Latest news with #hi-tech
South China Morning Post
29-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China to ‘tighten oversight' in crowded manufacturing sectors such as EVs and solar power
China's top regulator of the manufacturing sector has vowed to phase out outdated capacity amid Beijing's efforts to combat excessive competition, while promoting hi-tech consumer goods as part of a broader push to revive domestic demand. Advertisement The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said at a meeting of senior officials on Monday that it would 'consolidate the results of a sweeping crackdown on 'neijuan' competition in the electric vehicle sector and tighten oversight of key industries such as solar power'. '[We will] use upgraded standards to force out outdated production capacity,' the ministry said in a readout on its official website, adding that it would strengthen the mandatory national standards in the industrial and information technology sectors. The term neijuan , or 'involution' – a buzzword in Beijing's recent policy discourse – refers to excessive, cutthroat competition that has plagued several industries, eroding corporate profits and exacerbating persistent deflationary pressures. Meanwhile, China's State Administration for Market Regulation also pledged during a two-day meeting from Sunday to Monday that it would 'regulate enterprises' low-quality, cut-price competition in accordance with laws and regulations'. Advertisement In line with efforts to better allocate market resources and phase out outdated production capacity, Beijing has been stepping up its push for mergers and acquisitions (M&As). A recent example was the approval for China State Shipbuilding Corporation to absorb China Shipbuilding Industry Company – a move aimed at streamlining operations and accelerating industry development.
The Sun
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I saw ‘home of the future' at Apple HQ where redecorating takes seconds and costs NOTHING – and it's just months away
WHAT if you could redecorate your home instantly? And without paying a penny? Well, it's not sci-fi – it's just months away. This is the hi-tech future that Apple showed me at its California HQ just last month. 10 10 Back in 2024, Apple launched the Vision Pro. It's a powerful hi-tech headset that lets you see floating apps overlaid on top of the real world. So if you want to sit back and watch Ted Lasso on a massive 100-inch telly like Apple chief Tim Cook does, you can don the goggles and away you go. The world isn't blocked out: you'll still see your kids playing with Lego on the floor, or your cat demanding its third breakfast. Now the company is preparing to roll out a major update that not only upgrades the headset…but your home too. A VISION OF THE FUTURE Right now, most of the apps that you use on a Vision Pro headset float in the air in front of you. Spooky. It's neat if you're on an airplane, as you can block out your surroundings and find a bit of peace in economy. But in the real world, you don't normally have important stuff just hovering mid-air. You wouldn't typically stick your telly in the middle of the room, or covering a window. It gets in the way. In the new visionOS 26 update (coming later this year alongside the iOS 26 iPhone upgrade), you'll be able to stick widgets to the wall. You could chuck a virtual clock up on the wall (and save money on having a real one). Or you could drop the Weather app just by the front door, so you know whether you need to grab a coat. EXCLUSIVE Apple's Tim Cook shares exactly how he uses Vision Pro headset every day as millions finally get chance to buy Ditch picture frames and slap the Photos app on the wall for a nice carousel of your favourite snaps. Or even add Reminders right next to the fridge, so you've always got your shopping list in plain sight. There's even a very cool (and optional) effect that insets the widget into the wall. So it feels as if it's built directly into your home. You can even add beautiful images that sit behind the wall, and then you can lean left and right, or forwards and backwards, to almost peer into a magical world that lives beyond your room. 10 Of course there's nothing behind there. Except maybe dust and spiders. But it allows for something that wouldn't physically be possible with a normal wall. No amount of money can buy this in the real world. This is redecorating like never before. 'When it's inset into the wall, it has to just be perfectly aligned with the wall to have that feel satisfying,' said Jeff Norris, senior director at Apple's Vision products group, speaking to me at Apple Park. 'You have to understand the surfaces in the room.' EYE TRY I tried this out in California, and I was shocked by how convincing it was. It looked like these widgets were right there, as embedded in the wall as a door or window frame. And as I moved around the room, they'd stay stuck in place. I couldn't trick it, no matter which way I turned or walked. This isn't very easy to achieve, Apple tells me. 10 'It needs to remember the room,' Jeff explained. And it needs to do that even if the lighting conditions change significantly. Or if things get moved around in the room a little bit. 'We have to be able to do that, and do that for many different rooms. 'Meaning that feature you saw, it'll work for your home office and your office at work. 'It will remember both of those rooms, and remember what you put in both of those places. 'So that moment you walk into your office at home, we have just a fraction of a second to say: 'Okay, what room are we in? Let's remember everything that was in that room, exactly where it was. And while we're at it, let's never lose track of where we are in that space'.' They're not just stiff images either. You can walk right up to them and interact with them. Change a photo or tick off a reminder. And if you don't like one clock style, you can swap it out for something else. 'It's amazing that you can have a digital object like a widget that feels like it's right there in the room with you,' Steve Sinclair, who is in charge of Apple Vision Pro marketing, told me. 