[Krypton Evening News] Hawking: Artificial intelligence may end human civilization; Zhang Xuhao talks about Ele.me’s next ambition; Miya: "Consumption downgrade" will become the mainstream trend
Today's keywords: shared bicycles, financial reports
Keyword 1: shared bicycle
On April 27, Didi Chuxing announced that after the Didi APP was upgraded to version 5.0.16, the "ofo bicycle" entry was added to the car page, and it was gradually promoted nationwide. From now on, Didi Chuxing users can use the ofo car directly through the app to enjoy a seamless and convenient travel experience. The two parties will open up all aspects of user registration, authentication, deposit payment, online payment, and customer service.
36 Krypton learned that Didi Bus will also carry out more in-depth cooperation with ofo. The real-time query product of Didi Bus will add the driving route of ofo to the algorithm model, and use artificial intelligence technology to plan cycling and bus connection schemes for users, so as to meet users' various short-distance travel needs.
On the 27th, six bike-sharing brands including ofo, Yonganxing, Xiaolan, Hellobike, funbike, and Uber announced a partnership with Ant Financial. Starting from April 29th, users can directly scan the homepage of Alipay. Unlock these six brands of shared bicycles.
This means that users do not need to download their apps separately to use these 6 shared bicycles in the future. This time, there are a total of 6 million shared bicycles connected to Alipay, covering 50 cities across the country.
Shared bicycles will establish a networked user credit system. On April 27, under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Information Center signed a cooperation agreement on credit information sharing with ten representative companies such as Mobike and Ofo. Horizontally, the shared bicycle companies will share information; vertically, the credit information of government departments will also be shared with the shared bicycle companies.
What bicycle companies need to do is, on the one hand, organize and import the public information they have obtained, encourage trustworthiness according to business rules, and strictly review and take restrictive measures against untrustworthy companies and individuals. On the other hand, bicycle companies should report to the national credit information sharing platform and the "Credit China" website the application of shared information and the effectiveness of rewards and punishments in accordance with the requirements of the National Development and Reform Commission, and combine the company's information on untrustworthy natural persons, legal persons, and other organizations with national credit information. Sharing platform sharing.
Comments:Today's news about shared bicycles is reflected in three aspects: first, the tendency of competition and cooperation in the industry is obvious; second, the industry is gradually standardized; third, a cashless society and a credit city are under construction.
On April 22, ofo received a strategic investment from Ant Financial Services. Five days later, Alipay opened up to ofo, but there were also five competitors, Yonganhang, Xiaolan, Hellobike, funbike, and Uber.
This also reflects the former ofo founder Dai WeiTalk about competing with MobikeAs Shi said, the current competition is still in the early stages, and the market for shared bicycles is large enough, and it is far from the final conclusion. Therefore, although it is a competitor, according to the current situation, the benefits of accessing Alipay are far more important than sticking to the concept of competition. First connect to Alipay's "platform" to reduce the opportunity cost of scanning codes and riding bicycles as much as possible, and attract more users, so that when the battle really starts, there will be competitive capital.
But what Alipay can supply may only be enough for shared bicycle start-ups to survive, or to eat meat before other shared bicycles that have not yet been connected. What Alipay wants to create in the future is a cashless credit society. Not long ago they announced that they would provide6 billion yuanPromote the cashless process. Therefore, Alipay will only provide access to more and more shared bicycles, and the six companies announced today may still have some first-mover advantages.
If you want to go further, it is not realistic to rely on Alipay, and it is more critical to seize the exclusive entrance. There is also news today that ofo will be connected to the Didi Chuxing App, and the two parties will open up the whole line, and Didi Bus will also carry out more in-depth cooperation with ofo.
As another important player in the field of shared bicycles, Mobike also "hugged" Tencent's thigh last month, and WeChat opened the secondary entry in the wallet page to Mobike, and Mobike officially settled in WeChat Jiugongge.
