The Latest from Rita Liao
Popular censorship circumvention tools face fresh blockade by China
Tools helping China’s netizens to bypass the Great Firewall appear to be facing a fresh round of crackdowns in the run-up to the country’s quinquennial party congress that will see a top l
China officially bans fruit flavorings in e-cigarettes
China has joined a handful of countries in banning flavored vapes to combat underage use of nicotine. Starting October 1, e-cigarette companies are only allowed to sell tobacco-flavored vapes in the c
What tech tycoon Richard Liu’s sexual misconduct case means for China’s #MeToo
One of the highest-profile sexual assault allegations against Chinese business tycoons ended abruptly this past weekend. Liu Qiangdong (also known as Richard Liu), the founder of Chinese e-commerce gi
ByteDance’s Pico debuts its Meta Oculus rival, but challenges remain
When ByteDance bought the Chinese VR headset maker Pico a year ago, the message it sent was clear: It was betting that the immersive device would be where future generations spend most of their time c
Why this Blizzard vet thinks the next killer web3 game will come from China
This year, around 3.2 billion people — or about 40% of the world’s population — will play games, with total spending nearing $200 billion, estimates industry researcher Newzoo. The p
Vietnam to restrict which social media accounts can post news
With the rising tide of fake news on social media platforms, the debate over how much control a government should have on online information is a perennial one. In Vietnam, the government is intensify
China’s Nio joins the race for lithium, buys 12% of Australia’s Greenwing Resources
China’s electric vehicle upstart Nio has joined Tesla in sourcing raw materials directly from mines rather than its own battery suppliers as soaring prices of lithium, a critical component of EV
Investors bank on China’s alternatives to Nvidia’s auto chips
In China, a crop of homegrown chip companies has popped up as Beijing strives to decouple from America’s advanced technology and manage sanctions risks, which have crippled Huawei’s lucrat
SerMorpheus wants to make NFTs an everyday sight in Indonesia
More than half of the population in Southeast Asia is under 30, making it a coveted market for novel technologies. Unsurprisingly, several countries in the region, like Singapore and Vietnam, have som
Alibaba Cloud pledges $1B to boost overseas alliance
Alibaba is known for its sprawling e-commerce empire, but like Amazon, cloud service has been a big driver of its revenues in recent years. The Chinese cloud giant is ready to double down on its overs
Berlin’s Kaiko Systems nets €2M to help maritime technical operations go paperless
From healthcare to manufacturing, traditional industries have been getting a digital makeover over the past decade. But some sectors have been left behind. Maritime shipping, argued Fabian Fussek, CEO
Amazon’s latest challenger is China’s online dollar store Pinduoduo
The race to bring China-made goods to Western consumers via online stores is heating up. Pinduoduo, the Chinese e-commerce giant known for offering hard-to-believe deals, has quickly gained momentum f
NebulaGraph reaps from China’s growing appetite for graph databases
Graph databases, which store information in nodes and relationships instead of tables like Excel sheets, have grown in popularity amid an explosion of data across industries. While TigerGraph and Neo4
Singapore’s KNN3 wants to enable social discovery for decentralized apps
There’s no shortage of startups trying to make sense of the explosive growth of data generated from blockchain applications. Nansen has the support from a16z to provide on-chain data analysis fo
Miners flee to Ethereum Classic as ‘The Merge’ arrives
The Merge, the long-awaited software upgrade that promises to make Ethereum transactions a lot greener, is expected to put miners out of jobs. But miners are not quitting outright. With big bucks inve
‘The Merge’ could be good news for China’s Ethereum enthusiasts
When China banned cryptocurrency mining and trading, many saw it as putting an end to a burgeoning industry in the world’s second-largest economy. As it turned out, the country’s crypto i
Huawei offers satellite SOS in China where Apple’s is unavailable
A day before Apple unveiled its highly anticipated satellite-powered SOS feature for iPhone 14, Huawei announced its own equivalent. The Chinese telecoms equipment and smartphone giant said its flagsh
Boston’s ClearMotion funded by Nio Capital to switch on in-car metaverse in China
U.S.-China decoupling is expected to discourage cross-border investments between the two superpowers as investors shy away from sanctions and geopolitical risks. But in some areas, Chinese investors a
Waysia raises €10M to deliver Asian grocery in Europe
COVID-19 has reshaped our lives in many ways and given rise to a plethora of services tailored to these newborn needs. Waysia, an Asian grocery delivery platform, is one such startup that retooled in
Inside Tencent’s ambition to create a Triple A console game
Tencent, the biggest social networking and video games company in China, hasn’t really managed to scale its popular products in the Western mainstream. The behemoth’s international expansi