Belkin buyout + more news

2 minutes estimated reading time

The Curious Case of the Belkin Buy – Om Malik – not really so curious. It makes sense for Belkin and Foxconn. Belkin and Foxconn can use the advantages that they have in terms of production and understanding of Apple products to get ahead. Having a recognisable brand in Belkin that gives Foxconn better margin in the home. More related content here

China gives preliminary green light for two largest shipbuilders to merge | SCMP – makes sense given the current over supply of ships and bankruptcy of ship owners like Hanjin in Korea

Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo — And Warned That Facebook Could Get People Killed – The best products don’t win. The ones everyone use win – unsurprisingly the guy who wrote the memo was an ex-Microsoft executive who had been there during Gates and Ballmer

Telenor sells off Eastern European assets to refocus on Asia | total telecom – interesting move, they seem to think that the belt and road initiative won’t benefit them as it moves through Eastern and Central Europe. Disclosure, I worked on Telenor Myanmar.

Standard Chartered joins TBWA in crowdsourcing platform launch | Advertising | Campaign Asia – Only really works if there are producers looking to enter an industry that is worthwhile getting into

Facebook locks out third-party data providers | Digital | Campaign Asia – GDPR related and the official notice: Shutting Down Partner Categories | Facebook Newsroom

‘Print is dead’ – then why do even the tech giants use it for their apology ads? | The Drum

Teenagers Say JUUL Is A Discreet Way To Vape In Class : Shots – Health News : NPR – great if unintentional brand building

Trump hates Amazon, not Facebook – Axios – and I can understand why

Clark gives Melrose extra firepower in battle for GKN | Business | The Times  – Oddly, almost as important a deal — the £24 billion takeover of Arm Holdings by Softbank, of Japan — slipped through the net. Hatched in the chaotic days after the Brexit referendum, ministers hailed the deal as a triumph of Britain still being open for business, when for the technology community it was one of its greatest setbacks.

Take a look at these two versions of a Guardian article: The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked | Technology | The Guardian and The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked | Technology | The Guardian. Which makes me wonder about the veracity of the journalism. Why the edits? Was it that it couldn’t be verified, didn’t fit the story the Guardian wanted to portray or something else? More questions than answers.