Technology News

Thailand in April is not a mild inconvenience. It’s a full-contact sport. 40°C heat with 80% humidity makes outdoor movement between air-conditioned spaces feel like a tactical operation. So when Sony reached out about their third-generation Reon Pocket Pro Plus, my initial skepticism gave way to genuine curiosity. I’ve spent three weeks wearing it. The verdict: it’s the first wearable climate device that actually delivers on its promise. What Is the Reon Pocket Pro Plus? It’s a neck-worn thermoelectric device that uses the Peltier effect to cool or warm your body. The previous generation worked, but barely — about 3-4°C of cooling that dissipated within minutes of stepping outside. ...

In May 2026, Haier officially opened its first Thailand manufacturing facility — a full air conditioner factory with 500,000 unit annual capacity on 100 rai of land at WHA Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate 3 in Chonburi. The investment: 10 billion baht (~$285 million). The message: Thailand is becoming Southeast Asia’s manufacturing headquarters for Chinese industrial champions. Why Thailand? Thailand’s AC market maturity: Thailand is one of the top 5 AC markets in ASEAN by volume. It’s a stress-test market — if your AC works in Thai conditions, it works anywhere. ...

In the first quarter of 2026, something historic happened: BYD sold more electric vehicles than Tesla for the first time ever. BYD moved 415,000 EVs in Q1 2026 versus Tesla’s 387,000. The gap widened further in Q2. Tesla’s weakness isn’t innovation. It’s economics. While Elon Musk’s company prices premium, BYD undercuts aggressively with cars like the Seagull (priced at $10,000 in China) and the Atto 3 ($20,000). The BYD Seal (roughly $25,000) regularly beats Tesla Model 3 in range, charging speed, and interior quality in independent tests. The Dolphin mini-EV has waiting lists stretching months in Southeast Asia. ...

In January 2025, Amazon Web Services quietly opened its AWS Asia-Pacific (Thailand) Region. By 2026, the full scale of Amazon’s commitment to Southeast Asia had become clear: over US$33 billion in planned infrastructure investment, spread across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. The Thailand region specifically allows organizations to store data locally — a critical requirement for financial institutions, government agencies, and healthcare providers that were previously forced to route traffic through Singapore. ...

In the first quarter of 2026, companies named AI as the top reason for layoffs for the second consecutive month — not because AI actually replaced those jobs, but because saying “we’re restructuring due to AI” sounds more defensible than “we’re cutting costs to impress investors.” This is AI washing in its most naked form. The most common forms: Rebranding existing automation as “AI” — A chatbot that’s a rules-based decision tree with if/else branches is not AI. A recommendation engine that’s collaborative filtering from 2005 is not AI. But in 2026, calling these things “AI-powered” is still completely legal in most jurisdictions. ...