china

Internet censorship plagues journalists at Olympics

With the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games a mere 10 days away, members of the media have learned that there is at least one thing they can expect not to be open: the Internet.

Despite earlier assurances that journalists would have unfettered access to the Internet at the Main Press Center and athletic venues, organizers are now backtracking, meaning that the some 5,000 reporters working in Beijing during the next several weeks won't have access to a multitude of sites such as Amnesty International or any site with Tibet in the address, according to an Associated Press report. … Read more

One-third of China's carbon emissions tied to exports

One-third of China's carbon emissions come from manufacturing electronics and other goods that are then exported worldwide, according to a July report in the journal Energy Policy.

The findings come from researchers led by Christopher Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Researchers measured 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide resulting from China's exporting industries in 2005. That rose from 760 million tons in 2002 and from 230 million tons in 1987, based on an analysis of economic and emissions reports from China.

In that time, carbon emissions from making electronics … Read more

Why Baidu outperforms Google in China

The question of why Baidu continues to outperform Google in the world's largest internet user-base has fueled much discussion. I explore business practices and cultural factors that may have fueled this advantage in an article for China International Business this month.

But while Baidu leads now, there's a possibility that Google's strength in the "cloud computing" world may lead to gains in the long run.

Check out the article here.

China to pass U.S. as second-biggest flat-panel monitor market in 2011

As desktop PCs fall further out of favor in the U.S., peripheral manufacturers are having no problem picking up the slack elsewhere.

China is poised to pass the United States in just three years to become the second-largest market for flat-panel monitors, according to a report released Tuesday by DisplaySearch. DisplaySearch is a market research company that tracks the display business.

The EMEA region (which refers to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) will continue to provide LCD monitor makers the most lucrative market, with just over 30 percent of all shipments heading there by 2011. Greater China will … Read more

One month before the Olympics, the dirtiest air in China is in Beijing

Despite advertised measures to decrease pollution, as the one-month countdown to the Beijing Olympics approaches, the government's numbers rank Beijing as having the dirtiest air in China.

With a rating of 98, officially a "blue sky day" but only by two points, Beijing yesterday had the dirtiest air among monitored cities according to the Chinese government Web site that releases daily pollution figures.

Only four other cities, including the capitals of Sichuan, Qinghai, and Liaoning Provinces, ranked above 90 on the scale.

This does not mean that the air will not get cleaner this month. Large numbers … Read more

Firing automatic weapons from a Segway: good idea, or not?

A Chinese news site features a picture of anti-terrorist forces on Segway-back. Is this totally nuts, or a really good idea?

Three questions in the Segway versus no Segway debate: These guys should be in pretty good shape. Shouldn't they be able to run faster than one of these? Well, according to the Wikipedia entry for a Segway PT, the vehicle has a top speed of 12.5 mph. That works out to roughly a five-minute mile. With riot gear on, yeah, that's pushing it. Winner: Segway, if you're willing to be standing really tall all the … Read more

The 404 134: Where the interns broke the studio

CNET interns Jeff and Jeremy give the Webcam a premature Fourth of July fireworks show and fuzzify the viewers, but we'll forgive them this time. In other news, we also take apart the Great Firewall of China, beg for Rush Limbaugh's scraps, voraciously consume watermelon with a vengeance, hack a few ATMs across the country, and question Wilson's stubborn refusal to see GOOD MOVIES.

EPISODE 134 Download today's podcast

Will HD DVD be resurrected in China?

Just when you thought there was finally a closure to the video format war, we've heard more news on the Chinese HD DVD specifications from TG Daily. With the world's largest population backing, the defunct Toshiba-led format will undoubtedly have high hopes for a comeback. CH-DVD uses a combination of HD DVD as well as Chinese proprietary video encoding, copy protection, and technologies.

On a separate note, Toshiba is betting its chips on a new DVD Download/DL standard that promises better picture quality and possible access to Web content. The former is widely believed to be based … Read more

Writing 'bass ackwards' to defeat censorship in China

Some people whose posts may otherwise have been deleted by censors in China have taken to writing backwards in an effort to defeat keyword-searching authorities.

"Bloggers on forums such as Tianya.cn have taken to posting in formats that China's Internet censors, often employees of commercial Internet service providers, have a hard time automatically detecting. One recent strategy involves online software that flips sentences to read right to left instead of left to right, and vertically instead of horizontally," write Juliet Ye and Geoffrey Fowler in The Wall Street Journal.

This is a particularly clever solution in … Read more

Will iPhones via China Mobile be unlocked?

Unlocked, semi-legal iPhones have proliferated in China since Apple failed to make a deal with a Chinese carrier. Now that AT&T will offer an expensive solution for those wanting iPhones in the United States on different carriers, will the unlocked market be...unlocked?

For $699, the new 16GB iPhone 3G will be available to non-AT&T customers in the United States. As I've reported, China Mobile and Apple are now in talks that are more likely to bear fruit. This post is based on a few questions I really can't answer. Let's have them.… Read more