It is foreseeable that after Didi opens the entrance to ofo, the competition for the entry of shared bicycles will further intensify. In the future, the competition between Mobike and the Tencent system behind it, ofo and the Ali system behind it for the entrance of shared bicycle traffic will become fiercer.
Keyword 2: financial report
On April 26, local time, Twitter announced its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017. As of March 31, Twitter's Q1 revenue reached US$548 million, higher than the forecast of US$510 million, down about 8% year-on-year from US$595 million; the net loss was US$62 million; the number of monthly active users reached 328 million, Quarterly growth of 9 million people, 7 million people higher than expected; in terms of daily activities, Twitter Q1 increased by 14% year-on-year.
Comments:That's a big deal for Twitter, which has seen such growth in a long time. This at least conveys a signal to the outside world: Twitter is not half dead, but still alive.
But then again, why is Twitter able to "makeover" for a while? Did it really come back to life? Is this growth sustainable?
In this regard, Twitter’s financial report mentions several drivers of user growth: organic growth (relying on the company’s existing resources and business, growth through improvement; while reflecting some seasonal advantages); product improvement (including in the schedule and better relevance in terms of notifications); marketing.
It is still very difficult for you to say that organic growth and product improvement have brought about rapid growth. After all, Twitter products have always been "swinging left and right and taking it", and the product is finallyMinor repairs, Twitter today is not much different than it was three years ago, not to mention the extent to which product improvements can "save" Twitter from the predicament.
Marketing is probably the magic potion for Twitter's sudden "young glow." Among them, the most magical and unreasonable one is Trump, who took office on January 20, U.S. time and is "Twitter governing the country".
Trump's angry and explosive remarks can not only attract widespread global attention, making Twitter a window to watch closely and interact with the president, but also make many peopleUnbearable. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and NBC poll results, 69 % of Americans think Trump's use of Twitter is a very bad idea.
For those who can't stand Trump, it's possible to leave Twitter for its rivals.
Of course, Twitter can't change the path of "communicating with people" that the president likes, but Twitter can learn from Weibo and make more ideas on entertainment content represented by entertainment stars and Internet celebrities. This is not only easier to bring money than Trump, but also more attractive to the younger generation, and it will not cause Twitter to be charged with "dividing society".
According to the Wall Street Journal, the boom in connected devices and big data has made the once-obscure chip business a focus of competition. Surging demand has pushed up prices, and chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics, Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Toshiba have gained new growth points. Samsung Electronics reported its best quarterly profit since 2013 on Thursday, thanks to a strong performance in its memory chip business.
Nokia's 2017 Q1 financial report showed that the company's quarterly profit exceeded expectations based on cost-cutting measures, but the company reiterated its forecast for a decline in network business revenue in 2017. Nokia's first-quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 1% from a year earlier to 341 million euros ($372 million) as telecom operators' spending fell, but topped analysts' average estimate in a Reuters poll 334 million euros. Nokia said it expected a decline in network revenue this year, in line with market conditions, but said business trends were improving.
LG Electronics' first-quarter profit hits eight-year high of $816 million
LG Electronics released its results for the first quarter of 2017 today. Due to strong sales of home appliances and TVs, LG Electronics' profit in the last quarter increased to the highest in nearly eight years. In the first quarter of this year, LG Electronics' profit reached 922 billion won (equivalent to 816 million US dollars), an increase of 82% year-on-year, in line with the performance expectations in early April this year. The company's revenue increased by 9.7% year-on-year to 14.7 trillion won.
big company
On April 27th, Zhang Xuhao, the founder of Ele.me, announced at the annual meeting that in the next 9 years, Ele.me's major strategy will be "Make Everything 30 minutes", that is, to connect everything in the world to everyone's 30-minute convenience circle of life. In the future, what Ele.me wants to deliver is not just takeaways, but more products besides takeaways, that is, "everything" in Zhang Xuhao's mouth.
Comments:In 2017, the battlefield of the food delivery war has become different.
