At 8:00, here are the latest news: WeChat has a new feature that allows users to "ignore" voice/video calls; Many universities have urgently banned AI lobsters; The top - end Apple foldable screen device may cost over 20,000 yuan.
Today's Hotspot Guide
Tencent responds to the "plagiarism" accusation from Peter, the father of OpenClaw: Hopes for continued support for the ecosystem
There are over 240 million flexible employees in China, and policies to support their participation in employee insurance will be introduced
Apple responds to people using the "14-day no-questions-asked return" policy to replace screens and make a profit from the price difference
It's reported that Yu Bowen of Qianwen has joined ByteDance, and ByteDance has not responded yet
Since the beginning of this year, many non-bank payment institutions have adjusted their senior management teams
Honda announces the cancellation of the R & D of three pure electric vehicle models in North America
Top 3 Big News
WeChat Launches Three New Features: Ability to "Ignore" Voice/Video Calls
On March 12th, according to the official news from "WeChat Moments", the latest version of WeChat has several detailed updates in terms of voice and video. Now, you can click "Ignore" for voice/video calls, and voice-to-text supports "simultaneous interpretation".
Specifically, if you have a WeChat voice/video call that you don't want to answer for the moment, just click "Ignore". After clicking, the pop-up window will disappear, and the other party won't receive a "Rejected" message. They may think you "really didn't see it". (Daxiang News)
Multiple universities urgently ban AI Lobster due to high - risk security vulnerabilities
Recently, it was reported that the open - source AI agent OpenClaw (commonly known as "Lobster") has high - risk security vulnerabilities. Many universities, such as Zhuhai College of Science and Technology, Anhui Normal University, and Jiangsu Normal University, have successively issued urgent notices, clearly prohibiting the installation and operation of this software on campus office equipment and in the campus network environment. Those who violate the regulations will be seriously dealt with.
According to news from Huanqiu.com, the Network Security Threat and Vulnerability Information Sharing Platform of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has detected that the open - source AI agent OpenClaw (commonly known as "Lobster") has relatively high security risks under default or improper configuration, which may easily lead to problems such as cyberattacks and information leakage. Many universities in Wuhan, including Central China Normal University, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Jianghan University, and Wuhan Communications Institute, have issued risk warnings, calling on teachers and students to use "Lobster" with caution. (Caixin)
The top - end version of iPhone Fold may cost over 20,000 yuan, becoming Apple's most expensive product
Apple's first foldable phone, iPhone Fold, is expected to be released together with the iPhone 18 Pro series in September this year and will become Apple's most expensive product. The starting price of the Chinese version is expected to be between 14,000 and 15,000 yuan, and the top - end version may exceed 20,000 yuan, higher than the current most expensive iPhone 17 Pro Max (starting at 17,999 yuan).
iPhone Fold has made significant breakthroughs in foldable screen technology: The inner screen is supplied by Samsung, but Apple leads the R & D. It collaborates with Nippon Mektron and Amphenol to develop bearings to solve the problem of screen creases. The outer screen features a punch - hole front - facing camera. Due to the extremely thin body, Face ID is cancelled, and a power button integrated fingerprint sensor is used instead. After the screen is unfolded, it adopts a 4:3 widescreen ratio and runs the native iOS system instead of iPadOS. (Jiemian News)
Big Companies/Big Events
Tencent Responds to "Plagiarism" Accusation from OpenClaw's Father Peter: Hopes to Continue Supporting the Ecosystem
Recently, Tencent's SkillHub was officially launched. Some market voices claim that Tencent is scraping skills from Clawhub and importing them into this platform. Peter Steinberger, a well - known Austrian programmer and the founder of OpenClaw, commented on a social platform that he had received an email in which someone complained that his rate limit prevented them from quickly scraping data. "They plagiarize but don't support the project in any way."
