Global Breaking News - Sunday, May 5, 2024
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[Misc] (HL-20190428~20190504) Weekly Headlines
최고관리자 | 19-04-26 11:38
(Mon) Amazon says it's shutting its China online store
아마존, 중국에서 철수 결정
Amazon is retreating from China as competition with home-grown companies heats up. The world's largest online retailer says it will no longer operate a marketplace, or provide seller services on its local site. Online shoppers there will still have access to the firm's global store - with products from countries like the UK and the U.S.- but it's leaving its domestic shop behind. Reuters' correspondent Kane Wu is on the story: "I would say that after 15 years being in China, Amazon still hasn't fully adapted to how the China market works compared to its peers, it still follows global standards and company sources have told us that any decision that is to be made in China would have to get approval from their US headquarters. So compared to its peers in China it lacks flexibility. I wouldn't say that it's a tragic thing for them, for Amazon they're re-focusing their strategy in Asia, getting out of China hasn't been that difficult because they haven't been making a lot of money in China to begin with but sources have told us they're now focusing more on India." It's part of a broader pullout of other big Western stores, in a country where Alibaba's Tmall and JD.com dominate. Analysts say - last year - the two controlled more than 80 percent of the Chinese e-commerce market. "We have been reporting about a lot of multinational companies re-strategizing in Asia and from the traditional retail part of the world, we have seen some supermarket retailers like Germany's Metro rethinking their China plans, they're trying to find a local partner or perhaps selling a stake in their China business." U.S. listed shares of Alibaba and JD briefly rose on Wednesday - after Reuters first reported the move.
(Tue) EVs take center stage at the Shanghai Auto Show
전기차, 상하이 오토 쇼 중심에 우뚝서다
China's biggest auto show is shaping into a contest for automakers to show how serious they are about going electric in a country with a big appetite for battery-powered cars. Global brands are taking on scores of Chinese startups. This year's new models targeting the world's biggest car market include everything, from low-cost locally made EV for city streets, to a battery-powered supercar. And they're all aiming for some of the electric sales of Chinese market favorite, Tesla. Reuters' Joe White reports from the showroom floor. "The Shanghai auto show is turning into an electric vehicle rodeo - I'm sitting in the ID Roomz, a Volkswagen electric autonomous concept vehicle. This vehicle is like a living room on wheels, and it's not real, not yet but soon enough the Chinese market will have a lot of very real electric and eventually autonomous vehicles because this market, the largest in the world, is where automakers are pouring in investment to electrify transportation." Set to hit the road in 2021, VW say the ID ROOMZ will go 450 km or 280 miles on one charge. That pits it as a direct rival to Tesla's high-end Model X. And it's not the only product in the VW pipeline. The company says they're planning on 33 electric vehicles for the company's family of brands by 2023. "Electric vehicles are big in China for a number of reasons, but a principal one is that the Chinese government wants automakers to stop burning petroleum - they want them to go electric, clean up the air and help with energy security. The challenge for the auto industry is that there are so many electric vehicles launched, or ready to be launched in this market. And coming over the next 3-5 years, and it's not at all clear that consumer demand will grow fast enough to get everybody a profitable foothold." Toyota's also showing their hand at Shanghai agreeing to sell electric car technology to Chinese startup Singulato. That's according to Reuters sources at both companies. It's a deal that should allow the local firm to speed up its development of a mini-EV that will be priced at just 15 thousand dollars and based on a Toyota design from 2012. But the company's just one of more than 50 EV startups in China - and which of those will actually make it to market here is almost anybody's guess.
(Wed) The robot being trained to feed humans
사람에게 음식을 먹여주는 로봇 등장해
The need for technology like this robotic arm is obvious when you consider that one million adults in the U.S. need someone to help them eat. This robotic arm has been developed at the University of Washington, and while the hardware itself is not new, the intelligence that's been added to it is. "A very big focus of our work is to be able to take existing hardware and be able to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to be able to make it perform superhuman things. I think it was very important for us that we could take the same robot arm, the same wheelchair that these users were very comfortable using and were using in their homes, and retrofit it with our technology." The robotic arm has a pincer hand that can pick up a fork equipped with a pressure sensor to avoid injury. A camera mounted on the robotic arm uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize different pieces of fruit. The camera learns to recognize the user's eyes, nose and most importantly their mouth, and can adapt when the person moves. It also follows verbal commands from the user. "Eating free-form food is actually a very intricate manipulation task because this is a deformable object, they are hard to model and like it's in a cluttered plate, so it takes into account both manipulation as well as human-robot interaction challenges." The system is in its early stages. The research team expects it to take years to perfect which they hope will be able to handle more than just solid pieces of fruit.