36 krypton previously reportedEle.me and Meituan Waimai, the main force in the food delivery field, no longer judge this war as "shopping" or "end the war as soon as possible". On the contrary, both sides believe that this will not end in a short time And in the long run, "it will be a long battle based on distribution and expanding to all categories." And this more see-saw and longer battle kicked off in 2017.
In Zhang Xuhao's view, everything other than food delivery is a consumer goods market with a volume of 30 trillion yuan. With the maturity of online food delivery and instant delivery systems, Ele.me believes that the "strategic opportunity" to penetrate the consumer goods market on a large scale has arrived. To this end, in early 2017, Ele.me established a new retail department, and reached cooperation with 7-Eleven, Watsons and other chain convenience stores.
Takeaway will not be the end of the battle, but the beginning. Meituan has connected to 7-11 and Aixianfeng, and Zhang Xuhao also said that he will be an "Amazon" next. Delivery of everything is the common future plan of the two companies. Even Baidu Waimai wants to change the track. An insider told 36 Krypton, "Waimai may only be a part of the company, and the proportion of intra-city logistics will be enlarged." And on this road, they will also encounter opponents such as JD Daojia, Shansong and so on.
It's been a long battle.
After NetEase Cloud Music announced a 750 million yuan A-round financing, the online music market has made new capital moves. According to the "China Times Electronic News" report, Tencent's music business has launched a listing plan and is selecting an investment bank. Tencent said that it is currently unable to give more details on market rumors. According to Jiemian News, a person close to Tencent's music business revealed that the group is indeed preparing for the IPO.
Comments:At present, the main players in the mainland streaming media market are Tencent and NetEase. Not long ago, NetEase Cloud Music announced that it has received 700 million yuan in Series A financing led by Shanghai Radio and Television Station and Shanghai Culture, Radio, Film and Television Group (SMG). After the financing, NetEase Cloud Music is valued at 8 billion yuan, joining the unicorn club. In addition, NetEase also announced that the number of users exceeded 300 million, and the number of paid members in 2016 increased by more than 9 times year-on-year.
Zhu Yiwen, CEO of NetEase Cloud Music, said that the financing means that the domestic online music platform has been divided into two parts by Tencent and NetEase, and NetEase Cloud Music will not rule out the possibility of spin-off and listing in the future. Apparently, the competition between the online music giants has reached a fever pitch.
Wu Weilin, vice president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, said in a recent public speech: "The number of monthly active users who access our music has actually exceeded 600 million, which means that even if the number of subscribers is 15 million, our subscriber conversion rate is still 100 million. In contrast, the conversion rate of other services in other countries is as high as 20 – 30%, so as long as the market situation continues to improve and the piracy problem is gradually curbed, we believe that opportunities and growth potential coexist.”
Yahoo Sounds the Death Knell for Digital Journalism
A few days ago, Yahoo submitted its first quarter financial report as of March 31, 2017. This is the last financial report it announced as an independent company. This once powerful technology company is about to end. Over the course of a decade, the company was unraveled at a startlingly slow pace, and today, this particular moment reflects the Yahoo-style crisis sweeping the web — companies that rely heavily on ad revenue for their livelihoods, especially News companies are all facing such a crisis.
Comments:Print media is still in decline, but Yahoo's demise heralds that web-native companies will follow in their footsteps. If you run a business that relies on digital advertising for a significant percentage of its revenue, you'll need to find new revenue streams.
Facebook and Google account for a huge proportion of the global digital advertising revenue pie, and for other companies, it is a "zero-sum game" to get a share of it.Yahoo is a case in point, although there are many reasons for its current situation, the main reason is that advertising revenue is going to Facebook and Google.
All of this seems to indicate that in the future, companies that rely on advertising for profit, such as journalism, have entered the path of the Internet age. But things are very different today. Facebook and Google split the revenue from advertising but never paid for news (although they have occasional partnerships with news businesses), and Yahoo is pretty much wiped out.
And he won't be the only Internet giant withering.
