Singapore Tech News, Features & Reviews

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a soft underwater robot capable of three dimensional movement. This new device, drawing inspiration from feather stars, uses only two actuators to achieve a range of motion typically requiring six. The design enables movement forward, backward, upward, downward, and rotation around its central axis, significantly reducing mechanical complexity for such maneuverability.

Sony has announced a spatial audio microphone that plugs straight into a smartphone over USB C. The company calls it the first microphone for phones to carry Eclipsa Audio certification, a standard built on the IAMF specification. It reaches Singapore shops at a suggested retail price of SGD 249.

According to the South China Morning Post, Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai stated that Europe's path to technological independence lies solely in adopting an open source approach. He referenced China's own open source initiatives as a model for innovation developed under restrictions.

Anthropic, an artificial intelligence organisation, has recently modified its online usage guidelines. The new rules prohibit sustained and unnecessary cruelty towards its AI models. Under this policy, models such as Claude will cease communication if a user consistently exhibits abusive behaviour, a measure the company attributes to its internal belief that AI may eventually achieve consciousness.

China's largest internet companies are building tools that let creators make branching, playable video stories, and the prize is the creator entry point for a format some expect to be produced at scale. ByteDance's CapCut, Tencent and Kuaishou have all moved into the space, according to Pandaily, which cited a Chinese media report on the shift. Interactive film games sit somewhere between a game and a drama, and the tools being built for them are aimed at whoever makes the ne

ShengShu Technology has released Vidu Q4 Preview, the first look at its next flagship video generation model, and the company is selling it on two claims. Character performances should look more convincing than before, and the entry price sits well below what rival video models charge for comparable work. Both claims point at the same buyer, teams producing short drama, advertising, and social video at volume.

KingKong Technology, a Beijing robotics company, has released an open source robot called Jumper, and its body is built like a crab. The machine carries six legs and 22 tactile servos and weighs 1.8 kilograms, so it walks, turns, and jumps on a frame closer to a crab than to a dog. KingKong says the same body can grasp objects as well as move, which sets it apart from a plain walking demo.

Middle managers are nearly twice as likely as executives to want a person involved when AI resolves IT problems that touch security, data, or business operations, according to global research from TeamViewer. The split is 46 per cent against 24 per cent. Security, privacy, and risk concerns are the most cited barrier to AI adoption among IT decision makers, named by almost half of them.

Meta has banned advertisements promoting TikTok and other ByteDance services on Facebook and Instagram in seven countries, including Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. The restrictions took effect immediately and extend to third-party advertisers directing users to ByteDance platforms. The decision intensifies the competition between two of the world's biggest social media companies as they battle for audiences, creators and advertising revenue across international markets.

Engineers at EPFL have built a motor shaped like a thread, and it turns electrical energy directly into movement. It measures 1 to 3 mm across and is made of two hollow fibres, one nested tightly inside the other. The Swiss team works in the Soft Transducers Laboratory, part of the university's School of Engineering, and it has published the design in the journal Advanced Materials.