Clipto, a San Francisco-based startup with teams in Singapore and Hong Kong, closed a $15 million all-equity funding round that values the company at $250 million. The startup's software indexes videos, audio, images, and meeting recordings stored on a user's computer, letting people find files by describing them in natural language or through AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude. Founder Henry Kang, whose prior startup ZenVideo was acquired by Tencent in 2020, built Clipto around the idea that AI has created a glut of unused content rather than a shortage of it.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-31
Taoyuan prosecutors raided Unimicron Technology's headquarters and a plant, questioning 14 staff over allegations the company relabeled China-manufactured circuit boards as Taiwan-origin products. Several executives were released on bail ranging from NT$300,000 to NT$15 million, and the investigation into possible forgery and false origin-marking continues.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-31
A Taiwanese man remotely accessed his robot vacuum's camera to catch his wife with another man, then used the footage to win roughly $16,000 in a civil suit over infringement of spousal rights. His wife countersued for illegal filming without consent, and a court sentenced him to five months in prison and fined him about 30% of his award.
techspot.com
· 2026-08-31
BYD's Hong Kong shares dropped nearly 5% after the company reported first-half net profit down 20.5% to 12.3 billion yuan and revenue down 7.1% to 344.8 billion yuan, even as second-quarter profit rose 30% year-over-year. The automaker cited weak domestic demand, intense price competition, and higher costs for commodities and chips squeezing margins, though overseas exports jumped 67.8% to 792,000 vehicles.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-31
Washington expanded its restrictions on foreign-made robotics and drones in July and August, citing national security, adding steep tariffs on imported drones that take effect this September, with component tariffs to follow in 2027. The rules extend the FCC's Covered List, which previously targeted telecom firms like Huawei and Hikvision, to now cover drones and advanced robotic devices, even as Chinese firms dominate global humanoid robot shipments.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-31
Liux, a Spanish EV startup, is preparing to launch the Liux Big, a compact electric city car built at Spain's first new auto plant in three decades. The vehicle uses a novel linen-based biocomposite body designed for eventual material recovery and recycling, alongside batteries meant to be charged at home, including via solar power. Co-founders Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros and David Sancho say full supply-chain independence in Europe isn't realistic, so they're focusing instead on sustainability and repairability as differentiators.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-30
Beijing hosted the second World Humanoid Robot Games, a five-day event featuring humanoid robots competing in sprints, weightlifting, and cheerleading routines. Alongside genuine performance gains over last year's inaugural games, the event was marked by spectacular malfunctions, including robots losing limbs, catching fire, and crashing into judges' tables.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-30
Chinese robotics firms are building humanoid and industrial robots using Nvidia's chips and simulation software, an area of AI hardware trade that remains largely permitted under current U.S. export rules. Nvidia has positioned itself as a key infrastructure provider for this 'physical AI' sector, supplying both computing power and development platforms to Chinese customers despite broader U.S.-China tech tensions.
wsj.com
· 2026-08-29
A report examines whether components and equipment sourced from Chinese manufacturers are quietly underpinning the rapid expansion of American data centers driving the AI buildout. The claim centers on supply chain dependencies that persist even as US-China tech tensions escalate publicly.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-29
Victims across China report losing between $1,500 and $300,000 after scammers posed as romantic partners or professionals and moved conversations from social platforms onto Microsoft Teams using shared login credentials. Once trust was established, the scammers pitched cryptocurrency investments and disappeared with victims' money, leaving them unable to access chat records for police reports since they never controlled the accounts themselves. Local Chinese law enforcement agencies have begun warning the public that Teams is being used as a fraud tool, and platforms like Maimai now flag messages mentioning Teams or Skype as high-risk.
wired.com
· 2026-08-28
According to The Information, the Trump administration is preparing a new export control aimed at closing a loophole that lets Chinese firms tap advanced AI compute through remote servers hosted in Thailand and Singapore, countries not currently bound by China-specific chip restrictions. The Commerce Department could circulate the draft rule to industry groups for feedback as early as September.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-08-28
The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu reported that a barrier lake created by an ice-rock avalanche remains at a high water level and is overflowing. Officials from China and Nepal are jointly monitoring the site to assess the risk of the lake breaching its banks.
kathmandupost.com
· 2026-08-28
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