A reporter confirmed from relevant Tencent Cloud personnel that Tencent has replied under that tweet, stating that SkillHub is just a local mirror site for Chinese users and marks ClawHub as the original source. Meanwhile, in the first week of its launch, Tencent distributed 180GB (870,000 downloads) to users, but only pulled about 1GB from the official source, which actually helped the official relieve the traffic. Moreover, the team members themselves are also contributors to the project code and PR, and they hope to continue supporting the ecosystem. (21st Century Business Herald)
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued "Six Dos and Six Don'ts" for using Lobster
In response to the security risks of the OpenClaw ("Lobster") open - source intelligent agent in scenarios such as intelligent office, development and operation, personal assistant, and financial transactions, the Network Security Threat and Vulnerability Information Sharing Platform of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology put forward the "Six Dos and Six Don'ts" suggestions.
The main risks include supply - chain attacks, intranet penetration, sensitive information leakage, account hijacking, incorrect transactions, etc. The countermeasures involve deployment in independent network segments, minimizing permissions, manual review, encrypted storage, etc. Suggestions for safe use: 1. Use the latest official version and do not use third - party images or historical versions; 2. Strictly control the Internet exposure surface and do not expose instances to the Internet; 3. Adhere to the principle of least privilege and do not use administrator - privilege accounts; 4. Use the skill market with caution and do not use suspicious skill packages; 5. Guard against social engineering attacks and do not browse unknown websites or click on unfamiliar links; 6. Establish a long - term protection mechanism and do not disable detailed log auditing. It is recommended to pay timely attention to vulnerability warnings and combine with security tools for protection. (Xinhua News Agency)
The three major US stock indexes closed down collectively, with Tesla falling more than 3%
36Kr learned that at the close on March 12, the three major US stock indexes fell collectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.56%, the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.78%, and the S&P 500 Index decreased 1.52%. Most large technology stocks fell. Arm dropped more than 4%, Tesla fell more than 3%, Meta declined more than 2%, and NVIDIA, Apple, Amazon, and Google dropped more than 1%. Netflix and Microsoft had slight declines. Most popular Chinese concept stocks fell. iQiyi dropped more than 4%, Bilibili and Li Auto fell more than 2%, and Alibaba, Pinduoduo, and Baidu dropped more than 1%. XPeng Motors rose more than 3%, and NIO rose more than 1%.
Over 240 million flexible workers in China, support policies for participating in employee insurance to be introduced
As of the end of 2024, the number of flexible workers in China has exceeded 240 million, among which 84 million are workers in new forms of employment. This year's Government Work Report clearly proposed to introduce policies to support this group in participating in employee insurance. Affected by the change in employment selection concepts and the tidal labor demand in the industry, the scale of flexible employment has continued to expand. However, the proportion of employees participating in insurance is relatively low, with the insurance participation rate being less than 40%. The problems of missing insurance and insurance interruption are prominent, becoming a short - board in social security.
At the basic social security level, the state is making up for the security gap from multiple aspects. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has proposed to support flexible workers in participating in employee endowment insurance, promote the expansion of the pilot project of occupational injury insurance to the whole country, and simultaneously expand the coverage of unemployment and work - related injury insurance. The pilot project of occupational injury insurance launched in 2022 adopts the model of charging by order and ensuring each order. As of the end of October 2025, it has covered 17 provinces and 11 pilot enterprises, with a cumulative of 23.25 million people participating in the insurance, strengthening the bottom - line of occupational safety for workers in new forms of employment.
The old - age security system is being improved at an accelerated pace, with personal pensions and commercial pensions complementing each other. The personal pension system was fully implemented in December 2024, but the existing EET tax incentive model is not very friendly to the low - and middle - income flexible employment group. The industry suggests adding the TEE model to lower the participation threshold. Commercial pensions are suitable for the income fluctuation characteristics of the flexible employment group due to their features of flexible payment, stable value - added, and convenient withdrawal. The relevant pilot projects are being steadily expanded to contribute to the construction of a multi - level old - age security system. (NBD)
Apple Responds to People Using "14-Day No-Reason Return" Policy to Replace Screens and Return Phones for Price Difference
Recently, some mobile phone sellers and digital bloggers reported that some lawbreakers bought iPhones at Apple's direct-sale stores, removed the original Apple screens, replaced them with cheaper third-party screens, and then returned the phones to Apple using the 14-day no-reason return policy. As a result, the phones with replaced screens have entered the market.
