Extras: December 2022

In other news
December’s tech headlines

Links below cover wider-world technology news, looking at implementations and the issues, concerns and impacts that can arise.  Issues include regulation of cryptocurrency, disinformation on social media, non-fungible token developments and many more.

You can also get Startup News Asia’s tech news updates in our weekly newsletters, via Substack and LinkedIn.

The Metaverse In Asia: Strategies For Accelerating Economic Impact

December newsletters  |  Cambodia  |  Sri Lanka

“Now that 5G…is being rolled out across the world, the race for 6G is on. This is not only a contest for technology, but also for geopolitical influence.”

• Meta finally introduces Instagram audience targeting for Facebook and IG ads
• Download: ‘Suggested for You: Understanding How Algorithmic Ranking Practices Affect Online Discourses and Assessing Proposed Alternatives’
• The geopolitics of artificial intelligence and the rise of digital sovereignty, looking at the European Union, the United States and China
• Major accounting firm suspends all work relating to proof-of-reserves assessments for its crypto clients, including CryptoCom, KuCoin and Binance

The problems with ever more powerful Text-to-AI generators: “Regulators are going to have to start taking more seriously how these technologies are being weaponized against individuals, societies and democracies.”

• “While AI use has increased, there have been no substantial increases in reported mitigation of any AI-related risks from 2019 — when we first began capturing this data — to now.”
• Apple to make monumental change to App Store, working to ‘allow alternative app stores’ on the iPhone and iPad, potentially launching with next year’s iOS 17 release
• Bangladesh’s Shuttle gains Accelerating Asia and South Asia Tech backing with ride-share approach clubbing 4-10 people together in sedans and minivans, charging less than 1/3 the price of regular ride-sharing
• Download: ‘Raising Standards – Data And Artificial Intelligence In Southeast Asia’, looking at Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam

Data localization: “…a one-unit increase in an industry’s data restrictiveness is associated with a 0.5% decrease in the following year’s trade—a 0.6% decrease in imports and a 0.9% increase in import prices.”

• EU Court of Justice rules Google must remove data from search results if users can prove inaccuracy, with users only having ‘to provide evidence that can reasonably be required of them to find’
• “Google and Meta will together capture 48.4% of all U.S. digital ad revenue this year (28.8% for Google and 19.6% for Meta), down from 54.7% at their peak in 2017…”
• “Hedge funds have been upping their short positions against shares of cryptocurrency miners, betting that more will go to the financial brink after the collapse of the FTX exchange.”
• Download: 2023 Digital Assets Outlook, from The Block (email required)
• Download: 2023 Crypto Market Outlook, from coinbase
• Stripe payments giant launches project to ease fiat-to-crypto payments for businesses in dozens of countries
• Google Threat Analysis Group Bulletin is now online, focusing on October 2022
• Report finds ‘false allure of data nationalism’ in SEA only increases import and other business expenses, with data localization raising costs and not achieving privacy or security goals
• The Miniaturization of Force’: A look at the impact of small systems – drones and unmanned vehicles – are having on defense and military activities

Italy’s Meloni pushes back on shift to digital payments, aiming for merchants to have the right to refuse digital payments for transactions below €60 due to bank service charges

• Facebook: “This year marked a major milestone in our enforcements against covert influence operations…we disrupted more than 200 global networks…from 68 countries…in at least 42 languages…”
• “The future is digital, even for face-to-face payments.” Report now available to download from Accenture
• Fiji: Leaders demand recount following vote-counting mobile app glitch that showed opposition ahead before the glitch, but shown second once data was re-uploaded to the app
• Visa Accelerator Program applications are now open, to 10th January
• The metaverse will be our slow death!’ Is Facebook losing its $100 billion gamble on virtual reality?
• A look at the steps L’Oreal, Nike and LVMH are taking into the metaverse
• Download: ‘The Metaverse in Asia – Strategies for Accelerating Economic Impact’ from Deloitte, with 12 individual country reports
• “The future of private clubs for the crypto elite will soon be formed by NFT memberships and community-funded DAOs.”
• Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Bieber amongst those sued in proposed class action accusing them and other celebrities of fraud for promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs

“…active NFT buyers and sellers…now down to just over a third of its peak in January 2022. NFTs are also being ‘minted’ much less, with the number of new NFTs on the ethereum blockchain down by nearly 60%…”

• Sweden launches major state initiative to fight cybercrime aimed at smart cars
• Social media: “In private hands, our choice is limited, toxicity is rewarded, rage is called engagement, public trust is corroded, and basic human decency is often an afterthought.”
• Available now: Carousell Recommerce Index, 2022 edition, looking at the sustainability impact made across South East Asia by buying and selling secondhand items

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• SpaceX is creating a new US national security-focused unit, Starshield, to build on its launch and satellite communications offerings
• Twitter devolution continues with shut-down of Revue, integrated newsletter service allowing newsletters to be imported directly from Twitter
• Nillion closes oversubscribed round of more than $20M, with network allowing nodes in a decentralized network to work in a unique – but not blockchain-driven – way
• Silicon Valley’s Reach Power raises $30M to beam electricity wirelessly, claiming to meet transmission safety standards no higher than cellphones

“Between January 1 and June 30, more than 21 million fake accounts were detected and removed from LinkedIn, according to the company’s community report.”

• Data of 400M Twitter users hacked and for sale online, affecting the World Health Organisation, Google CEO Pichai, AOC and others, with ransom payment pitch made to Elon Musk
• “…former Twitter CEO has donated roughly 14 BTC worth $245K to fund Nostr’s development, after recently publishing his views on a native internet protocol for social media…”
• Twitter’s influence: “…we underestimate it massively…no peer as a forge of public opinion…political analysis, publishing, public health, foreign policy, economics, history, the study of race, even in business and finance…”
• Mark your calendar – Cross Chain Coalition Web3 Demo Day is set for January 11th, a TechCrunch event
• Google to launch Blockchain Node Engine, cloud-based fully-managed service for Ethereum developers and Web3 projects

ORF: The Future of Cyber Warfare in the Indo-Pacific

December 2022 newsletters

• Asia’s tech news, weekly to Dec 6th:
  Animoca’s NFT fund; Penang Startup Investor Club launches; Startup Island Taiwan podcasts; India’s CBDC pilot; Indonesia’s EV push; and more…
• Asia’s tech news, weekly to Dec 13:
  Algorithms in India; Indonesia, batteries & the environment; TSMC in Arizona; Huawei in Saudi Arabia; Japan’s first SpaceX lunar mission…
• Asia’s tech news, weekly: December 20th:
  China’s Saudi Arabia EV moves; data localization’s false promise; AI and digital sovereignty; Japan’s new cyber laws; solar panel farms in Australia; and more.

Cambodia in December 2022

• The Cambodia Data Exchange – CamDX – platform takes 2022 Open Source Adaptation of the Year win at the Future of Government Awards, following Estonia’s approach to decentralized data for government and business

Sri Lanka in December 2022

• Sri Lanka: A look at the recent Innovate Lanka event and 2022 Demo Day, and the 10 finalists that pitched their solutions in cashless payments, asphalt from recycled plastics and more

Deloitte: Digital Banking Maturity Report 2022

ASIA’S TECH NEWS, WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS

Startup News Asia editions go out on a variety of channels – mobile app, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – and via our weekly Asia’s tech news e-newsletters.

For a look at things in Asia, tech and beyond in a larger context, you should read the less-regular but equally thought-provoking Need To Know Now newsletter.

Asia’s tech news headlines, weekly newsletter via Substack

Asia’s tech news: Weekly LinkedIn newsletter

Need To Know Now newsletter