Enterprise

China blacklists the Houston Rockets because of a tweet

Chinese companies have canceled support

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Image source: Keith Allison

As we know now, a tweet can cause utter chaos in the real world. It’s far easier to take a short tweet out of context than a long-form piece. You should always be careful with what you tweet. That said, the world’s biggest basketball organization just caused a Twitter boo-boo.

More specifically, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey recently tweeted a pro-Hong Kong tweet on his personal account. The tweet contained an image and the statement “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Hong Kong’s current pro-democracy protests are a focal point for international personalities. Morey’s support adds to the millions already supporting the country’s predicament.

Unfortunately, Morey’s tweet immediately sparked a wave of hatred especially from the Chinese Twitter population. Many accounts called for his firing. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta posted a reply, saying Morey’s opinions are his own and not the Rocket’s as an organization. Instead of calming the seas, Fertitta’s tweet added fuel to the fire. Twitter was divided between people calling for Morey’s firing and people criticizing Fertitta for silencing Morey’s opinion.

Morey has since deleted the tweet and issued an apology tweet, further hammering the disclaimer that his opinions are not representative of the entire NBA. The damage, however, has already been done. China is angry.

Yao Ming, one of the team’s most popular players in history, has revoked support for the team. Yao is currently the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, which previously worked with the Rockets.

Additionally, Tencent Sports, China’s biggest streaming provider for the NBA in the country, has suspended its new five-year deal specifically for the Houston Rockets. As such, the service will not stream games featuring the Houston Rockets. A Chinese sports apparel brand, Li-Ning, has also canceled partnerships with the team and its players.

Currently, there is no plan to punish Morey. During Morey’s tenure as general manager, the Houston Rockets has enjoyed considerable postseason success in the NBA, headlined by superstar guard James Harden.

SEE ALSO: NBA 2K20 Review: A Worrisome Upgrade

Enterprise

AGIBOT just topped the medal table at the World Humanoid Robot Games

The robots that did it are already clocking in at real factories.

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AGIBOT entered its first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on August 26 and walked away with a dominant victory.

The company claimed 18 gold, 16 silver, and 12 bronze medals, securing 46 total podium finishes and topping both the gold and overall medal standings.

Designed to stress-test humanoid machines in sports, fine manipulation, and real-world duties, the Games evaluated robots across events ranging from martial arts to hotel service and emergency response.

AGIBOT swept through these categories, earning top spots in motion control, obstacle racing, and daily practical tasks.

The true triumph lies in what remained unchanged on competition day. AGIBOT fielded its standard production lineup, including the OmniHand, G2, A3, and X2.

None of these units were custom-built to win medals, as every machine came straight from active commercial deployments.

Precision and agility straight off the assembly line

The OmniHand reached the finals in all eight dexterous manipulation events and brought home seven gold medals.

It aced delicate challenges like Block Building, Powder Weighing, and Bean Picking with Tweezers, proving that fine motor control matters just as much as raw power.

In motion control, the AGIBOT X2 captured gold in the 100m obstacle race while adding silver and bronze in the 400m sprint.

Meanwhile, the AGIBOT A3 secured gold in Tai Chi. The X2 competed in its standard commercial configuration without any hardware modifications.

Powering the X2 is AGIBOT’s proprietary AGILE framework, short for AgiBot Generative Intelligent Locomotion Engine.

This system blends real-time environmental perception with autonomous decision-making to navigate sudden obstacles and changing terrain.

By combining precise parameter identification with seamless simulation-to-reality transfer, the framework maintains rock-solid stability when transitioning from code to physical ground.

Proven intelligence on actual factory floors

AGIBOT earned five golds in real-world scenarios, dominating tasks across library operations, hotel services, and emergency response.

The G2 robot behind these wins is the exact same model currently operating on factory floors for manufacturers like Longcheer and SAIC.

Its operational intelligence stems from AGIBOT’s ViLLA embodied foundation model GO, the world model GE, and its RW-RL system. These combined technologies sharpen perception and planning inside unpredictable work environments.

While the 46-medal tally commands headlines, the deeper story is that mass-produced robots won without special modifications.

AGIBOT proves that general-purpose intelligence paired with commercial hardware can adapt across varied scenarios. Embodied AI is finally stepping out of isolated lab demos and into consistent, repeatable work where it matters most.

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Enterprise

Cebu Pacific becomes 1st SEA low-cost carrier with Starlink Wi-Fi

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

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Cebu Pacific has introduced Starlink, making it the first low-cost airline in Southeast Asia to bring Wi-Fi in the sky for passengers.

The rollout is expected to begin in 2027. Starlink delivers an unparalleled broadband experience inflight, with high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi capable of HD streaming, online gaming, productivity and more.

Beyond enhancing the passenger experience, Starlink will also support improved operational connectivity for Cebu Pacific’s flight crews and operational teams. This enables better operational efficiency.

The collaboration is a significant milestone for Philippine aviation. The rollout forms part of Cebu Pacific’s continued investment in customer experience and digital innovation.

As part of the partnership, Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners portfolio airlines, Wizz Air, and JetSMART expect to install Starlink on over 1,000 aircraft.

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Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

The EU alleges that Google uses its apps to establish an unfair dominance.

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European fines have unintentionally become a normal part of doing business in the American technology space. For too long have American companies paid paltry fines to prevent harsher regulation in the European Union. Now, for the first time, Google is about to pay a record-breaking fine that goes beyond “paltry.”

Today, via CNBC, Google has been ordered to pay an astonishing EUR 4.1 billion (or approximately US$ 4.67 billion) in fines. The fine is in response to an anti-competition case.

This has been a long time coming for Google. The original case started in 2018. At the time, the European Union accused the brand of using anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the smartphone market. According to the courts, the company’s bundling of first-party apps for every Android smartphone gives them an unfair advantage in the market and lessens the user’s choice in selecting apps.

For years, Google has fought the fine to seemingly no avail. Now, the company has lost its final attempt, which means that the fine still stands. On the bright side, they did get it reduced from the original EUR 4.34 billion fine.

The European Union is the scourge of every American tech company (and a godsend to consumers). Most notably, the continent’s government forced Apple to adopt USB-C, leading to a more universal experience across brands.

Google’s hefty fine aims to do the same. And it is quite hefty. Whereas previous fines were in the millions (and hence, negligible for most companies), a fine in the billions is more tangible.

SEE ALSO: Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

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