According to industry insiders' estimates, by doing such replacement and return, one can earn a price difference of 1,100 - 1,150 yuan per phone screen. They don't need to bear any cost of purchasing the phone and can also get an original high-end screen.
In response to this incident, on March 10, a reporter called Apple's official technical support. The other side responded that the return principle is indeed that customers can return the product if they are not satisfied within 14 days. However, all returned products need to go through the inspection in the warehouse. There should be no accidental damage. Disassembly, repair, and replacement of parts are all considered accidental damage. Only after the inspection shows no problems will the refund be issued within 3 - 5 working days. If the product has been disassembled or repaired, it can be detected. (Dahe Daily)
The Japanese yen is approaching its lowest level of the year, and strategists expect the threshold for official intervention to have risen
The Japanese yen is hovering near its lowest level of the year against the US dollar, and traders believe that the threshold for official intervention will be higher this time. (Sina Finance)
The subsidized price of Maotai on e-commerce platforms has dropped below 1,499 yuan. Liquor dealers say it's related to the off-season after the festival
As the wholesale price of Maotai has been continuously falling after the Spring Festival, the price of Maotai on e-commerce platforms has dropped again. The subsidized price of Maotai on Taobao and Pinduoduo is 1,449 yuan per bottle. Quotes from a third - party platform on March 12 showed that the wholesale price of the 2026 Feitian Maotai in original cases slightly rose to 1,585 yuan per bottle, but it has dropped by about 100 yuan compared to before the Spring Festival. Liquor dealers said that the decline in Maotai prices is mainly related to the off - season after the festival. There is also the factor that "i Maotai" stably supplies Maotai at 1,499 yuan, which affects the market price by regulating the supply - demand relationship. (Yicai Global)
Report: Yu Bowen of Qianwen Joins ByteDance, ByteDance Yet to Respond
According to media reports, Yu Bowen, the former post - training leader of the Qwen large - language model at Alibaba's Tongyi Lab, has officially joined ByteDance and serves as the post - training leader of the visual model and multimodal interaction team of the Seed team. This is the first clear indication of his career move since he left Alibaba in early March this year. When seeking verification of the above information from the official side, as of press time, ByteDance has not responded yet. (Sina Technology)
Google Discovers Serious iOS Vulnerabilities, Allowing Remote Invasion of iPhones and Theft of Sensitive Data
Google's Threat Intelligence Team recently disclosed an iOS vulnerability chain named "Coruna", which involves a total of 23 serious security vulnerabilities. Attackers can remotely invade iPhones and steal sensitive data on the devices simply by using a simple JavaScript string. It's worth noting that Apple fixed these specific security vulnerabilities in iOS 17 and subsequent versions as early as the end of 2023, but did not provide patches for older models that cannot upgrade the system.
According to Google's disclosure, the exploitation method of this vulnerability chain is extremely covert. Attackers integrate malicious code into the JavaScript framework. When users access an infected website through the Safari browser, the WebKit engine will automatically load the code, instantly completing the device invasion. Once the invasion is successful, attackers can obtain core private data such as bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets. (Kuaikeji)
A company in Hebei offers a monthly salary of 7,000 yuan to recruit professional farmers, requiring males aged 30 to 35
Recently, Jinshahe Group, headquartered in Xingtai City, Hebei Province, released a recruitment announcement: recruiting professional farmer trainees (male) with a monthly salary of 7,000 yuan, responsible for planting crops such as wheat and corn.
After the announcement was released, it attracted wide attention from netizens. On the morning of March 12, the reporter contacted Mr. Lü, who is in charge of recruitment. He said that the position requires local people from Hebei, and the recruitment has already been filled according to the demand.
