asia

Facebook's recently launched organ donor "life-saving" tool is now expanding to Asia. South Korea and Japan are the newest countries whose residents will be able to register as organ donors and announce their status to the world via the social network.

According to The Next Web, South Korea and Japan have more than 22 million Facebook users combined, which is sure to help with the social network's goal of increasing organ donation. Although Facebook didn't make a formal announcement about the launch of the feature, a company spokesperson confirmed with CNET that it was indeed … Read more

Nine years after the first iTunes launched in the U.S., Apple has taken the service to Asia.

In a low-key launch last week, Apple opened the door to a version of iTunes aimed at 12 new markets in Asia, including Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

While Japan has had its own version of iTunes since 2005, iTunes has been largely unavailable in the rest of the region until now.

Apple's Asian iTunes comes with several limitations unique to the region, likely due to content producers' fears over piracy. According to the MarketWatch, a restricted selection of movies and … Read more

Apple's extended its iTunes Store to 12 new countries today as part of a push that takes it into more Asian territories.

Included on that list is: Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

In a release, Apple says those countries get "music from all the major labels and thousands of independent labels" to the tune of 20 million tracks, as well as movies, TV shows, and apps from the App Store.

News of the expansion came first in a report by Asia technology blog e27 last week (h/t Macrumors). … Read more

Google's upcoming data center in Taiwan will join those already being built in Hong Kong and Singapore as a sign of increased demand in Asia for the company's online services.

Costing a total of $700 million, the three data centers are being geared to provide users "with the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google's services," according to the company.

"More new Internet users are coming online everyday here in Asia than anywhere else in the world," Google said on its Web page for the new data center. "They … Read more

General Motors today announced the opening of an assembly plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. GM opened the power-train plant with local venture partner UzAvtosanoat.

According to the automaker, facility is GM's first engine plant in the Central Asian country. The plant is tasked with producing more than 225,000 new fuel-efficient Ecotec 1.2L and 1.5L engines for use in GM small passenger cars.

The new plant will produce finished machined components such as cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, and crankshafts. The plant has been equipped with the latest technology and has the flexibility to switch between production of engine … Read more

General Motors just opened a new $200 million, diesel engine plant in Rayong, Thailand.

The new engine plant, which is adjacent to the GM's vehicle manufacturing plant, will employ 500 workers and have the capability to manufacture about 120,000 engines per year.

GM expects to source $94 million worth of Thai-built components for the production of engines at its Rayong facility by 2012, the company said in a press release.

The first engines to be manufactured at the facility are for the new Chevy Colorado pickup. GM revealed the Colorado Show pickup at the Bangkok International Motor Show … Read more

Each June, cell phone manufacturers from across Asia journey to Singapore for the annual CommunicAsia show. Though not quite as big as Mobile World Congress, CommunicAsia still offers plenty of wireless sights. And as they've always done, our colleagues at CNET Asia were out in force in their home town to cover the latest and greatest gadgets. Their full package will show you everything you need to know--including their top cell phone picks--but we're happy to offer the highlights here.

Despite its new focus on Windows Phone 7, Nokia pretty much stole the show in … Read more

Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) has come up with an iOS and Web app that puts your mug shot on a 3D model. By simply taking a frontal image of a face and sending the image via the Internet, A*Star's 3DFM Web server automatically maps it on a virtual avatar head.

This is a much simpler process than the previous procedure of using 3D scanners and then performing tedious post-processing work. According to the organization, the trick now is to create compelling applications and games to leverage on this technology.

For example, you can play soccer games with players sporting the face of your favorite celebrities, or put your mug shot on Master Chief from Halo. This service is available for free for a limited period and can be accessed via this Web site. The iOS app will be available at a later date.

(Source: Crave Asia) … Read more

Finnish mobile giant Nokia introduced its latest smartphone, the Nokia N9, today. We at Crave Asia managed to try the new MeeGo smartphone at the Nokia booth at CommunicAsia in Singapore. Here are our early impressions of this sleek-looking mobile.

Weighing just about 4.7 ounces and measuring less than half an inch, the N9 comes in either a 16GB or 64GB configuration. The phone feels great in our hands, and the curved 3.9-inch Corning Gorilla glass AMOLED screen looks fantastic. The display runs at a 16:9 FWVGA (854x480 pixels) resolution.

Nokia has also clarified that the polycarbonate used for the N9's chassis is colored throughout, which means that if there's a scratch, there would be no change in color. The polycarbonate body may seem a little "cheap," but it gives the handset a funky look. The N9 will come in three colors--black, cyan, and magenta. … Read more