the city’s bachelors and bachelorettes are trading algorithms for professional human matchmakers. Illustration: Henry Wong
Artificial intelligence

Sweet surge: Qwen overtakes Yuanbao after Alibaba’s bubble tea campaign

More than 10 million free orders put Alibaba’s AI app in the spotlight amid a high-stakes battle for Spring Festival attention.

Artificial intelligence

Red packet rumble: will Tencent’s cash giveaway work again in crowded AI market?

Analysts say strong competition from ByteDance, DeepSeek, Ant Group and Alibaba may prevent Tencent’s Yuanbao from repeating WeChat glory.

Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen ramps up AI app race with Spring Festival giveaway blitz

Alibaba unveils US$432 million campaign to push mass-market adoption of its AI as rivalry with Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance intensifies.

Alibaba’s Spring Festival campaign will be launched across its ecosystem that includes shopping platform Taobao and on-demand retail and food-delivery service Shangou. Photo: Simon Song
Hong Kong society

Calls for stricter rules after bot bookers detected on Hong Kong sports app

Authorities say they found accounts using computer programs or other automated tools for bookings just a week after new anti-touting policy began.

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Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre. Photo: Dickson Lee
E-commerce

China slaps US$3.7 million fine on Kuaishou for live-streaming e-commerce breach

The penalty reflects a broader regulatory crackdown on content and operations deemed undesirable or harmful on Chinese online platforms.

Hong Kong

2016 trends from Pokemon Go to poke bowls amid viral internet nostalgia

Looking back at 2016 is viral online, but what was hot back then? We look at food, travel, health and pop culture trends from a decade ago.

Banking & finance

HSBC suffers temporary system shutdown, stopping services in Hong Kong

The bank’s mobile app and in-person services at several branches were unavailable for up to several hours for some customers during the outage.

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Pedestrians walk past the lion statues outside HSBC’s Hong Kong headquarters in Central. Photo: Elson Li
Artificial intelligence

China’s cloud giants race to support Moltbot, the ‘AI that actually does things’

Hyperscalers embrace the AI agent, which can execute tasks without step-by-step instructions, but privacy concerns loom large.

The global AI industry is moving towards developing AI agents capable of autonomously executing tasks on behalf of users. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

TikTok cites glitch as California probes alleged Trump-critical censorship

Governor Gavin Newsom launches state review after reports of blocked posts, as TikTok blames a data-centre outage days after its US deal.

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Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek taps Alibaba open-source AI technology to boost OCR performance

The Chinese AI start-up says its latest OCR model delivers stronger performance after adopting an Alibaba-developed open-source model.

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