'Even though your brain knows it's not, it feels like it is. And you can interact with it as if it's there.' Right now, the only way to view these virtual redecorations is to don the Vision Pro headset. And that means only you're seeing them. No one else. SHRINKING BIG But you can imagine a future where maybe the Vision Pro has shrunk to the size of glasses, and everyone in your house has a pair. Apple rival Meta has shown off this kind of futuristic gadget – albeit only as a prototype – in the form of the Orion smart glasses. The Apple Vision Pro serves up immensely greater visual quality. But it's a big headset and, ultimately, very expensive at £3,499/$3,499. Sadly Apple hasn't confirmed any plans for smaller or cheaper 'spatial computing' headsets. And glasses-style mixed-reality specs that don't cost mega-money are years away. 10 But this is a glimpse at the future of what homes might become. You can imagine one day being able to change the colour of your wallpaper or sofa in an instant – and add a nice rug, if you'd like. But for now, Apple is only adding the ability to add widgets to the walls. Still, it's a step in that direction. It's not a huge stretch to imagine a future where we all don specs that aren't much bigger than regular glasses. This would give us all access to a digital world that lives all around us – rather than being squeezed into our eyes through the tiny window of a smartphone screen. And swiping a new photo onto your wall is a lot easier than hanging a frame. I'm rubbish at DIY, so this can't come soon enough. 10
South China Morning Post
23-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's shipments of hi-tech goods to EU surge as its exports to US plunge
China's shipments of hi-tech goods to the European Union went into overdrive last month, coinciding with a big drop in exports of the same goods to the US, suggesting that the superpower trade and tech wars could be affecting trade with Europe. Calculations based on recently published Chinese trade data showed that China in May exported huge amounts of batteries, laptops, smartphones and solar panels to the 27-member bloc, sending import numbers for some countries to unprecedented levels. China's exports to Estonia soared 79.4 per cent in May compared to last year, and for Cyprus the number was 70.5 per cent, with 46.7 per cent in Bulgaria and 42 per cent in Hungary. The boom continued in bigger EU markets as France's imports shot up 24.2 per cent, Germany's 21.72 per cent and Sweden's 20.4 per cent. With many EU markets enduring falling exports to China, the cumulative impact was a 22 per cent increase in the union's trade deficit with the world's second-largest economy in May. Lithium-ion battery exports across the EU surged by 52 per cent from a year earlier. Photo: Shutterstock
South China Morning Post
11-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China plans to turn Shenzhen into AI and aviation hub amid US sanctions
China has outlined a string of reforms to accelerate the development of hi-tech emerging industries in the city of Shenzhen, as the tech hub in southern China grapples with a barrage of US trade restrictions. The plan focuses on boosting Shenzhen's ability to create scalable business models in industries such as artificial intelligence and aviation that can be replicated across China, by helping the city cultivate a larger talent pool, expand local companies' access to financing, and speed up the deployment of cutting-edge technologies. 'We will deepen reforms and expand openness from a higher starting point, with elevated standards and more ambitious goals, to create fresh, replicable experiences for broader adoption,' stated a document jointly released by top organs of the Chinese government and ruling Communist Party on Tuesday. Shenzhen has been at the forefront of China's economic development for decades, leading the country's first wave of economic liberalisation in the late 1970s before evolving into a factory hub and then an incubator for hi-tech start-ups. The former fishing village is now home to nearly 18 million people and a string of powerhouse companies, including telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, drone maker DJI, electric vehicle leader BYD and internet behemoth Tencent.
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Shocking moment car thieves use hi-tech gadget to steal £44,000 Mercedes from outside owner's home - as keyless raid is caught on doorbell camera
A £44,000 Mercedes was stolen off the driveway of the owner's home after two thieves used a hi-tech gadget to start the motor. The innovative duo used a signal relay device to steal the Mercedes S Class in the middle of the night. Doorbell footage shows one of the men making his way towards the house while the other stood by the car. Mindaugas Grizas, 36, and Lukas Zvirgzdys, 18, successfully stole the car for a mere 12 minutes. When breaking into the vehicle a large engine noise alerted the owner to the theft. The owner of the car called the police from their home located in Breckland, west of Norwich, Norfolk. The call was made at 2:30am on April 7, 2025. Officers for the Norfolk Constabulary stopped the car just 12 minutes later where they found the passenger still wearing a balaclava. Mindaugas Grizas, 36, was sentenced to one year and four months imprisonment and a two year disqualification from driving The device was found in the footwell alongside a GPS jammer that was still transmitting. The duo were arrested at the scene and charged later that day with multiple offences. Grizas from Thetford and Zvirgzdys of Hillburn Road, Wisbech were charged with stealing the car and using apparatus to interfere with wireless telegraphy. The 36-year-old was also charged with driving without insurance and driving while disqualified. The pair appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court the following day where they both pleaded guilty. On May 12, both men appeared in Norwich Crown Court for sentencing. Grizas was sentenced to one year and four months imprisonment and a two year disqualification from driving. Zvirgzdys was jailed for a year, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service. Sergeant Gary Morris, of Norfolk Police's Breckland District Crime Unit said: 'This is a timely reminder to take simple steps to keep your vehicle safe.' Keyless technology, once the preserve of expensive high-end vehicles, has become commonplace among more affordable family cars. These gadgets let criminals pick up the signal from a car's keyless fob lying inside the owner's home, and extend this signal to unlock the car and start it. The vehicle's security system is tricked into thinking the key fob is present. He added: 'The easiest thing to do if you have "keyless" technology is to buy a faraday box or pouch which you can get cheaply and easily online. 'This blocks the signal from the keys meaning it can not be picked up by a relay device outside your home.'
