With more local brands shifting their focus to 5G, the average selling prices (ASPs) of smartphones in China is expected to edge up 11.4 percent year over year in 2020, according to IDC. However, weaker […]
Tag: Japan
Japan’s AIST orders supercomputer to accelerate AI R&D
Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has commissioned Fujitsu to build the “AI Bridging Green Cloud Infrastructure” (ABCI) supercomputer to accelerate AI research and development (R&D) in industry, government, and academia. […]
Japan IT agency picks Prometric for computer-based testing
Japan’s Information Technology Promotion Agency (IPA) has chosem Promtric to deliver computer-based testing (CBT) for its two national exams — the Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination (FE) and the Information Security Management Examination (SG). Prometric […]
Voodoo opens Singapore and Japan offices
Mobile games publisher Voodoo has expanded to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region with the opening of offices in Singapore and Japan.
Tokyo Game Show switches to digital format
Tokyo Game Show 2020 (TGS2020), one of the world’s top events for the gaming community, has been cancelled and moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fusion Broadband is IBM Beacon Award winner
Australia-based Fusion Broadband has won the IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Infrastructure Services Solution.
ZTE to unveil Axon 11 5G on March 23
ZTE will launch the ZTE Axon 11 5G smartphone in China on March 23. The company has given little away from its announcement press release other than the fact that the ZTE Axon 11 will be compatible with both SA (standalone) and NSA (non-standalone) modes.
NTT Docomo to launch 5G in Japan on March 25
NTT Docomo will launch its 5G service with a maximum data rate of 3.4Gbps in Japan on March 25. The downlink speed will increase to 4.1Gbps in June.
ForgeRock names David Hope as SVP of APAC and Japan
Digital identity solution provider ForgeRock has appointed David Hope as Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific and Japan.
Intel regains top spot as semiconductor market dips in 2019
Despite a 0.7 percent drop in revenue, Intel climbed to the top of the global semiconductor market in 2019, according to Gartner.
Fuji Xerox to become Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp
Fuji Xerox is changing its corporate name to Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp on April 1, 2021. All Fuji Xerox affiliates and sales companies in and outside Japan will also change their names respectively on that date but their new names will be announced later.
Sleeprate and Garmin aim to help consumers sleep better
Japan, India and Singapore are the top threee most sleep deprived nations in the world, according to a study. Thankfully, help is on its way for those who want to sleep better. Sleep platform Sleeprate is collaborating with Garmin on a mobile self-help sleep assessment and improvement program that aims to help consumers sleep better, track their recovery, and optimise workouts.
Bespoke launches AI chatbot for Ginza subway line
Nearly one million riders on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line will now be able to tap on the capabilities of Bebot, an AI chatbot.They will be able to access naviation and useful train information all along the line using the app
Panasonic exits semiconductor business
Panasonic has totally moved out of the semiconductor business by selling its last plant to Taiwan firm Nuvoton Technology.
Google avails NVIDIA Tesla T4 GPUs on Google Cloud Platform in Singapore
The Google Cloud Platform running on NVIDIA Tesla T4 GPUs (above) has been beta launched in Singapore, availing the power of GPU cloud computing to customers around the region.
SenseTime sets up autonomous driving site in Japan
Leading China-based AI company SenseTime has unveiled an autonomous driving park in Joso, Japan.  The testing course will be used to develop autonomous driving technology and conduct road tests of autonomous vehicles.
NVIDIA GPUs power a quarter of Top 500 supercomputers
The world’s top two supercomputers — – the US Department of Energy’s Summit, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Sierra, at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. — pack a combined total of more than 40,000 NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs, according to the latest of the Top 500 list released in conjunction with SC18.
PC market inches up 2.7% in Q2
Global traditional PC shipment posted the strongest growth in more than six years during the past quarter, according to IDC. Total shipment was 62.3 million units, which translates to a 2.7 percent year-on-year growth.
Microsoft acquires Semantic Machines
Microsoft has acquired Semantic Machines, which has developed a new approach to building conversational artificial intelligence (AI).
Cryptocurrency and Carry
Singapore-headquartered Carry is teaming up with Spoqa of South Korea to bring cryptocurrency payment and blockchain-enhanced loyalty points to brick-and-mortar retailers.
