What is work worth when thought is metered?

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries have an awkward reputation among recyclers: they are everywhere, and they are worth very little once they die. Unlike the nickel- and cobalt-rich chemistries that recyclers have chased for a decade, a spent LFP cell offers no precious-metal jackpot. It holds lithium, iron and phosphate, and two of those are […] The post NEU Battery Materials bags US$7.6M to mine lithium from the world’s least-loved battery appeared first on e27.

“Social impact” is one of the most overused phrases in a Southeast Asian pitch deck. Founders apply the label to themselves, and in a funding winter it gets stretched to cover almost anything with a farmer, a recycling bin or an “underserved” customer in the slide. So we went looking for startups that do more […] The post Social impact is easy to pitch and hard to prove: 17 SEA startups taking the harder route appeared first on e27.

The most important change in US-China trade this year is not another tariff headline. It is the emergence of a more managed, transactional relationship between the world’s two largest economies. President Donald Trump’s May state visit to Beijing produced exactly that kind of arrangement. Washington and Beijing established new Boards of Trade and Investment, China […] The post US-China trade is entering an era of managed rivalry. Southeast Asian businesses should prepare for it appeared first on e27.

A company can have hundreds of employees using ChatGPT, Copilot, or other AI tools every day, and still not be an AI-ready organisation. This may sound contradictory, but it is becoming increasingly common. Employees are experimenting with AI. Teams are building copilots. Companies are running pilots. Some are even putting AI into production. Yet ask […] The post Everyone is talking about AI adoption. But are enterprises actually ready for it? appeared first on e27.

Generative AI has made video creation remarkably fast. A scene that once required a camera crew, actors, locations and hours of post-production can now begin with a prompt and an idea. But after working with AI-generated cinematic videos, I have learned that generating a video quickly and producing a video that is actually usable are […] The post AI can generate a video in minutes. Making it usable is the hard part appeared first on e27.

China Mobile, one of the country’s state-backed telecoms giants, has tripled the capacity of its largest intelligent computing hub in northern Inner Mongolia, amid Beijing’s push to boost digital infrastructure to power the country’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The expansion of its data centre in Hohhot was recently completed, with total processing capacity increased to 20,100 petaflops, according to a report by Inner Mongolia Daily on Monday. That was triple its previous capacity of...

Sometimes, last-minute in-store shopping might be your best option.

Tech trillionaire Elon Musk gave $276 million to several Republican super PACs and organizations over the past three months, as the GOP faces headwinds ahead of the midterm elections. This brings the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s total contributions so far to $366 million. A spokesperson for Musk’s America PAC confirmed the numbers to The Hill,...

The war on terror taught the U.S. to fight individual terrorists, which left the military behind rival nations on the tech front, experts say.

Microsoft President Brad Smith says AI has fewer safety requirements than milk and washing machines, arguing in a BBC interview released Sunday that self-regulation is not "sufficient any longer." Smith acknowledged that the idea of government evaluators signing off on a product before its release "makes people nervous," particularly in the U.S. "But just remember,...

Most Americans regardless of party oppose betting on election results through prediction markets such as Kalshi or Polymarket, according to a new survey. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Monday, found that 60 percent of respondents did not support betting on election results, as the midterm elections near. Another 13 percent said they support betting, while 24...