AllThingsD » Hong Kong

Like Yahoo Founder, Like New Yahoo CEO: Data Is Now King?

Kara Swisher — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:39:02 +0000

I love talking points as much as the next person, but there’s a striking similarity between recent statements by Yahoo’s co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang and its new CEO Scott Thompson, who was just hired after a stint running eBay’s PayPal unit.

It seems from the pair that the exploitation of Yahoo’s troves of data might take center stage from the “premier digital media company” moniker that the Silicon Valley Internet giant has been using of late.

Premier consumer data mining and usage company just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? (And it’s also usually called Google!)

Here’s Yang from an interview with Walt Mossberg at our AsiaD conference in Hong Kong this past October (this is a liveblog with quotes and paraphrasing of quotes).

Q: As you look at what Yahoo could be, what are the one or two key areas that it could go after to truly transform itself?

Jerry: We’re really focused on trying to “turn Yahoo inside out.” We do a huge amount of services internally: Data, content, personalization. Lots of other people on the Web around the world could use that.

And, from my liveblogging, here’s Thompson last week on his aspirations, which were much less focused on Yahoo’s longtime — and, ahem, bill-paying — advertising business (which the new leader keeps saying he knows nothing about) than on exploiting its consumer data businesses (which he certainly does know about from running the online payments giant).

The data these Internet businesses create, the ability to use analytical technology to build a better businesses for your customers. … I feel certain that wealth of data is going to be exploitable for next generation products, next generation experiences. … My instinct says down in that data we’re going to be able to find ways to compete and innovate that the world hasn’t seen yet.

Data it is, then!

Google to Invest $120 Million in Singapore Data Center

Shibani Mahtani — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:05:20 +0000

Google Inc. will invest $120 million in a data center in Singapore, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, executives of the Internet search giant announced Thursday, in a move to significantly expand operations in Asia.

The data center, which is slated for completion in early 2013, will be the third of its kind in Asia, joining two others that will be built in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Google has pledged an investment of $300 million in its Hong Kong data center and more than $100 million in Taiwan.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Viral Video: Apple Innovation, Sparkly Vampires and My Stroke in TEDx Speech

Kara Swisher — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:02:48 +0000

Here’s a recent speech I gave at the TEDx BayArea Global Women Entrepreneurs event, in which I somehow compared my recent stroke in Hong Kong with innovation at Apple, weird street graffiti, women in tech and, um, sparkly vampires.

You might not agree with my contention that life-changing health events engender the feeling that one has to work even harder, but that’s my little lesson from my recent brain scare.

Thus, it’s titled “More,” and here’s the video of the speech, as well as the deck I was referencing in the talk, so you can follow along:

Presentation 1

Google's Newest Approach to China? More Data Centers.

John Paczkowski — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:18:36 +0000

Google’s new approach to China has done little to reduce the company’s need for infrastructure there. The company said Thursday that it will spend $300 million to build a data center in Hong Kong, its first company-built data center in the Asia-Pacific. The facility is to be built in Kowloon, where Google bought 2.7 hectares of land this past September. Google expects to bring it online by early 2013, political challenges in the region be damned.

The iKnow-It-All: The Full AsiaD Demo (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:10:50 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: iKnow, billed as a “personal learning assistant.”

That would be because it calculates an individualized study schedule based on a user’s learning and retention patterns. Now aimed at English-learners in Japan, there is more to come.

Watch the demo, especially if you want to know what “Swisher English” is:

[ See post to watch video ]

Nvidia’s Jen-Hsun Huang on Superman Quad-Core Chip, Microsoft and Apple: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:12:15 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

An early pioneer in graphics chips, the tech company is now aiming at the market for processors driving smartphones, tablets and, soon, PCs. Nvidia’s latest effort is a quad-core chip code named Kal-El, which is the Krypton moniker of Superman.

Is Huang the Man of Steel? Or, at least, can he steal some of major rival Qualcomm’s thunder?

Here’s the video of his onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Huawei's John Roese on the Telecom Giant That Wants to Roar: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:08:50 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: John Roese, head of Huawei’s North American R&D team.

While not as well known as others, the Chinese company is the world’s second-largest maker of telecommunications and networking gear. You might hear more about it soon, though, since Huawei aims to increase its annual revenue to more than $100 billion per year within the next decade, by expanding its business beyond communications service providers.

Roese is one of the execs charged with making it so by expanding in the U.S. and focusing on research.

Here’s his onstage interview with Ina Fried:

[ See post to watch video ]

iPhone 4S Moves Closer to Mainland China Debut

John Paczkowski — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:14:33 +0000

Though Apple’s new iPhone 4S has been launched in Hong Kong, it isn’t yet available in mainland China. But it’s looking like that’s about to change. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has reportedly finished testing the device, and passed it through to the final phase of the certification process. Barring any unforseen obstacles, the MIIT should grant Apple the network access license it needs to begin selling the 4S in China in a matter of weeks.

