Grab allows image sharing and Tesla gets sued | Digital Asia

Grab lets users take photos of location to help reduce cancellations — [Press Release]

The Southeast Asian ride-hailing app, Grab, announced today it has upgraded its chat feature in Singapore to allow users to send photos. The idea behind this is to help drivers find passengers if the green location pin is not sufficient.

According to Grab, one-third of all bookings already use the chat feature and it has helped reduced “no show” cancellations by 40 per cent.

Currently, the service only allows passengers to share photos with drivers, but Grab is working on allowing the revers by the end of the year.

Tesla being sued for tweets, slow financial disclosure raises eyebrows — [Reuters]

The fallout from Elon Musk’s desire to take Tesla private continues. Today, two separate articles from Reuters pointed to legal and ethical questions about Musk’s decision to tweet his privatisation proposal.

First, two separate lawsuits accuse Musk of market manipulation and called the tweets a “nuclear attack” on short-sellers.

After Musk tweeted the privatisation plan, Tesla’s stock jumped 13 per cent in one day and is still 3 per cent ahead of where it was before the plan was announced.

The second article details how the tweets bypassed traditional corporate governance institutions.

A key reason is that Musk has not elaborated where the fundraising coming from and even his board has not seen a financing proposal.

For companies listed in the U.S., they must file a form called an 8-K at least four days ahead of a major corporate event. The article cites experts stating that the tweets themselves do not legally trigger this requirement, but that best practices suggest the 8-K should’ve come before the tweets.

Tencent pulls global gaming hit after content complaints — [The South China Morning Post]

Global internet giant Tencent has pulled Monster Hunter: World, an extremely popular mobile game, after the company received complaints about the content.

Tencent failed to elaborate on the complaints and the game’s premise — tracking and killing monsters — is not obviously problematic. The game was developed by Capcom and distributed in China by Tencent. In the US, it has received a “T” rating meaning it is suitable for people over the age of 13.

According to the article, China has not approved foreign game releases since March 28. Capcom is a Japanese company.

500 Startups invests in Base.vn, a business streamlining platform — [Tech News]

500 Startups, the international early-stage investment firm, announced today it has invested in Base.vn, a Vietnamese startup that wants to help enterprises streamline hiring, payroll, task management, team collaboration, and approval management.

VIISA, the local accelerator programme, and three unnamed angel investors also participated in the round.

Corporate clients for Base.vn include ACB Bank, ABBank, VIB Bank, MK Group and The Coffee House.

Photo-buddy platform SweetEscape raises US$1 million for Philippines expansion — [Tech News]

SweetEscape, a platform that allows travelers to book a freelance photographer for their trip, announced today it has raised US$1 million from East Ventures, Beenext, Skystar Capital, and GDP Venture.

The plan with the money is to finance their expansion into the Philippines. It will also invest in product development.

The platform also provides avenues for pre-wedding and family event photography.

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The post Today’s top tech news, August 13: Grab allows image sharing and Tesla gets sued appeared first on Tech News.