(Thu) Disney unveils price, launch date for big streaming push
디즈니, 스트리밍 서비스 가격 및 출시일 공개
The lion roars in the remake of a classic. And so does its creator as Walt Disney lays down a challenge to the other big beasts of streaming. At seven dollars a month, 70 dollars a year, it'll undercut Netflix when it launches its Disney+ video service on November 12. Also announced on Thursday: one billion dollars to go into original programming in fiscal 2020, that'll double over four years. And 60 to 90 million subscribers targeted by 2024. It's a big ask: with nearly 140 million customers worldwide, Netflix is dominant. And others will be biting at their heels. Apple unveiled a streaming and channels service last month. Apple+ will feature content from Hollywood heavyweights like Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. AT&T's Warner Media is also planning a new service. But what Disney is keen to stress it has is: a treasure trove of legendary titles. Its presentation on Thursday featured this revamped blockbuster hit plus dozens of others - including Avatar and those gained with its 71 billion dollar acquisition of 21st Century Fox film and TV assets last month. Highlighting Disney's hopes - that in the video jungle at least - content will be king.
(Fri) Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp working again after outages
페이스북, 인스타그램, 왓츠앱 전세계적으로 접속장애
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all unavailable to thousands of users across the globe on Sunday. Website Down Detector, which monitors outages, said there were more than 14,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook at its peak. Downdetector.com’s live outage map showed that the issues were mainly in Europe, and users reported that the three Facebook-owned services were down for more than three hours. That's shorter than the outage Facebook experienced in March, when users reported all three were inaccessible for more than 24 hours -- one of its longest outages. Users on Sunday took to, where else, Twitter to complain about the outage, with one tweeting: “#facebook #instagram and #whatsapp are down so I guess I have to socialize with my friends now.”
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Korea overtakes 20 countries in life expectancy for 20 years
Japan is the world’s leading “aged society,” according to the United Nation’s standards, with its number of citizens aged 70 or above accounting for more than 20 percent of its population. South Korea is following suit. Those 70 years old or above surpassed 10 percent of the population, or 5.31 million of the total 51.83 million as of March 2019. Japan is the world’s leading “aged society,” according to the United Nation’s standards, with its number of citizens aged 70 or above accounting for more than 20 percent of its population. South Korea is following suit. Those 70 years old or above surpassed 10 percent of the population, or 5.31 million of the total 51.83 million as of March 2019.
Disney heir on CEO's $66m pay: 'No one on the freaking planet is worth that'
Abigail Disney has one of the world’s most recognizable names. But this week she became a thorn in her famous family’s side when she spoke out against the vast salary of the Walt Disney Company’s chief executive, Bob Iger, and found herself at the center of a debate about inequality and extreme wealth. Disney, 59, made headlines after branding Iger’s near-$66m pay packet “insane”. In an interview with the Guardian, she was unrepentant, describing some of the Walt Disney Company’s financial pledges to employees as “neoliberal claptrap” and calling for Iger to renounce his extraordinary compensation.
LG Chem sues SK Innovation in US to protect trade secrets
LG Chem has filed complaints against SK Innovation with the US International Trade Commission and the District Court of Delaware, alleging its rival violated rules on trade secrets. LG Chem said Tuesday it has requested the commission to completely ban imports of SK Innovation’s cells, packs and samples of its secondary batteries while seeking compensation from its rival at the district court of Delaware, where SK Innovation’s US battery arm is located. LG Chem has alleged that it found specific evidence proving key technologies of its electric car batteries were leaked to SK Innovation. It said SK has poached 76 key employees of LG Chem since 2017 in the areas of research and development, production, quality management and sales. When the employees moved to SK Innovation, they downloaded a combined 1,900 documents of the firm’s key technologies, according to LG. LG also alleged that when SK Innovation hires experienced employees, it requires applicants to state the name of their former company and provide details on former colleagues’ names as well as the technologies and projects they had been involved in. In the process, LG Chem’s confidential business information had been leaked, it said.
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