Yu'e Bao becomes the world's largest money market fund with a scale of US$165.6 billion
According to foreign media reports, with a scale of 165.6 billion U.S. dollars, Yu'e Bao has surpassed the JPMorgan Chase US Government Money Market Fund with a scale of 150 billion U.S. dollars to become the world's largest money market fund. The size of the fund allows Ant Financial to negotiate higher rates with banks, analysts said.
Haidilao plans to open 80 new stores this year, and more than 10 new stores will be opened overseas
According to Bloomberg, Haidilao, which provides free massage and manicure services to waiting guests, may open 80 new stores this year and seek to expand overseas markets. Zhang Yong, chairman of the company, said that as many as 10 of the new stores will be opened overseas.
The Beijing-based company, which has set up in Los Angeles in 2013, is now testing the appeal of its signature hot pot in the US and UK. Zhang Yong also revealed in an interview with Bloomberg TV that Haidilao expects its revenue to increase by more than 30% this year, reaching 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).
He emphasized that McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks are all manifestations of American culture. As China's economy develops and the world begins to pay more attention to China, he believes thatThe opportunity of China's catering industry has arrived.
South Korea's Lotte Group subsidiary spin-off and reorganization
Foreign media news, South Korea's Lotte Group (LOTTE) said on Wednesday that the four subsidiaries of Lotte Shopping, Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Seven Star Beverage and Lotte Food will each be divided into eight companies, and four of them will be merged into one holding company. , to improve corporate governance and operational transparency. Parts of the group's four listed companies are being merged into a holding company to improve corporate governance and operational transparency.
Tengteng announced that it has reached a strategic cooperation with the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University to jointly establish the "Tsinghua·Tsingteng Future Science and Technology Academy". The school will focus on cutting-edge technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, life sciences, and new materials, and is committed to injecting innovative DNA into the next unicorn. The entrepreneur training system of the school is mainly composed of four major systems: tutors, courses, communities, and services, providing holographic practical training.
There are 50 newly selected students in the third phase of the business school, including Chen Kun, CEO of Dongshen Films, Mi Meng, an Internet celebrity from the media, and Ma Dong, founder of Mi Wei Media, covering pan-entertainment, medical health, Internet +, O2O, offline Nearly 10 industries such as retail.
United Airlines will offer $10,000 in compensation to those who voluntarily step aside
According to foreign media reports, United Airlines (United Airlines), which has been slammed for forcibly pulling passengers off the plane, announced on the 27th that it will offer passengers who voluntarily give up their seats up to $10,000 in compensation.
other important news
Huang Ming, deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security, said on the 27th that after more than a year of pilot reforms, the construction of the "three systems" of remote acceptance of resident ID cards, loss reporting and loss collection has achieved remarkable results. At present, 13,819 acceptance points have been established across the country. On July 1 this year, all counties and cities across the country will fully implement off-site processing.
Beijing issued the first batch of online taxi reservation certificates today
On April 27, the competent department of transportation in Beijing issued Beijing's "Network Taxi Transportation Certificate" to a group of online car-hailing companies under Shouqi. So far, Beijing has finally ushered in the first batch of online car-hailing cars with "three complete certificates" that can be legally used on the road.
The MEC test of the key content of the second phase of 5G will be completed by the end of the year
On the 27th, Zhu Hao from the Institute of Technical Standards of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology said in a speech that MEC is the key content of the second phase of the 5G test, and will comprehensively combine the original characteristics of the MEC platform, such as traffic grooming and billing, with 5G cloud functions. Testing is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Gu Amo, Author of "Watching the Movie in X Minutes", Was Accused of Copyright Infringement
Recently, Gu Amo was accused of copyright infringement by KKTV and Taiwanese film company Youshui. Taiwan's prosecutors have already intervened in the investigation.
The Taiwanese video website KKTV that sued this time bought the online broadcast rights of the Korean drama "W Two Worlds" last year, and Gu Amo shortened it into an 11-minute commentary short film. KKTV believes that Gu Amo re-edited and narrated the TV series without prior authorization, distorted the original meaning of the script, and publicly disseminated it through YouTube, Facebook, Weibo and other platforms, which is an infringement.