Former VP and Apple Director Al Gore on Steve Jobs and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:53:47 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Al Gore, former Vice President, Nobel Prize winner, environmental activist, sometime VC, occasional entrepreneur and all-around busy dude.

Of course, Gore talked about a wide range of issues, from the legacy of Apple’s Steve Jobs (Gore is on the company’s board), to being an adviser to Google, to the “broken” U.S. political system, to alternative energy.

Here’s his onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Peter Chernin on Hollywood, Asia Growth and Not Yahoo: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:34:20 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’re following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Hollywood mogul Peter Chernin.

The much-respected entertainment exec, who was the longtime president of News Corp. (which owns this Web site), now runs his own production company in Santa Monica, Calif.

Chernin Entertainment has had some big early successes, including the hit movie “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” and the adorkable television show “New Girl.”

But Chernin has always been much more Internet-curious than the average Hollywood mogul. He was deeply involved in the creation of the Hulu premium video service, and now serves on the board of the Pandora online music site. He’s also been giving the troubled situation at Yahoo a look-see with some private equity firms.

Chernin declined to talk about this deal in an onstage interview with Peter Kafka, but he does discuss the prospects for the old media world in the digital age, and the giant opportunities in Asia:

[ See post to watch video ]

Sony's Kazuo Hirai on Reviving the Iconic CE Brand and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:45:28 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

We’ve been following the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Sony’s Kazuo Hirai.

Hirai is a key figure at the Japanese consumer electronics giant, which has been struggling to revive itself after dominance turned to years of decline; he is widely considered the second in line to CEO Howard Stringer.

In an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, the elegant exec, who was a longtime gaming exec at Sony, talked about the next-generation (but delayed) Vita game player, smartphones and Sony’s first Google Android tablets, which are now launching.

Here’s the video:

[ See post to watch video ]

Google+'s Bradley Horowitz Talks Facebook, Social Networking and That Memo: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:39:10 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Google+ exec Bradley Horowitz.

In an onstage interview with Peter Kafka, Horowitz talks about the progress being made in the search giant’s attempts to compete against social networking giant Facebook, the concept behind its organization and also the recent controversial internal memo by a Google engineer dissing the company.

Here’s the video:

[ See post to watch video ]

Samsung's Won-Pyo Hong on the Mobile Phone Wars: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:35:07 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Samsung mobile head Won-Pyo Hong.

Samsung is the largest seller of Google Android handsets globally and will soon surpass Nokia as the world’s largest maker of cellphones.

And then there’s Apple, the world’s largest smartphone vendor, which is engaged with the South Korean giant in an increasingly nasty legal battle over intellectual property.

By the way, Samsung is a key vendor partner of Apple’s, too.

Obviously, these are high (and complex) stakes for Hong, who heads global product strategy for Samsung’s mobile business.

He talks about that and more in this onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

iPhone 4S Already Sold Out in Hong Kong

John Paczkowski — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:50:41 +0000

Apple’s iPhone 4S launched in Hong Kong at 7 am local time today and was sold out by morning’s end.

According to Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White, by lunchtime there was not a 4S to be had in the Hong Kong Apple Store. Other reports say the device sold out in about three hours. Not a surprise, really, given that preorders sold out in just 10 minutes. Before its doors opened this morning, crowds had been lining up for more than 24 hours outside Hong Kong’s flagship Apple store. Below, video of that enormous queue.

[Image credit: M.I.C. Gadget]

HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang Talks Android, Smartphones and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:10:11 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang.

When Cher Wang co-founded the Taiwan-based company in the late 1990s, it made notebook computers. Now, HTC is all about smartphones and tablets — two of the fastest-growing consumer electronic segments in the world — in a close relationship with Google’s Android unit.

But HTC has also been considering using its own mobile operating system, and faces challenges from a myriad of competitors.

Here’s Wang, in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, talking about all this and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

The LivingSocial Trio Talk Asian Expansion, Groupon and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:37:15 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: LivingSocial CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy, along with the head of the daily deals site’s two recent acquisitions in Asia, Daniel Shin of South Korea’s TicketMonster and Paul Srivorakul of Indonesia’s Ensogo Group.

The panel, interviewed onstage by Ina Fried, talked about a range of topics, from its Asian expansion to thoughts about rival Groupon to the future of the social buying space.

Here’s the video:

[ See post to watch video ]

Twitter and Square Guru Jack Dorsey on Steve Jobs, China and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:39:09 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Twitter and Square inventor Jack Dorsey.

The busy entrepreneur has a lot going on, working both to change the online payments space and also to make money from his social communications service.

One of Dorsey’s major inspirations was the late Steve Jobs of Apple, especially in his knack for simplifying products to an essential minimalism.

