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Unicorn Born in China every 3.8 Days in 2018

Charlotte Henry ·

97 tech unicorns, companies valued at over $1 billion, were formed in China in 2018. That’s the equivalent of one launching in the country every 3.8 days.. However, Bloomberg News reported that this pace of creation actually slowed down during the fourth quarter of the year. Only 11 unicorns launched in those three months. Instead of startups, large tech firms reasserted their position. The Chinese economic slowdown also contributed to this.

China spawned 97 unicorns last year with a combined valuation of 1.2 trillion yuan ($178 billion) across sectors from consumer internet to online shopping and electric vehicles, according to a report published by consultancy Hurun. That’s about one unicorn born every 3.8 days. But of those, 11 were created in the December quarter, down from more than 30 in the previous three months.

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What Mark Zuckerberg Really Meant in his Wall Street Journal Piece

Charlotte Henry ·

There has been a lot of reaction to *that* Mark Zuckerberg piece in the Wall Street Journal last week. The Facebook CEO and founder tried to allay users’ fears about how the service uses their data. TMO’s Andrew Orr described it as “tone deaf,” which seems pretty on the money to me. Kara Swisher used her New York Times column Friday to rewrite the column and explain to readers what Zuckerberg really mean. Not surprisingly, it is funny, cutting, and well worth a read.

The post was essentially the greatest hits that we have heard Mr. Zuckerberg sing for a while now. He focused on the enormous advertising system that powers Facebook, while ignoring almost entirely the news from the last disastrous year, including Russian abuse of the platform, sloppy management of data, recent revelations that the company throws some pretty sharp elbows when it needs to, and more. You kind of get why Mr. Zuckerberg would want to forget it all.

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Here's Why iPhone Assembly Doesn't Happen Here

Andrew Orr ·

Apple relies on China for a huge part of its manufacturing needs. But why can’t the company bring it back to the United States? Custom screws.

The challenges in Texas illustrate problems that Apple would face if it tried to move a significant amount of manufacturing out of China. Apple has found that no country — and certainly not the United States — can match China’s combination of scale, skills, infrastructure and cost.

Manufacturing and cheap labor are the reasons why Apple and other companies go to China. The GOP can talk about bringing jobs like that back, but it’s not an easy problem to solve.

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iPhone, Apple Watch: The New Tricorder

John Martellaro ·

9to5Mac writes: “Apple has been granted a patent today which illustrates how future products such as iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch could have built-in sensors to detect harmful, poisonous gasses, such as CO…” [and others.] Now we’re getting into Star Trek’s Tricorder territory. I expect these kind of technical advances to continue. Early earthquake warnings?

TMO Deals

CuriosityStream 2-Year Subscription: $29.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on a 2-year subscription for CuriosityStream, the streaming and on-demand service with more than 2,000 documentaries and shows. It works in a browser, iOS, Apple TV 4 and above, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, and more. It’s $29.99 through our deal.