Youshui Integration believes that Gu Amo re-interpreted the four films they released including "Stand By Me Doraemon", which led to the complete leak of the plot, affecting the box office revenue and the resale of the film to the TV station, resulting in 8-figure direct loss.
Comments:According to modern people who like to pursue short and fast-paced tonality, Gu Amo's popularity is not surprising at all. What he is good at is to condense a few hours of movies into a few minutes of stories. Sounds like fun, but it might also dissuade anyone who has seen the video from watching that movie. This is also one of the reasons why those film companies are eyeing him.
When Gu Amo first became popular, there was a controversy over whether his actions violated copyright, and he himself responded publicly that he believed that he was in line with the fair use of copyright, so he could use the public content without authorization. does not constitute infringement. There are netizens who support him, and some comment that he is just ruining his works.
But in any case, he was indeed popular, and the short video about this "dismemberment" movie was immediately pushed to the forefront. In fact, there are not a few "video creators" similar to him before or after Gu Amo's fire. However, we will continue to pay attention to how to define the issue of copyright infringement of re-edited and produced movie segments.
This also reminds those who want to follow the trend, the tree attracts the wind, if you want to continue to make "dismemberment" movies, you may have to be mentally prepared by the defendant first.
Tide Technology
New 3D printing technology can print custom furniture in minutes
Recently, MIT's Self-Assembly Home Lab and designer Christophe Guberan collaborated to complete a new invention through 3D printing technology. This new invention enables rapid customization and production of home furnishing through fast liquid printing technology, breaking the previous speed limit, and the quality and output are also guaranteed.
This means that in the future we want to buy a piece of custom furniture, which can be completed in a few minutes. The MIT professor said that the new technology took only 28 minutes to print a relatively complex small square table. In another experiment, the same table was printed in just 10 minutes, compared to 50 hours with traditional 3D printing techniques.
Can Eye Drops Eliminate Jet Lag? Scientists discover surprising link between eyes and body clock
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom have recently discovered a new link between the eyes and the body's biological clock. They discovered a new set of cells in the retina that send information about changes in light to the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the part of the brain responsible for circadian rhythms.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have discovered that the retina contains vasopressin, a neurohypophyseal hormone used to express the effects of prolonged flights or frequent diurnal changes. However, when compounds that block vasopressin were injected into the brain cells, the mice lost their sensitivity to light responses.
Starting from the results of this experiment, can we imagine that we can overcome the annoying jet lag after blocking vasopressin by dripping a unique eye drop?
Scientists Create Artificial Wombs for Premature Babies
According to CNN, scientists have created an artificial womb out of polyethylene. The preterm sheep embryos in the experiment survived 4 weeks outside the mother's body. Doctors say the technique has potential to be applied to premature babies.
Investment and Financing
Caixin: HNA Group’s tens of billions of shares in the global duty-free shop giant Dufry
Recently, Dufry AG, the world's largest duty-free retailer, announced that it has received notification from HNA Group that the latter acquired shares of Dufry AG16.79% through a transaction with a third party. Based on the previous day’s closing price of 159.2 Swiss francs per share, the market value of the equity acquired by HNA Group is approximately 1.44 billion Swiss francs (approximately RMB 9.967 billion). Dufry AG is a listed company on the Swiss Stock Exchange. It operates about 2,200 duty-free shops in tourist areas such as airports, cruise ships, seaports, railway stations and urban areas, with 29,000 employees, and conducts business in 63 countries around the world.
Spotify acquires Mediachain, intends to use blockchain technology to maintain copyright of creators
Media chainis a company that provides data solutions based on blockchain technology, which can link applications and media information together. Mediachain provides an open source peer-to-peer database and protocol for registering, identifying and tracking works on the Internet. In simple terms, Mediachain lets creators associate their identities with their work.