The reporter noticed that there are regulations on the age and working mode for this position. It requires candidates to be aged between 30 and 35, work in a long - day shift mode. Those with experience in farming and operating agricultural machinery are preferred, and they should be able to accept transfer to other places. (Jimu News)
Multiple non-bank payment institutions have adjusted their senior management teams since the beginning of this year
Recently, the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China released an administrative license notice, approving Deng Jianli of Shenzhen Midea Payment Technology Co., Ltd. to step down as supervisor, and Li Dan to take over. After sorting out, since the beginning of this year, multiple non-bank payment institutions have adjusted their senior management teams, involving important positions such as supervisors, compliance officers, and technical officers. Experts interviewed generally believe that this is an active choice by institutions to optimize governance, meet compliance requirements, and cope with competition. (Securities Daily)
Nintendo: The new Pokémon game sold over 2.2 million copies in just four days
Japanese company Nintendo announced that the new Pokémon game sold over 2.2 million copies in just four days. Among them, 1 million copies were sold in the domestic market. (Sina Finance)
Tesla's Energy Business Approved in the UK to Supply Electricity Locally
The UK energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), said on Thursday that it has granted an electricity supply license to Tesla Energy Ventures, a subsidiary of Tesla, allowing the company to supply electricity to households and businesses across the UK. After a months-long assessment process, this authorization came into effect on Wednesday. Ofgem stated that the license only covers the electricity supply business and is independent of the existing power generation license held by Tesla Motors Limited. (Sina Finance)
Honda Announces Cancellation of R&D of Three Pure Electric Vehicle Models in North America
Honda announced on March 12 that it has decided to cancel the development and launch plans of three electric vehicle models originally scheduled for production in North America. This decision stems from the company's re - evaluation of its automotive electrification strategy, which is based on multiple factors such as recent changes in the business environment. Affected by this, Honda expects to incur a consolidated financial loss in the fiscal year 2026 (ending in March 2026). (Jiemian News)
BlackRock to Invest $100 Million in Training Skilled Workers Such as Electricians; Over 300,000 New Electricians Needed in the US in the Next Decade to Meet AI Construction Demand
BlackRock, the world's largest public mutual fund management company, announced on Wednesday that it will invest $100 million in a skilled worker training program. The funds will be distributed in multiple states in the United States through non - profit organizations and workforce development partners. The goal of this program is to benefit 50,000 workers in the next five years. The skilled workers to be benefited include electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and ironworkers. According to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, over 200,000 electricians in the United States are expected to retire in the next decade, but more than 300,000 new electricians will be needed during the same period to meet the demand for artificial intelligence construction. (Caixin)
Lotte Credit Card Company Fined Nearly 10 Billion Won for User Information Leak
The Personal Information Protection Commission of South Korea said on March 12 that it has imposed an administrative penalty on Lotte Credit Card Company for its inadequate protection of users' personal information, which led to the leakage of the ID numbers of 450,000 users. The company was fined 9.6248 billion won (approximately 44.82 million yuan). The Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea reported to the commission last September that a leakage of personal credit information had occurred at Lotte Credit Card. After investigation, the commission confirmed that Lotte Credit Card's online payment system was hacked, resulting in the leakage of the credit information of 2.97 million users, including the ID numbers of 450,000 users. (Jiemian News)
Fuli Real Estate Responds to Chairman Li Silian Being Restricted from Leaving the Country
Around the Spring Festival in 2026, Li Silian, the chairman of Guangzhou R&F Properties Co., Ltd., was intercepted during an attempt to leave the country. A person familiar with the matter revealed that the exit-entry border inspection officers informed that Li Silian was restricted from leaving the country by the Third Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin (hereinafter referred to as the "Tianjin Third Intermediate People's Court"). A reporter sought verification from Fuli Real Estate on this matter. Fuli Real Estate stated that the relevant issues have been reported to the group, and no relevant response has been received yet. They are still following up on the latest developments. (Economic Observer)
Jensen Huang Tests NVIDIA's Autonomous Driving Platform Personally, with No Human Intervention Throughout the Journey
NVIDIA released a 22 - minute video. In the video, Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, and Xinzhou Wu, the vice - president of NVIDIA's automotive business, took an autonomous vehicle to San Francisco together. During this process, NVIDIA's full - stack autonomous driving software platform, DRIVE AV, was used, and there was no human intervention. (Yicai Global)
Hong Kong: Potential Risks of OpenClaw Noted, Relevant Entities Advised to Take Adequate Security Measures
Recently, the download and use of the OpenClaw ("Crayfish") application have been extremely popular. In this regard, it was learned from the Hong Kong Digital Policy Office, which is responsible for AI policies, that the office has been continuously monitoring the latest development trends of artificial intelligence. Recently, it has also noted the potential risks associated with OpenClaw, including excessive permissions, data leakage, and system security.
