Economy, Consumer, Technology
190 storiesASUS unveils Zenbook 14 UX3480 line with Intel, AMD or Qualcomm chips
ASUS announced the Zenbook 14 UX3480 series, a 14-inch laptop line that lets buyers choose between Intel Core Ultra series 3, AMD Ryzen AI 300 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors. PC Watch reported the models go on sale in Japan from Octob…
Apple and LG Electronics jointly develop smart home devices under LG brand
Apple and LG Electronics are jointly developing smart home devices — a camera-equipped video doorbell, a smart door lock, a security camera and a smart temperature sensor and thermostat — to be sold under the LG brand, according to Bloomber…
Turkey's Aselsan announces Astralink network of 198 low-orbit satellites
Aselsan CEO Ahmet Akyol said at the International Astronautical Congress in Antalya that Turkey is building Astralink, a low-orbit satellite constellation of 198 spacecraft, with the first launch planned within two years. Akyol said work be…
Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days Begin With Discounts on Apple Macs, AirPods and iPads
Amazon's fall Prime Big Deal Days sale is live, with early discounts on Apple products including AirPods Pro 3 at $179.00, down from $249.00, AirPods Max 2 at $429.00, and about $200 off most M5 MacBook Air models. Outlets also reported all…
Amazon’s October Prime Day runs October 6-8 as retailers cut prices early
Amazon’s October Prime Day, also called Prime Big Deal Days, runs from October 6 at 3AM ET through 3AM ET on October 8, with discounts already live, according to The Verge, NBC News and Wired. Wired listed Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 at $190 ($…
Hoban Construction develops AI design tech to auto-apply per-unit buyer options
Hoban Construction said it developed AI-based design technology that automatically reflects apartment buyers’ option contract choices in each unit’s building information model (BIM). The technology was developed jointly with building and in…
Foreign investment banks raise South Korea 2026 growth forecast to 3.5%
Eight major overseas investment banks now expect South Korea's economy to grow 3.5% in 2026 on average, up 0.2 percentage points from a month earlier, according to the International Finance Center. All eight forecast growth of at least 3%, …
Japan government weighs second supplementary budget focused on disaster response
The Japanese government is considering a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2026, limited to necessary items such as disaster response rather than an economic-stimulus package, with spending expected to be small. It would cover recovery…
Xreal opens pre-orders for Android XR Aura smartglasses from $1,279
Xreal has opened pre-orders for the Aura, its Android XR smartglasses announced earlier this year at Google I/O, starting at $1,279 for a 12GB RAM / 256GB storage model and $1,499 for a 16GB / 512GB version. The glasses are tethered to a co…
Japan farm ministry orders Fukui seafood firm over mislabeled Echizen crab gifts
Japan's agriculture ministry issued a measures order on Oct 6 against Fukumaru Foods, a seafood processor in Echizen Town, Fukui Prefecture, for labeling products as Echizen crab while using mizugani, a crab not counted as Echizen crab. The…
Moscow SEZ resident Angstrom develops Russian chip for linking electronic devices
Angstrom, a resident of the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone, has developed a microchip for data transmission between electronic devices, according to the company and the zone’s representatives. The chip is built on the RS-485 indus…
Musk says his companies will build and run Terafab chip plant, rules out TSMC role
Elon Musk said on Oct. 7 that his companies will independently build and operate the Terafab chip manufacturing project in Texas, ruling out an operational role for TSMC. He said TSMC could lease part of the planned site or capacity if inte…
Japan August real wages rise 1.5% for eighth straight month
Japan's real wages rose 1.5% in August from a year earlier, the eighth consecutive monthly increase, according to the health, labour and welfare ministry's preliminary monthly labour survey published on 7 October. Nominal total cash earning…
Russian government to direct 1.5 bln rubles to Crimea's agriculture
The Russian government will direct 1.5 billion rubles to support Crimea's agriculture, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, according to the government press service. RIA Novosti reported Mishustin as saying the region has a state of emer…
Iraq devalues dinar to 1,500 per dollar as war disrupts oil shipping
Iraq devalued its currency on Wednesday, moving the official exchange rate from about 1,300 dinars to the dollar to 1,500, the central bank said. The AP reported the rate was set at a Cabinet meeting the night before, with banks selling dol…
Kumamoto University, AIST sign comprehensive semiconductor cooperation agreement
Kumamoto University and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement in the semiconductor field on Oct. 7. The deal covers joint research, technical support for reg…
IMF chief warns energy shock, debt and AI risks threaten global growth
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech in Singapore on Wednesday that countries rich and poor must act faster to cut debt and regulate artificial intelligence, warning of a triple shock from the AI boom, heavy borrowing…
Mishustin says Russian agricultural exports rose more than 15% by late September
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said exports of Russian agricultural products (APK) rose more than 15% as of the end of September, speaking at a plenary session at the Golden Autumn 2026 exhibition. Mishustin said the government is taking …
Russian government to write off nearly 3 bln rubles of Belgorod region debt
The Russian government will write off almost 3 billion rubles of the Belgorod region's budget debt under a federal programme to support regions, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, according to TASS, RIA Novosti, Kommersant and RBC. Komm…
Apple and LG co-develop smart home devices including doorbell, lock and thermostat
Bloomberg reports that Apple and LG have co-developed a line of smart home devices, including a video doorbell, thermostat, smart deadbolt lock, indoor and outdoor security cameras and a floodlight camera. The products are expected to carry…