8点1氪丨“死了么”APP估值已达1000万元；霍启刚主动公开个人财产；iPhone 4需求激增近1000%
Today's Hot Topics Guide
- All 635 illegal buildings in the KK Park in Myanmar have been demolished.
- Memory sticks have outperformed the price of gold. Merchants claim that 100 memory sticks can buy a house in Shanghai.
- Elon Musk: The X platform will open - source its algorithm within seven days.
- OpenAI and SoftBank are investing $1 billion in their partner, SB Energy.
- For the first time globally, Indonesia has temporarily banned Elon Musk's AI chatbot.
TOP 3 Big News
The valuation of the "Are You Dead?" app has reached 10 million yuan, and the founder says the development cost was only over 1,000 yuan
Recently, an app called "Are You Dead?" in the Apple App Store has attracted attention, and the related topic has made it onto the Weibo hot search list. According to the introduction, this app is a lightweight safety tool designed for people living alone. Users need to set up emergency contacts and check in. If a user fails to check in within the app for several consecutive days, the system will automatically send an email to the emergency contact the next day.
According to Mr. Guo, one of the founders of the app, the project was initiated around mid - 2025, and the actual development time of the app was less than a month, with an initial investment cost of only "a little over 1,000 yuan". As the number of users has skyrocketed, so has the pressure on the servers. Mr. Guo said that the team is busy expanding the servers to handle the surging traffic, which all incurs costs. "I thought it might become popular, but I didn't expect it to be this popular," Mr. Guo described the app's sudden success. "The growth started in the past two days. The download volume has increased by more than 100 times compared to before, and it's still rising."
Regarding the valuation, Mr. Guo admitted that "everyone has a different understanding" at the early stage of the app's success. The plan is to sell 10% of the company's shares for 1 million yuan. Based on this calculation, the app's valuation has reached 10 million yuan. (Xinmin Evening News, Lanjing News)
Lawrence Fok Voluntarily Discloses Personal Assets, Multiple Properties Jointly Owned with Guo Jingjing after Marriage
The declarations of personal interests of the new - term Legislative Council members in Hong Kong have been released. The declaration forms of 90 members have been uploaded to the Legislative Council's official website. According to the details of the asset declarations, many members own properties in the Chinese mainland and overseas. Among them, Lawrence Fok, a re - elected Legislative Council member, declared the largest number of properties, with 35. Among these, 7 are for personal use and the remaining 28 are for rental. The relevant properties are located across Hong Kong, Macau, the Chinese mainland, France and the UK. There are 22 properties in Hong Kong, 4 in the Chinese mainland, and 7 in Macau (including 4 commercial units).
All 35 properties declared by Lawrence Fok this time are directly held by him personally, excluding family trust assets. Just this part of the publicly disclosed assets is already of considerable value. It is worth mentioning that many of the publicly - announced properties are jointly owned by Lawrence Fok and Guo Jingjing after their marriage. (Nanfang Daily)
The 15-year-old iPhone 4 suddenly became a hit, with demand surging by nearly 1000%
According to GadgetHacks, a 15-year-old iPhone model suddenly became extremely popular thanks to TikTok, triggering a buying frenzy. Experts from Compare and Recycle pointed out that the demand for the iPhone 4 has soared by nearly 1000%, and there are over 347,000 posts related to the "digicam" tag on TikTok.
As for the reason, users who are fond of the iPhone 4 believe that although the 5MP camera of this phone is technically inferior to the 48MP camera of the latest iPhone 17, it is favored for the unique graininess and atmosphere of its photos. The team also warned that "there are potential digital security risks with the iPhone 4 that users may not expect. This is because the latest iOS version that the iPhone 4 can support is iOS 7.1.2, a version released in 2014 that has not been updated or had security fixes for over a decade." (Phoenix Tech)
Big Companies/Big Events
The prices of used Xiaomi cars have dropped significantly. The price of used SU7 Ultra cars has fallen by 150,000 yuan in half a year.
Recently, the market for used Xiaomi cars has seen a significant decline. The current national average price is 412,000 yuan. The prices of nearly new used cars have generally dropped by more than 100,000 yuan compared to the original price. The prices of some used cars with about 10,000 kilometers on the odometer have even dropped by more than 150,000 yuan.