Relevant entities and individual users are advised to take adequate security measures when deploying and using OpenClaw. Specifically, these measures include: strengthening network control and implementing strict isolation of the operating environment to reduce the risk of excessive permissions; enhancing credential management and avoiding storing keys in plain text in environment variables; strictly managing the sources of plugins to ensure their credibility and security; and continuously monitoring official patches and security updates, and promptly carrying out version updates and installing security patches. (Securities Times)
Wang Teng, a former senior executive of Xiaomi, announced the brand name of his new company and is preparing for the internal test of the ISHO App
36Kr learned that on March 12th, Wang Teng, a former senior executive of Xiaomi, posted an announcement about the brand name of his new company, "Today Is for Rest", which is ISHO, pronounced "Yi Xiu". Currently, the registration process in more than 20 countries and regions around the world has been initiated. He also revealed that he is currently preparing for the internal test of the ISHO App and will invite internal test users in the near future.
The U.S. Department of Energy says Trump has authorized the release of 172 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
On March 11 local time, the U.S. Department of Energy said that U.S. President Trump has authorized the department to start releasing 172 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve next week. According to the planned release rate, the delivery of this batch of crude oil will take about 120 days. (CCTV News)
Investment and financing
"Nuoshi Robotics" Completes Over 100 Million Yuan Series A Financing
36Kr learned that "Nuoshi Robotics", a core component supplier for embodied intelligence, recently announced the completion of a Series A financing round exceeding 100 million yuan. This round of financing was led by Shanghai Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Industry Fund/Pudong Science and Technology Innovation, followed by Legend Capital and Amber Capital. Automobile parts listed companies Pengling Co., Ltd. and Kelai Electromechanical made strategic investments, and the old shareholder SAIC Venture Capital continued to increase its investment. Chengyi Capital continued to serve as the company's long - term financial advisor. The funds will be mainly used for capacity improvement, product R & D, and working capital replenishment.
"Violoop" Completes Two Rounds of Financing within One Month
36Kr learned that according to Xiangyang Capital, "Violoop" recently completed seed and angel round financing worth tens of millions of yuan within a month. The funds from this financing will be mainly used for product mass production and implementation, global market promotion, and the continuous construction of the Action Model dataset, helping Violoop accelerate the building of the infrastructure for the operating system in the AI era. Xiangyang Capital continues to serve as the exclusive financial advisor.
“Galanz” Completes Series E Financing Exceeding 1 Billion Yuan
36Kr learned that according to Huaxing Capital, recently, “Galanz”, an enterprise in the field of millimeter-wave radar CMOS chips, completed Series E financing exceeding 1 billion yuan. This round of financing was invested by multiple institutions such as national industrial funds, local government funds, and industrial capital. Huaxing Securities, a subsidiary of Huaxing Capital Group, served as the exclusive financial advisor.
"Dome Technology" Completes Nearly 100 Million Yuan Series A+ Round of Financing
36Kr learned that "Dome Technology" has completed a nearly 100 million yuan Series A+ round of financing. This round of financing was led by Mingxi Capital, with Optics Valley Industry Investment participating. Existing shareholders Shunwei Capital, Huafang Capital, iFlytek Venture Capital, and Yuanhe Origin continued to increase their investments. Xingyuan Zhitong served as the exclusive financial advisor.