A few days ago, Mediachain has been acquired by Spotify, the details of which have not been disclosed. What Spotify is optimistic about is that Mediachain can use blockchain technology to ensure that creators and copyright owners can get corresponding returns.
South Korea's largest e-commerce company TMON Recently, it received a venture capital investment of 115 million US dollars. In this financing, Simone Investment Managers is the latest investor in TMON, with an investment of 44 million US dollars. The main purpose of this financing is to enhance the competitiveness of TMON's independent operation, and TMON has also begun to consciously cut into the online supermarket business in the near future.
TMON was founded in 2010 and was acquired by American group-buying giant Living Social for US$350 million in 2011. In 2013, TMON was sold to Groupon. Last year, TMON announced that it would start independent operations from Groupon.
Online education start-up Everfi has completed a $190 million Series D financing led by TGP Growth and The Rise Fund. The two funds invested a total of $150 million, and the remaining $40 million was funded by Main Street Advisors, Advance Publications and early investor Jeff Courtesy Bezos, Eric Schmidt, Ev Williams, Allen & Company.
The company is dedicated to teaching students online life skills and knowledge that cannot be learned in school. For example, the "harassment prevention training" course was launched, the "alcohol" course for college students and the "understanding of money" course for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students, etc.
speech today
Hawking clearly mentioned through a video at GMIC today that there is no essential difference between the human brain and the computer brain. The fact that the computer brain has a soul is completely a fictional fairy tale made by humans.
At the same time, creating intelligence can bring huge potential benefits to humans: "I am optimistic in my heart that maybe with the help of this new technological revolution tool, we will be able to reduce the damage caused by industrialization to the natural world."
However, no matter how great artificial intelligence is, it must abide by one rule: work according to human will.
Many people are worried about the "potential risks of artificial intelligence system time and space" similar to "Western World". Although Hawking did not explain the specific solution, he emphasized that we must find "tools to control risks."
However, in the end, Hawking changed the subject and issued a stern warning to scientists and even the entire human race: "Artificial intelligence may also be the end of the history of human civilization, unless we learn how to avoid danger."
At the 2017 GMIC conference, Kai-fu Lee expressed his views on "Scientists Entrepreneurship in the Era of Artificial Intelligence". Kai-fu Lee believes that four core topics should be paid attention to at present: artificial intelligence will create huge wealth, what should we do in the future? How to prevent giants with big data from using artificial intelligence to do evil. What about people whose jobs are replaced by artificial intelligence? How can scientists help more people through entrepreneurship in the era of artificial intelligence?
Regarding how scientists should participate, Kai-Fu Lee put forward four suggestions: First, roll up your sleeves and do it yourself, like Edison. The second is to find a business partner to do it together. The third is to license the technology out. The fourth is to continuously use science to accelerate innovation and development through open source and other means.
Zhao Ming, President of Huawei Honor: Blindly chasing the trend will lose the essence of business
At the 2017 GMIC conference, Zhao Ming, President of Huawei Honor, said that the mobile phone industry has been chasing the wind too much in the past few years, but since the wind stopped in 2016, the competition among smartphones has gradually returned to the essence of business. He believes that "the long-term view should be taken into account", and it takes a longer time and a larger space to look at the entire market.
He also predicted that Internet mobile phones will usher in a new inflection point in 2017. Some brands are exhausted and have no way to innovate. Industrial design, but the advantages of the Internet, such as light assets, fast communication, and easy purchase, still exist.
Mia CEO Liu Nan: "Consumption downgrade" in the retail market will become the mainstream trend
Liu Nan, the founder of Miya, an e-commerce company for mothers and babies, made a statement at a recent sharing session at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, saying that in some specific areas, consumption is not upgrading, but "downgrading". "Consumption downgrading is not the opposite of consumption upgrading, but downgrading after consumption upgrading reaches a certain level, because we have higher requirements for prices." Liu Nan said that downgrading does not refer to the quality of goods and services, but refers to the price. rationality. This is a stage of returning to consumer rationality, and more and more start-up companies that focus on parity and quality will emerge.
Ye Ye 