Technology News
Latest technology news and updates
Total: 510
Alipay Issues Tap‑to‑Send 'Red Envelope' Card — A Physical Key to Fee‑Free Lunar New Year Gifting
Alipay launched a physical 'tap' red‑envelope card on Jan 29 that lets users send and receive digital red packets by tapping their phones, with zero fees. The card is a marketing and engagement play aimed at converting offline gifting rituals into sustained digital payments activity, while raising routine security and data‑privacy considerations.
MiniMax’s Music 2.5 Sparks Hong Kong AI Rally — Signal of China’s Shift from Model Hype to Vertical Commercialisation
MiniMax’s launch of Music 2.5 — a music-generation model with stronger structural control and vocal fidelity — triggered sharp gains in Hong Kong AI stocks, highlighting a market pivot toward application-ready AI. Combined with open-source and deployment-focused releases from other domestic players, the episode underscores a broader shift in China’s AI industry from model-size competition to vertical, engineering-led commercialisation.
OpenAI Quietly Building a Bot‑Free Social Network — With Biometric ID as a Cure or a Risk
OpenAI is developing a social network intended to be restricted to verified humans, using biometric checks such as Face ID or an iris scanner called World Orb. The plan seeks to tackle persistent bot problems that have plagued platforms like X but raises serious privacy, security and regulatory questions.
Yang Zhilin Steps Forward: Moon’s Dark Side Ships Kimi K2.5 to Buy Time Against DeepSeek
Moon’s Dark Side released Kimi K2.5 with founder Yang Zhilin personally presenting the incremental upgrade, signalling a strategic shift from parameter-led competition to engineering improvements focused on coding and agent orchestration. The release is a defensive, deliverable move to shore up market position ahead of an expected DeepSeek model launch and to buy time for a more substantive K3 upgrade.
China’s Kunlun Tiangong Aims to Build an ‘AI Spotify’ Abroad as Music Models Hit a 2026 Inflection Point
Kunlun Tiangong founder Zhou Yahui says the company’s Mureka V8 music model marks a 2026 inflection point for AI-composed music and plans to launch an overseas, Spotify-like AI music platform. The firm will avoid direct competition with China’s ByteDance and Tencent, collaborate domestically, and focus overseas on productising AI-generated music via creator tools, a consumer app and APIs. Zhou argues AI music and short-form AI dramas could be the first major categories disrupted by native AI platforms in the next 1–3 years.
From Thought to Motion: Why China’s Robotics Industry Is Betting on Brain–Computer Interfaces for Rehabilitation and Elder Care
Chinese robotics firms are prioritizing rehabilitation and eldercare as the first real markets for embodied intelligence, pairing non‑invasive brain–computer interfaces with exoskeletons to restore patient agency and create quantifiable training data. Industry players are addressing technical, data and integration challenges through consortiums and clinical partnerships, aiming to convert early prototypes into scalable clinical products over the next three to five years.
PwC’s US Arm and Google Cloud Ink $400m, Three‑Year Pact to Build AI-Driven Cyber‑Resilience Services
PwC’s US arm has struck a three‑year, $400m collaboration with Google Cloud to build AI‑enabled security operations and resilience tools. The deal underscores a trend of consulting firms and hyperscalers combining expertise and infrastructure to offer managed, automated cyber‑security services, while raising questions about governance and vendor dependence.
Musk Says Next‑Gen Neuralink Will Triple Performance and Aim to Restore Low‑Resolution Vision for the Blind
Elon Musk announced that Neuralink's next‑generation brain–computer interface will offer about three times the performance of the current system and plans to introduce a blind‑vision enhancement for totally blind people pending regulatory approval. The device aims to provide low‑resolution visual percepts, but technical, safety and regulatory challenges mean clinical validation and widespread use will take time.
Vintage iPhone 4S Surges on Chinese E‑commerce — Over 100,000 Orders in a Month at Rock‑Bottom Prices
A sudden spike in orders for the decade‑old iPhone 4S on Chinese e‑commerce platforms — exceeding 100,000 in about 30 days and including listings priced as low as ¥55 — highlights robust demand for ultra‑cheap smartphones in lower‑tier markets. The surge underscores growth in the refurbished and grey‑market ecosystem, raises questions over authenticity and consumer protection, and presents mixed consequences for Apple’s premium strategy.
OLED Monitor Shipments Set to Surge as Panel Makers Scale Up
UBI Research forecasts OLED monitor shipments rising to 3.2 million units in 2025, a 64% increase from 2024, with growth expected to stay above 50% this year. Improvements in yields and rising demand from gaming and creative markets are driving the expansion, signalling a shift toward premium OLED adoption in the monitor sector.
Lantu Aims for an L3 Breakthrough: Four New Models, One Hardware Bet for 2026
Lantu has unveiled four new models for 2026—covering SUV, FUV and MPV segments—with each vehicle fitted with Level‑3 autonomous driving hardware. The Taishan Ultra will lead the rollout with deliveries slated for March, and a luxury MPV priced around RMB 500,000 is planned for later in the year. The announcement signals a hardware‑led push into autonomous driving, but commercial success depends on software, regulation and consumer acceptance.
Ma Huateng’s Billion-RMB Bet: Can Tencent Buy Time — and Relevance — in the AI Era?
Tencent’s recent billion‑yuan promotional blitz to kickstart an AI assistant exposes a strategic dilemma: the company admits its AI stack needs rebuilding even as it uses cash incentives to buy users. ByteDance’s speed and efficiency, and Alibaba’s open‑source enterprise strategy, frame a three‑way race whose outcomes will determine the next decade of Chinese tech leadership.