A car dealer told reporters that a Xiaomi SU7 previously purchased for 240,000 yuan is now difficult to find a buyer even if sold at a loss of 20,000 yuan. Currently, car dealers will only consider taking in a car if its condition is normal and the price is significantly lower than the market rate. When evaluating the purchase price, multiple factors such as the vehicle's condition, market supply and demand, and brand reputation need to be comprehensively considered. In particular, room must be reserved for possible future price cuts. "The market is changing too fast now. The price seems to change almost every day. No one dares to hold onto cars for a long time," the car dealer added. The industry generally predicts that the average price of used Xiaomi SU7 cars may drop by about 20,000 yuan in the next few months. (Lanjinger News)
Memory modules outperform the gold price. Merchants claim that 100 memory modules can buy a house in Shanghai
If gold is a traditional safe - haven asset, then in the global market from the second half of 2025 to the beginning of 2026, it was those unassuming memory modules that significantly outperformed the gold price. Reporters visited several computer cities in Shanghai. Industry insiders told reporters that these are server memory modules generally required by data centers or computing power centers. Indeed, with 100 of them now, one can buy a house in Shanghai. The price increase in the past year has been astonishing.
This round of price hikes started last year, and in the second half of the year, the increase accelerated rapidly. Many industry insiders told reporters that the memory industry is a highly cyclical one. After the "bull market" in 2018, major manufacturers began to cut production. It wasn't until last year, when the demand for AI computing power and data centers exploded, that the situation of supply falling short of demand began to intensify. Institutions generally predict that in the first half of this year, the prices of memory products, including memory modules, will continue to rise. Currently, both domestic and foreign enterprises are actively expanding production to make up for the production capacity gap. (Knews)
Lei Jun: Tesla is indeed powerful, but not invincible
36Kr learned that on January 10th, Lei Jun posted a message saying, "Looking at the sales ranking list on Bitauto: Tesla is indeed powerful, but not invincible! I'm proud that the SU7 is the only same - class pure - electric sedan that has defeated the Model 3 so far! Only with excellent product strength and quality can we achieve such sales. The Xiaomi YU7 has only been on the market for 6 months, and there is a gap in sales compared to the Model Y. I believe that given time, the YU7 will also be able to compete!"
Elon Musk: X to Open-Source Its Algorithm in Seven Days
Elon Musk, the founder of social media platform X, said on Saturday that the platform will open-source its new algorithm to the public within seven days. This algorithm includes the code used to determine which posts and advertisements to recommend to users. "This initiative will be carried out every four weeks, along with detailed developer documentation to help everyone understand the specific updates of the algorithm," Musk, the owner of X, said in a post on the platform. (Sina Finance)
Off-Island Tax-Free Shopping in Hainan Exceeds 1.2 Billion Yuan in the First Week of This Year
During the first week of the new year, Hainan's off-island tax-free market got off to a flying start. Data released by Haikou Customs on January 9 showed that from January 1 to 7, the total amount of off-island tax-free shopping in the province reached 1.21 billion yuan, with 824,000 items sold to 149,000 person-times, representing year-on-year increases of 88%, 30.3% and 38.3% respectively. (Hainan Release)
MiniMax: The over - allotment option was fully exercised on January 9th
36Kr learned that MiniMax announced that the overall coordinators (on their own behalf and on behalf of the international underwriters) fully exercised the over - allotment option described in the prospectus on Friday, January 9, 2026, involving a total of 4,379,640 offer shares, accounting for 15% of the total number of offer shares available for subscription in the global offering (after taking into account the full exercise of the offer size adjustment option but before the exercise of any over - allotment option). The over - allotted shares will be issued and allotted by the Company at a price of HK$165.00 per offer share.
One Month After Australia's Social Media Ban Took Effect, Meta Closed 550,000 Accounts
On January 12th, Meta announced that as of December 11th, 2025, it had restricted access to nearly 550,000 accounts of suspected users under the age of 16. Meta stated that continuously complying with the law would be a multi - layered process, and it would continuously improve this process, although the company still had concerns about determining age online in the absence of industry standards. (Jiemian News)
Investment banks analyze the reasons for the significant fluctuations in gold and silver prices. Many institutions expect that precious metals still have room for growth this year.
Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs pointed out that it is expected that compared with gold trading, silver trading will continue to face high volatility and uncertainty.