“Zhongke Fusion” Completes a New Round of Nearly 100 Million Yuan in Financing
36Kr learned that “Zhongke Fusion” recently announced the completion of a new round of nearly 100 million yuan in financing. This round was jointly invested by institutions such as Songhe Capital and Changxing Fund. After the completion of this round of nearly 100 million yuan in financing, Zhongke Fusion will focus on expanding the production capacity of MEMS galvanometer core devices and promoting the commercialization of micro - display products.
The Cutting - Edge of AI
He Rong, Minister of Justice: This year, efforts will be accelerated to study legislation in fields such as artificial intelligence
He Rong, Minister of Justice, said at the third "Ministers' Passage" of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress on March 12 that artificial intelligence is a "high-frequency word" at this year's Two Sessions. This year, efforts will be accelerated to study legislation in fields such as artificial intelligence and low-altitude economy, revise the Road Traffic Safety Law, and formulate regulations on airspace management. (Xinhua News Agency)
NVIDIA to Spend $26 Billion on Developing Large AI Models
According to the financial documents submitted by NVIDIA to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), NVIDIA will invest a total of $26 billion (approximately 178.8 billion yuan) in the next five years to fully promote the research and development of open - source large AI models. This investment scale far exceeds the $3 billion that OpenAI spent on training GPT - 4. NVIDIA has also officially launched a strategic transformation from a "chip manufacturer" to a "top - notch full - stack AI laboratory". (Caixin Press)
Financial Reports of Large Companies
Li Auto: Revenue in Q4 2025 Reached 28.8 Billion Yuan, a Year-on-Year Decrease of 35%
36Kr learned that Li Auto released its financial reports for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2025. The reports show that Li Auto's revenue in the fourth quarter was 28.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 35%; the net profit was 20.2 million yuan, compared with a net profit of 3.5 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year. The annual revenue in 2025 was 112.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.3%; the net profit was 1.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 85.8%. It is estimated that the vehicle delivery volume in the first quarter of 2026 will be between 85,000 and 90,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.5% to 3.1%; the total revenue will be between 20.4 billion yuan and 21.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 21.3% to 16.7%.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. expects an annual operating loss of between 270 billion yen and 570 billion yen
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. expects an annual operating loss of between 270.0 billion yen and 570.0 billion yen. Previously, it had expected an operating income of 550.0 billion yen, while the market had estimated an operating income of 709.35 billion yen. It expects a net loss of between 420.0 billion yen and 690.0 billion yen. Previously, it had expected a net income of 300.0 billion yen, while the market had estimated a net income of 462.59 billion yen. It still forecasts net sales of 21.10 trillion yen, while the market estimates 21.08 trillion yen. (Caixin)
Adobe Reports $6.4 Billion in Revenue for Q1
Adobe reported $6.4 billion in revenue for the first fiscal quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of $6.28 billion. The adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter were $6.06, versus analysts' expectations of $5.88. The company expects revenue of $6.43 billion to $6.48 billion for the second fiscal quarter, in line with analysts' expectations of $6.43 billion. It anticipates adjusted EPS of $5.80 to $5.85 for the second quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of $5.70. (Jiemian News)
Cool Products
Joby Aviation's First Mass-Produced Electric Air Taxi Begins Flight Tests
Joby Aviation said on Wednesday that its first mass-produced electric air taxi has started flying. The aircraft will undergo certification tests by U.S. federal regulators to obtain a Type Inspection Authorization (TIA), which is an important milestone for the aircraft to receive commercial operation certification. (Sina Finance)
Tesla Exhibits the Upcoming Third-Generation Robot at AWE
Reporters at the AWE 2026 site saw that Tesla showcased products such as the Cybertruck and the Tesla Bot. According to on-site staff, the humanoid robot on display this time is the upcoming third-generation humanoid robot. The officially released version may have slight differences from the on-site version. This will also be Tesla's first robot version for large-scale mass production, with production planned to start at the end of 2026. The long-term planned production capacity is one million units. (Cailian Press)
Key Events by 36Kr
The "Kr Big Events" short - video column offers a vivid interpretation of major events in the business world. Fresh snacks? They're quietly emptying young people's wallets!
This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr". It is published by 36Kr with authorization.