Meet TQ Wrap: a monthly collection of the most important stories, analysis, research, data, and announcements on tech-related issues in the Asia Pacific region for executives and other leaders. Whenever possible we’ll take you to the primary source of the stories that made the headlines so you can make your own judgements and raise your own questions. One of the great benefits of the internet is the ability to gain access to information that previously was only open to a select few. In our view it’s an inexcusable omission for any information outlet – from universities and researchers through to mainstream media and government agencies to name a few – to fail to provide their audience open access to all sources and data or to show complete transparency in their processes or methodology. So to help you make more informed decisions, we’ll do the leg work in identifying primary sources and not just popular headlines.
This is, however, just a short beta trial of TQ wrap (for global news, Greater China, and ANZ) so we can see what works and what doesn’t. We will be updating and improving this service as we work out the best way to collect, filter and present TQ Wrap over the coming months. There will also be monthly versions in Japanese, Bahasa Indonesian, and Simplified Chinese. And of course we’ll have updates for all parts of Asia Pacific.
If you want to subscribe and get TQ Wrap in your inbox, please go here . And if you have a new source of insight or inspiration you want included, contact the editor. So let’s see some of the important stories from January, 2015.
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) event, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) director general, Guy Ryder raised the question of how we can “create decent jobs in the digital age?” .
Or course, robots were mentioned and the timing couldn’t have been better as word came out that the Associated Press had started officially letting robots write its articles (mainly basic financial reports like this, after a successful pilot project in collaboration with Automated Insights . The Verge had a bit more analysis, including the fact AP says it hasn’t made any journalists redundant.
Google announced that the explorer trial phase of its Glass project is now over. While many suggested this spelled the end for wearable device and that it had failed (due to a lack of consumer uptake and many privacy concerns), it turns out its more of a redirection towards commercial applications and internal reorganisation.
Microsoft announced Windows 10 with a free update and an exciting device called the HoloLens, which adds a relatively new spin on wearable glasses. We’ve seen lots of interest in this kind of tools in a number of industries across Asia Pacific – the real challenge is in implementation and TCO at present. But they are worth exploring. Wired had an excellent piece on “Microsoft in the age of Satya Nadella” with overviews of the new moves.
Meanwhile, Amazon announced another office productivity tool called WorkMail to compete with Microsoft and Google. That happened just after all the usual fuss around CES which was full of 4K displays, drones, robots, wearables and any other hot button tech buzz word of the moment. Tech Radar has a useful round up in video.
Adding to the already very long list of security concerns, German Auto Club ADAC said (in German) it had found issues with BMW’s connected car systems. Bloomberg has a report in English.
As part of its Davos event, the WEF put out a new digital-related piece of research titled, “The Business of Creativity: Seeking Value in the Digital Content Ecosystem” (PDF).
The World Bank released new research and data on urbanisation in East Asia with some excellent tools for helping visualising the stunning changes taking place. It’s worth exploring how this mega-trend is influencing and is influenced by technology at all levels of society.
Management consultants and frequent insight publishers, McKinsey, wrote about a common theme heard in technology circles: transforming business through social tools. They also had a bit to say on fostering female leaders, something that will resonate with policy setters and CxOs across Asia Pacific.
Federal communications minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a new Digital Transformation Office to help speed up government agencies’ delivery of digital services. In a speech in the US talking about the office, the minister said it would “operate like a start-up”. It’s not clear though why he hasn’t said it would operate like the best digital transformation companies – which aren’t necessarily start-ups, and indeed often are well-established firms or government departments with long histories. Further, the DTO will not have final authority over agency CIO decisions, procurement guidelines, or information security, critical components in government IT.
The issue of data retention legislation continued to raise the ire of not just telcos like incumbent Telstra but also the general public. The explanatory memoranda for the legislation is here and iiNet’s chief regulatory officer, Steve Dalby, wrote a great explanation of the company’s opposition to data retention last year.
The Australian National University announced what it described as a “quantum hard drive breakthrough”. This is an exciting area of technology development, but still some way off being commonplace.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is set to undertake a review of Information and Communications Technology Statistics. The lack of detailed data from the ABS on IT has been a common complaint from industry bodies and the large vendors they represent, although many of these same companies also purchase market data on a regular basis from other sources.
Qantas and Samsung have teamed up to trial the IT vendor’s virtual reality headsets in the airline’s first class cabins. Qantas also says it is working with partners to try and develop content such as destination tours. It already has one tour of the NT’s Kakadu National Park ready to go.
A New York Times article claimed the Chinese government had recently approved a policy that would force technology providers – both domestic and overseas – to provide access to source code and undertake other steps. This apparently upset several American vendors although in our view really shouldn’t come as a surprise considering previous announcements by the government and information security developments globally.
Unfortunately the NYT article (and many other subsequent reports) doesn’t provide a link or a translation of the policy documents. In a follow up piece, Reuters says they are still draft regulations from the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission which the media outlet has translated. It didn’t provide any links to the policy documents or the translation either, however.
The official government English language website, has mentioned new rules to be introduced “later this year” and noted a security review of IT products, services and suppliers was launched in May 2014. But the picture is still very hazy and uncertain. Yet, questions of whether this is a swing towards protectionism or a smart security and risk management move will no doubt be discussed ad nauseam by the pundits. In our view it’s not just foreign technology providers that need to pay attention, those generally offering services in China as well as indigenous Chinese companies will need to “watch this space” for impacts.
In January, the government also announced more support for the development of cloud computing and encouraged the development of the outsourcing industry.
Search giant, Baidu, has partnered with Harman to offer a connected car service.
In Hong Kong, the SCMP has a feature story about planning a drone video stunt. The use of drones has, sorry the pun, sky rocketed and new applications for the technology are still being explored, as are regulations controlling them.
An analysis by China-based Analysis International found that nine in 10 mobile applications are distributed by the combined trio of Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent.
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