DEEPCORE teams up with NVIDIA to boost AI startups
Tokyo-based startup incubator DEEPCORE is partnering NVIDIA to support AI startups and promote university research programmes across Japan.
Apple fully powered by clean energy
Singapore’s land scarcity is not a constraint for Apple, which is drawing 32 megawatts of power from solar panels on more than 800 rooftops.
The taxi that looks for you
Where’s a taxi when you need one? That’s the bane of passengers from around the world, except possibly in Taipei where taxis somehow seem to be just where you need them.
Appier appoints Sean Chu as CSO
Appier has appointed Sean Chu as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to lead its operations in Japan and Korea. Chu will help drive the company’s growth as it moves to create new AI platforms to help […]
Deeper into AI
The keynote address at Google I/O yesterday showed that Google is much more than just a search company. It is becoming more artificial intelligence (AI). Google is specifically using deep learning to help in many areas of everyday life.
Here are some as shared on Google’s blog post:
Google Assistant can help answer your questions and find information—but it can also help you get all kinds of useful things done. Today we’re adding a few more:
- Schedule new calendar appointments and create reminders. Starting today on Google Home, you can schedule appointments and soon you’ll also be able to add reminders. Since it’s the same Google Assistant across devices, you’ll be able to get a reminder at home or on the go.
- Make your home smarter. We now have 70+ smart home partners supporting the Google Assistant across Google Home and Android phones, including August locks, TP-Link, Honeywell, Logitech, and LG.
RIKEN turns to NVIDIA supercomputer for deep learning research
RIKEN, Japan’s largest comprehensive research institution, will have a new supercomputer for deep learning research in April. Built by Fujitsu using 24 NVIDIA DGX-1 AI systems, the new machine will accelerate the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to […]
Gunning for supercomputing supremacy in Japan
Tokyo Institute of Technology plans to create Japan’s fastest AI supercomputer, which is will deliver more than twice the performance of its predecessor to slide into the world’s top 10 fastest systems.
Called Tsubame 3.0, it will use Pascal-based NVIDIA P100 GPUs that are nearly three times as efficient as their predecessors, to reach an expected 12.2 petaflops of double precision performance.
Tsubame 3.0 will excel in AI computation with more than 47 PFLOPS of AI horsepower. When operated with Tsubame 2.5, it is expected to deliver 64.3 PFLOPS, making it Japan’s highest performing AI supercomputer.
Slower smartphone growth in 2016
Global smartphone sale is expected to experience just a single-digit growth this year, according to Gartner.
It estimates that global smartphone sale will reach 1.5 billion units, a seven percent increase from 2015. The total mobile phone market is predicted to reach 1.9 billion units in 2016.
“The double-digit growth era for the global smartphone market has come to an end. Historically, worsening economic conditions had negligible impact on smartphone sales and spend, but this is no longer the case. China and North America smartphone sales are on pace to be flat in 2016, exhibiting a 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent growth respectively,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director of Gartner.
While smartphone sales will continue to grow in emerging markets, the growth will slow down. Gartner predicts that, through 2019, 150 million users will delay upgrades to smartphones in emerging Asia-Pacific, until the functionality and price combination of a low-cost smartphone becomes more desirable.
PC prices to rise by 10%
PC vendors will have to raise the prices of PCs to offset the effects of currency devaluation, according to Gartner. Prices of PCs in the Eurozone and Japan will increase by up to 10 percent during […]
Dropping oil price a US$1 trillion boost for GDP and IT spending in H1 2015
What has proven a massive hit for the oil and gas industry may turn out to be a silver lining for the IT industry and GDP as a whole in the first half of this year.
According to Canalys, business and consumer IT spending will be boosted by the current oil shock, as prices remain below US$50 per barrel. It believes the reduction in prices will provide a short-term economic stimulus equivalent to a large tax cut, boosting corporate profits and consumer disposable incomes, which will filter into IT spending.
“Price falls translate into a transfer of wealth from producers to importers. Oil producers received approximately US$340 billion less in the second half of 2014 compared with the first half of the year, based on average monthly production and prices. The difference will be even more significant if prices remain at US$50 per barrel and production continues at the same level for the next six months. If this scenario happens, producers will receive almost US$1 trillion dollars less compared with the first half of 2014,” said Matthew Ball, Principal Analyst of Canalys.
