Tony Yoo, The Chainsaw

Tony Yoo

The Chainsaw

Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • The Chainsaw

Past articles by Tony:

Uber just invited 'every gangster syndicate, and two-bit hacker on the internet... to take a piece of them'

An Australian tech entrepreneur has blasted Uber’s alleged payment of a ransom to keep the theft of the private data of 57 million users from being revealed. Last month, Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi admitted that millions of user data had been exposed, some 13 months after the breach occurred in October 2016. Khosrowshahi, who only took the reins at the ridesharing company in September,… → Read More

How Australia's move to a cashless society is damaging millennials

An Australian fintech founder claims that the move towards a cashless society is harming consumers, especially millennials who lose track of how much they’re spending. Co-founder of Sydney startup Carrots Money, Jacqueline Park, says not physically handling money makes it too easy to spend excessively. “Things like contactless pay and Afterpay are making spending money really, really easy. We’re… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

It’s Amazon fever today: 1. So Amazon Australia is finally here. After years of being a bookshop, the site opened as a general store this morning with products in 23 different categories, ranging from electronics to clothes to homewares. Australia is now the 14th country that Amazon is running full-service operations in. 2. The delivery rates seem to be pretty good. Although rapid shipping costs… → Read More

Amazon Australia's prices are generally undercutting local rivals, but watch the delivery costs

Amazon Australia opened as a general store this morning, amid predictions from experts that it would initially undercut and absorb losses to establish market share. Industry research firm IBISWorld even put a number to it, last month saying the US retailer would undercut Australian rivals to the tune of 30%, while an Amazon staffer reportedly said the company was out to “destroy” the local… → Read More

Here are Amazon Australia's delivery rates

Amazon Australia opened as a general online store this morning with the news that shipping would be free for orders over $49. For a long time, Australians have purchased goods from Amazon US and the retail giant is so used to this practice that it has a page specifically devoted to show the delivery costs for shipping from North America to Australia. But the new local Amazon business will… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

Welcome to a new week: 1. Amazon is getting ready to go. The webpage title for Amazon.com.au used to say it just sold books and Kindle products, but sometime in the last few days, it changed to “Amazon.com.au: Shop online for Electronics, Apparel, Toys, Books, DVDs & more”, which is very close to the US site’s tagline. Everyone hold your breath. 2. The competition watchdog will start a probe… → Read More

Amazon Australia has changed its webpage title to say it no longer just sells books

Amazon Australia just changed the title of its webpage, in a sign that the launch of the general online store could be just days away. The Amazon Australia website has operated for many years a bookstore for the US parent, but 10 days ago it opened as a general store to a limited number of customers for testing. While that test proved an anti-climax for most Australians, who can still only buy… → Read More

We won't protect you from Amazon, consumer watchdog tells Australian retailers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims has warned local retailers that it won’t protect them from Amazon’s entry into Australia. Amazon is due to open its full-scale retail operations in Australia any day, with predictions from industry analysts that it could undercut local rivals by as much as 30% in order to gain market share. Sims, in a speech reported by Fairfax… → Read More

Amazon's most profitable business has already been running in Australia for years

Amazon is gearing up to launch full retail operations in Australia any day now, but its most profitable venture globally has already been running in this country with many customers for several years. “It’s an $US18 billion revenue run rate business, with a 42% growth rate in the last financials that we released. It’s a pretty healthy clip on a reasonable sized business. We have millions of… → Read More

The live stream of the Amazon Web Services conference just crashed

Amazon’s cloud computing arm has embarrassingly failed to handle the online demand at its own conference, with the live video stream crashing in the middle of a keynote speech delivered by its CEO. At about 9am Wednesday Las Vegas time, the live stream stopped working while Amazon Web Services chief executive Andy Jassy was on stage at the Re:Invent conference, showing this error message: The… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

Here’s the top tech news for Wednesday: 1. Amazon has entered the Sydney real estate market. The web giant, due to open up a online retail store in Australia any day now, reportedly paid $7 million for an empty block in the south-western suburbs of Sydney. The speculation is that it will build a fulfillment centre for Sydney, so that it doesn’t have to ship goods from the Melbourne warehouse,… → Read More

Amazon just bought land in Sydney for $7 million

Amazon’s march into the Australian retail market has continued with the company reportedly paying $7 million for land in an industrial area south-west of Sydney. The Amazon Australia website was for many years a bookstore for the US parent, but last week opened as a general store to a limited number of customers for testing. On the way, the company this year opened its first local fulfillment… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

Here’s the news for Tuesday: 1. Apple or Samsung? We reviewed the two tech giants’ smartwatches — the Apple Watch 3 and the Samsung Gear S3 — putting them through their paces as “tap and go” payment devices. Read what we thought here. 2. A Sydney fintech just wrapped up a $50 million debt funding round. Waddle, an online cash flow lender, almost doubled its lending volume in the last financial… → Read More

Decisions to consider when choosing between Apple and Samsung smartwatches

I’ve never found the prospect of using a mobile phone for “tap and go” payments more appealing than pulling out your wallet — but paying with a smartwatch seems to have much more practical value. You can go out to the pub or go for a run, for example, without carrying your bulky wallet or mobile phone. And if you’re in Sydney, the plan to allow contactless payments to replace Opal cards for… → Read More

Sydney fintech Waddle just secured a $50 million debt funding round

Online cash flow lender Waddle has secured a $50 million debt funding facility, as it revealed it almost doubled its lending volume in the last financial year. The software is integrated into popular small business accounting packages like Xero, Intuit and MYOB to be able to look at which invoices are overdue for its customer. Based on this information, money is instantly lent out at the click… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

Here’s the tech news making headlines Monday: 1. This is how Australia will be in a few years’ time. I landed in the US on the evening of Black Friday and Americans were shocked when I told them Amazon had only just arrived in Australia. They told me shopping habits there have changed dramatically in the last 10 years – and warns we will see many malls shut down. Read more here. 2. Meanwhile,… → Read More

I just got an eye-opening look at how Amazon could change Australian shopping habits forever

I arrived in the US over the weekend. And as usual, the immigration officer asked what business brought me to the country. When I told him I was a journalist attending an Amazon Web Services conference in Las Vegas, our conversation immediately turned to its retail parent Amazon and Black Friday. In a dominant performance even by Amazon’s standards, the online retailer nabbed almost 50% of all… → Read More

'Time is money': Amazon's arrival means slack Australian retailers might finally have to treat customers like humans

Karma – in the form of Amazon Australia — is about to catch up with Australian retailers that have long ignored customer wishes and convenience, according to a customer experience expert. Amazon founder and world’s richest man Jeff Bezos once flagged “true customer obsession” as one of the four ways to stave off the dreaded “day 2” and always remain in the vibrant “day 1” phase. “Customers are… → Read More

5 things you need to know in Australian tech today

As we tick down to 2pm, it’s wall-to-wall Amazon coverage today: 1. Many Australian businesses are already selling on Amazon. One of those, GetBackToBasix, told us the secrets to its success on the US and Canadian websites and why local businesses should be jumping on Amazon Australia. UBS research reports Amazon’s arrival will trigger a doubling of online shopping in this country. 2. And when… → Read More

An Australian business already selling on Amazon reveals its secrets to success on the global platform

An Australian business that’s already seen success selling on Amazon’s US and Canada sites has revealed what it has learned from using the electronic marketplace. Sydney merchant GetBacktoBasix makes and sells lunchboxes, insulated bags for diabetic medications and other personal healthcare products. Founder Noelle Sadinsky has attributed the growth of her business to the listings on the two… → Read More