Current coordinates of an ongoing contest

This week was not a week in which new models arrived; it was a week in which four opening moves landed in four directions on the same board, in the same week. The EU's 16 months are a relief for big tech, but for places outside the metro they are also a window to lay infrastructure in compatible data formats. That, in the same week, one seat on the global talent board now sits inside Korea — that we read as a signal that places like Yeongyang and Cheongsong cannot shorten the time-to-city, but they can change the language of the starting line. This issue records the current coordinates of an ongoing contest for primacy — not a finished outcome. Unknown players are still off the board; where the next stone falls is what we follow into the next issue.

A silhouette at the eaves, the mountains beyond, two plum-syrup jars on the floor.

— Chi-hoon Shin, Ph.D. · Editor, SF://