Based on the analyses of multiple financial institutions, there are two factors that have intensified the downward pressure on precious metal prices recently. First, the Bloomberg Commodity Index has launched its annual rebalancing adjustment, and the weight of precious metals has been significantly reduced. Analysts said that it is expected that this rebalancing adjustment will trigger passive position - cutting by index - tracking funds, putting gold and silver under pressure from profit - taking. Second, the CME Group has once again raised the performance margins for precious metal futures such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium after the market on Friday. This is the third time that the CME Group has raised the margins for precious metal futures in the past month. (CCTV Finance)
Reports: Geely is considering entering the US market, and brands like Zeekr and Lynk & Co may be the top choices
According to foreign media reports, Geely Holding is considering expanding into the US market, and brands like Zeekr and Lynk & Co may be the top choices. As of the time of publication, Geely Holding has not yet commented on this news. The report said that Ash Sutcliffe, the global communications director of Geely Holding, said in an interview with foreign media at CES that the company is likely to announce its expansion plan in the US within the next 24 to 36 months, and brands like Zeekr and Lynk & Co may be well - suited to the US market. (Sina Tech)
India Plans to Require Smartphone Makers to Share Source Code with Government, Opposed by Apple, Samsung, etc.
India plans to introduce a number of security measures, requiring smartphone manufacturers to share source code with the government and make multiple modifications to software. This move has sparked private opposition from technology giants such as Apple and Samsung. According to four people familiar with the matter and a review of government and industry confidential documents, the above - mentioned measures include 83 security standards, which also require companies to report to the government when pushing major software updates. These technology companies have countered that there is no precedent for this set of security standards globally and there is a risk of leaking the companies' proprietary information. (Caixin Press)
Musk Reveals Tesla Has About 150,000 Employees, Fewer Than 3,000 on H-1B Visas
A netizen shared a chart showing the number of employees on H-1B visas hired by US technology companies, indicating that Tesla has hired 2,908 such employees, and urged Musk to reduce the number of H-1B visa holders at Tesla. Musk responded, "We're not doing this to save money. Instead, we're hiring outstanding talents with professional skills to join our team, and at a high cost. Moreover, we have 150,000 employees, so this is just a few percent." (Sina Finance)
Going Public in Progress
Xianle Health
Xianle Health announced on January 11 that the company held the 17th meeting of the 4th Board of Directors on January 8, 2026, and deliberated and approved relevant proposals regarding the plan to issue H-shares and list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This move aims to deepen the global strategic layout, leverage the advantages of the international capital market, enhance the company's capital strength and comprehensive competitiveness, accelerate the development of overseas business, improve the domestic and international dual - cycle pattern, and consolidate its industry position. Currently, the company is in discussions with relevant intermediary institutions regarding the issuance and listing matters, and the specific details have not been finally determined. (Jiemian News)
The Forefront of AI
OpenAI and SoftBank Invest $1 Billion in Partner SB Energy
OpenAI and SoftBank Group have jointly invested $1 billion in infrastructure company SB Energy. The energy company is collaborating with the two technology firms to build large-scale AI data centers in the United States. In a statement released on Friday, the two parties said that OpenAI and SoftBank will each invest $500 million in SB Energy to help the energy enterprise expand its data center development and operation business. OpenAI also announced that it has selected SB Energy to build and operate a data center with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts in Milam County, Texas. One gigawatt of electricity is sufficient to meet the real-time electricity needs of about 750,000 American households. The valuation of the company in this investment was not disclosed to the public. (Sina Finance)
Indonesia Temporarily Bans Elon Musk's AI Chatbot for the First Time Globally
On January 10 local time, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Indonesia stated that the country has temporarily banned the chatbot "Grok" of xAI, an artificial intelligence company owned by American entrepreneur Elon Musk, due to concerns that artificial intelligence could generate pornographic content. Indonesia has become the first country to deny access to this AI tool. (CCTV News)
UK Government Warns AI Firm Under Musk: Banned if Law is Broken
The UK government said on the 9th that the response plan taken by xAI, an artificial intelligence company under US entrepreneur Elon Musk, after being accused of its chatbot generating pornographic content is "unacceptable", and warned that if it refuses to comply with UK laws, its services will be blocked in the UK.
Liz Kendall, the UK's Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, issued a statement on the same day, saying that the act of xAI's chatbot "Grok" continuing to generate "deepfake" pornographic content even after users pay is "insulting" and "completely unacceptable." (Xinhua News Agency)
Compiled | He Yuting