Tencent investment in Reddit sparks censorship worry

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Reddit confirmed Monday a new funding round that included a $150 million investment by Chinese technology behemoth Tencent, prompting concerns that “the front page of the internet” might wind up censored.

San Francisco-based Reddit raised a total of $300 million at a $3 billion valuation, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Sequoia and Tencent, the company’s CEO told CNBC.

The TechCrunch website reported about the funding round last week, but that information was unconfirmed until now.


Reddit said it planned to use the money for international expansion and to enhance its digital ad platform to better compete in a market where Facebook and Google currently take in most of the revenue.

“We are the only company at our scale that is still a private company, so we have had a lot of investor attention in the last year,” Reddit chief executive Steve Huffman told CNBC.

News of Tencent buying into the popular social news website, which is banned in China, prompted concerns by some users that the platform could be vulnerable to the kind of online censorship that takes place in that country.

Reddit users protested, some posting pictures known to be banned in China, such as cartoon character “Winnie the Pooh.”


A “Pooh” picture voted to near the top of the Reddit home page bore the caption: “Since Reddit took a $150 million investment from Chinese Censorship company Tencent, please welcome our leader President Xi.”

Images of the storybook bear were reportedly banned online in China after bloggers used them to represent President Xi Jinping in posts.

Reddit was co-founded by Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis superstar Serena Williams. Reddit is ranked among the most visited US websites, and has more than 138,000 “communities” for discussions on various topics.

The site boasts that, on average, more than 330 million people use it each month, contending that half of those users range in age from 18 to 24 years old.


Reddit is also known for ask-me-anything (AMA) sessions with well-known people such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former US president Barack Obama.

Tencent has invested in a broad array of companies, including Tesla, Snapchat-parent Snap and Epic Games — the maker of popular video game “Fortnite.” /ee

source: technology.inquirer.net

Pokémon Go offers small-business opportunities

While drivers offer their service to drive budding pokémon trainers around for a hefty sum, small shop owners could also get a slice of the Pokémon Go craze.

An article in Business Insider offers a few suggestions for taking advantage of how the game is played.

The game generally picks out local landmarks around the player and turns them into either Pokéstops or Pokémon Gyms. These could be historical landmarks, tourist spots, houses, churches and even establishments. Shop owners can take advantage of this by setting down pokémon lures and watch the pokémon hunters trickle in.

One pizzeria owner commented on Reddit threads that putting down a lure has given his business a boost with the influx of adults and children walking in to look for pokémon. The adults ended up buying a slice of pizza and a drink until the pokémon lure ran out.

If near a Pokémon Gym, establishments could do giveaways of custom Gym badges, keep score of who’s currently in control, and take to social media to publicize updates on the Gym’s current status.

Finally, entrepreneurs could simply follow where the pokémon roams, in this case places near Pokéstops and plant a lure. One could open up a small refreshment stall, sell some trinkets, and whatever else business-minded folk can think of provided it’s legal and the proper paperwork has been done.

Pokémon Go is taking the world by storm and there is little sign of it dying down any time soon. Whether entrepreneurs can capitalize on this or not is entirely up to what their business instincts tell them.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

Drone does the walking for this Pokémon Go player

While everyone is running around chasing after virtual pokémon on their smartphones, one prospective pokémon trainer thought of strapping his smartphone to a drone and let it do the leg work for him.

According to a report on The Verge, reddit user hyperion995 used a DJI Phantom drone while mirroring his smartphone’s screen on a laptop using a program called AirDroid. This program allows users to remotely access their android device from a paired Windows or Mac computer system.

While many would consider this as outright cheating, it is an undeniably clever solution to a common dilemma. The Pokémon Go app generally does not count the distance traveled when riding vehicles toward the hatching of a pokémon egg in an incubator.

The drone, however, can fly slowly enough to simulate the speed of walking, thereby tricking the app. Team Rocket would be so proud of this man.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net