He talked about this in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, as well as the challenges Twitter faces in China and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

In Hong Kong, iPhone 4S Preorders Sold Out in 10 Minutes

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:55:21 +0000

Hong Kong residents hoping to be among the first to own Apple’s new iPhone 4S will need to take some time off to wait in line this coming Friday, because there are no more preorders left. Nor have there been for a few days now. In fact, according to Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White, Apple sold out of 4S preorders in Hong Kong within about 10 minutes.

“In our view, this is a very positive sign for iPhone 4S demand in Greater China as Hong Kong represents the first entry of the new smartphone in the rapidly growing region and we expect the 4S to reach Mainland China in December,” says White. “We believe this rapid sell out will rest concerns surrounding the uptake of the iPhone 4S in the Greater China region that were driven by the limited language capability of Siri, which did not launch in Mandarin or Cantonese.”

Meet Kid Robot, Kibot: The Full AsiaD Demo (Video)

Kara Swisher — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:05:20 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Kibot, a robot for kids.

Besides playing educational games, Kibot from Korea Telecom gives parents another pair of eyes, too, with videochat and remote control.

Kibot — available only in South Korea for now — is aimed at children from three to seven years old. It looks like a monkey, whose nose is an RFID reader, stomach is a control panel and ears are the navigational buttons.

Would that my kids were that easy to control.

[ See post to watch video ]

"Living" Photo Magic With Lytro: The Full AsiaD Demo

Kara Swisher — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:40:36 +0000

Photo credit: Eric Cheng / Lytro

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Lytro, a groundbreaking camera that uses a new technology called light field photography to create “living pictures” that can be refocused after they are taken, in addition to other cool stuff (see a gyrating Walt Mossberg above).

There is no question that this demo of Lytro was one of the highlights of AsiaD.

Founded by Ren Ng in 2006, the result is demonstrated by Chairman Charles Chi and Director of Photography Eric Cheng onstage with Walt:

[ See post to watch video ]

Microsoft Windows Phone Head Andy Lees: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:10:34 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Andy Lees, president of the Microsoft’s Windows Phone division.

As such — and coming from way behind, compared to smartphone leaders Google with Android, and Apple with iOS, iPhone and iPad — Lees is working to extend Microsoft’s longtime desktop hegemony to mobile.

It’s a great time to watch the full onstage conversation between Lees and AllThingsD’s Ina Fried, since Microsoft is holding a big event in New York on Monday to celebrate the U.S. launch of devices running the new Mango version of Windows Phone 7.

The update, which features Twitter integration, multitasking and other features, has already been available for older devices; new models, with the operating system preloaded, are just hitting the market.

Here’s the Lees interview:

[ See post to watch video ]

Alibaba's Jack Ma on Yahoo (And More Yahoo): The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:00:04 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Alibaba Group’s voluble CEO and co-founder Jack Ma.

Ma has cut quite a colorful path through the Internet space, both in China and, more recently, in the U.S. — mostly due to his high-profile wrangling with partner and major shareholder Yahoo.

And, in the midst of the Silicon Valley Internet company’s endless agonizing over what to do with itself, Ma has thrown Alibaba into the mix prominently as a self-described kingmaker to any deal. Also, he has said he wants to buy Yahoo too.

Ma talks about all this, as well as his thoughts on the Asian markets, his goals for Alibaba and more, in an onstage interview with Peter Kafka.

As he told the audience at the AsiaD event:

“We’ve been working with Yahoo for years to buy a portion of them or buy them out. Money is not the problem. The problem is what Yahoo wants to do.”

Indeed, so watch Ma in action:

[ See post to watch video ]

Asus' Jonney Shih on Ultrabook, Android and the Future of PCs: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:30:13 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus.

After winning in the short-lived netbook boomlet, Shih is trying to quickly pivot his company to the future, and he brought the Taiwanese-based company’s new slimtastic Ultrabook to prove it.

Shih also talked about the Google Android mobile operating system, new tablets and the future of PCs.

Here’s his onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Yahoo's Jerry Yang and Rose Tsou on to Sell or Not to Sell, Asia and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:29:08 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up next: Yahoo’s co-founder Jerry Yang and Rose Tsou, who runs its businesses in Asia.

In an interview with Walt Mossberg, the pair covered a wide range of topics, including Yahoo’s current strategic review, its search for a new CEO, the state of its businesses in Asia and its contentious partnerships in the region, and, of course, the definition of what Yahoo is.

According to Yang — who is leading the efforts of the Silicon Valley Internet giant to right itself — Yahoo is a “premier digital media company.”

But why don’t you hear it from him?

Here:

[ See post to watch video ]

iPhone 4S Headed to 15 More Countries

John Paczkowski — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:15:50 +0000

Apple’s iPhone 4S is currently available in 29 countries. By the end of next week, it will be available in 44.

On Tuesday, the company said that it is bringing the device to Hong Kong and South Korea, as well as Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal and Romania. Preorders for the iPhone 4S will begin on Nov. 4 in all of those countries, except for Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro and Panama.