Showing 11 - 20 of 40
Barack Obama Memoir Sells More Than 887,000 Copies on First Day
Business, Published on 20/11/2020
» Former President Barack Obama's memoir sold more than 887,000 copies on Tuesday, a sizzling debut that publisher Penguin Random House said marked the largest first-day sales for any book it had ever published.
Big firms fuzzy on their AI thinking
Life, James Hein, Published on 28/10/2020
» Everything you see these days is AI enabled in some way, or according to the marketing they must be. Software, fridges, cancer detection and lots of other examples are all based on some kind of AI implementation. Google, Microsoft and all the big players are heavily invested in at least the buzzword, but the proof of delivery as promised is elusive.
Corona and the death of cinema (again)
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 30/03/2020
» "Cinema is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumiere who, along with his brother Auguste, invented the Cinematographe in 1895. From its birth, cinema was convinced of its own death. From the very beginning, cinema predicted its own eventual demise. And that was before the two world wars, the advent of home video, laser disc, DVDs, Blu-rays, terrorism, mass shootings, Netflix, and now the coronavirus, the latest scourge that has sealed shut cinema houses around the world.
Sertis ready for AI competition
Business, Suchit Leesa-nguansuk, Published on 05/02/2020
» Sertis, a Bangkok-based artificial intelligence (AI) consultancy, says it stands ready to compete with Chinese AI firms as it gears up efforts to expand services in Asean.
Asia's century, China's year
Asia focus, Published on 30/12/2019
» Way back when 1999 was winding down, pundits were telling us that the Asian Century was about to dawn. That prediction has not yet been fully realised, but few would disagree that 2019 belonged to China. Over the past 12 months, the top headlines have been about the bruising trade war with America, defiant protests in Hong Kong against Beijing's tightening grip, and the rise of a surveillance state that is herding hundreds of thousands into "re-education" camps on its western fringes. Below, the Asia Focus team looks back on a busy and sometimes troubling 2019.
Don't call AI bigoted
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/11/2019
» Despite what some claim, Artificial Intelligence is not racist. Google built a system to detect hate speech or speech that exhibited questionable content. Following the rules given, it picked out a range of people with what some try to claim was a bias toward black people. Wrong. The AI simply followed the rules and a larger number of black people and some other minorities, as defined in the US, were found to be breaking those rules. It didn't matter to the machines that when one group says it, it isn't defined as hate speech by some; it simply followed the rules. People can ignore or pretend not to see rules, but machines don't work that way. What the exercise actually found was that speech by some groups is ignored while the same thing said by others isn't. As the saying goes, don't ask the question if you're not prepared to hear the answer.
The trade war could be fuelling the Amazon fires
News, David Fickling, Published on 26/08/2019
» The fires currently consuming Brazil's Amazon rainforest seem a world away from the tense diplomacy in the US trade war with China. In truth, they're more closely connected than you might suspect.
Personal privacy in the balance
Business, Published on 11/03/2019
» Data is hailed as the new "oil" of the 21st century, with digitalisation changing the landscape across every segment of society and business. When valuable and personal data can be exploited for personal or corporate gain, there is a need to ensure that personal information is well protected from fraud and mischief.
Beyond digital payment
Asia focus, Published on 04/02/2019
» The way we pay for things has evolved rapidly in recent years. Even carrying a physical wallet containing cash and cards is no longer essential when a smartphone or biometric recognition can be used to complete a transaction.
The omnichannel future
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 14/01/2019
» Consumers in the digital world are rapidly driving demand for easier ways to shop, especially in mobile-mad Asia. Easy means anytime, anywhere, while accepting all types of payments. That's where omnichannel comes in, derived from the Latin prefix omni meaning all or universal.