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By Chris Chang, posted Dec 31, 2010 at 9:38 PM, 9,149 views,
China’s Biggest Tech Stories of 2010
2010 was a huge year for China’s tech stories. As we close out the year, we look back at some of the year’s biggest stories such as the Foxconn suicide cluster, Google’s China threat, and the launch of Apple stores in Shanghai. Follow along after the break as we run you through what happened in China tech industry of 2010.
Probably the most tragic story in the gadget world. Started from the month of May, reports of suicides at Foxconn (who produces most Apple products) raised the issue of low wages, long hours, and difficult working conditions. The pathetic workers worked all day long to produce our iProducts, and they got over-stressed with their work due to the super high demand for iPads and iPhones. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou treated the matter seriously, by raising salaries of their assembly line workers, undertaking steps to alleviate stressful working conditions and installing safety nets on buildings so that workers couldn’t leap out of their dormitories. Lastly, there’s even a big party to end the whole suicide cluster, so we are pretty sure that the Foxconn workers will live happily ever after.
Check out our full coverage of Foxconn news by clicking here
Google’s New Approach to China
On January 12, Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during Google’s investigation into these attacks they had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. Due to limitation of free speech on the web in China, Google could no longer continue censoring their search results on Google.cn. The Chinese government was mad with Google, but Google China site will stay alive until 2012. However, Google Maps may be blocked in China at 2011.
Japanese Porn Star Entices Chinese Netizens To Go On Twitter
Sora Aoi is a Japanese porn actress famous for her large breasts. Her popularity in China flared up rapidly once she got a Twitter account, and she had over 30,000 followers. Among this massive number of followers, most of them are from China. It caused an instant online reaction, and many Chinese internet users were trying to access the blocked Twitter website to follow her. Pretty insane.
China Former Microsoft Chief Faked His Academic Credentials?
Former CEO of Microsoft China Tang Jun, was reported that he has faked his academic credentials in the United States. Tang Jun, is well known as the most valuable professional manager in China, was appointed as the president of Microsoft China in 2002. A Chinese guy called Fang Zhouzi, who is known as a “science cop” for battling against pseudoscience and academic misconduct, accused Tang of fabricating a doctoral degree from California Institute of Technology. Fang Zhouzi began to make accusations against Tang on his own microblog, he checked the names of graduates from CIT’s computer science department and failed to find the name ‘Jun Tang’, the name that Tang used when he entered Microsoft in 1994. This is very interesting.
Chinese Government Creating Their Own Search Engine
In China, there’s an Google alternative called Goso.cn, excluding Baidu. It’s proudly launched by The People’s Daily, and also called as “People’s Search Engine”. Well, it claimed that it provides trusted search results and it’s born to be an authoritative Chinese search engine. We’ve tried to search some stuff, but we found out that there’s still no free search policy with it.
China Launches ‘Map World’ to Challenge Google Maps
China launched its own mapping engine in 2010 and said it will bring us with the most comprehensive data about the country’s geography, seeking to draw Chinese users from Google, Baidu and Sohu. According to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Map World service surpasses all other available online map services in the coverage of China. Map World provides maps, satellite images and 3D views of the entire world for users. Sounds very good, but it has some defects.
Chinese Telecom Manufacturers Banned in India
India tried to say NO to Chinese manufacturers in 2010, and the country refused to import telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies such as Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, making up a total of 25 companies to be banned from India. This ban will directly affect the orders of Chinese communications equipment manufacturers. But things turned out differently when the Indian government agreed to allow the importation of telecommunications gear from China while at the same time implementing new security screening measures, effectively ending an unofficial ban on Chinese telecom vendors.
Game Consoles Never Officially Hit the Chinese Market
Due to the laws and regulations of the Chinese government, any company or individual is not allowed to produce and sell electronic game equipment and accessories to China. This notice is issued by the Ministry of Culture in June 2000. The regulation first suspended the plan of Sony Corporation to launch PS2 in the Chinese market. For the time being, Chinese game lovers could still buy game consoles including PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii through the gray markets, except the Nintendo DS series.
China’s Supercomputer Has The World’s Fastest System
China revealed its new supercomputer called Tianhe-1A, which is built with over 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 Intel Xeon CPUs consuming 4.04 megawatts in order to achieve the world’s fastest system. Just like everyone expected, Tianhe-1A is ranked at the No.1 of the World’s TOP 500 Supercomputer list. So, Chinese experts claimed, Tianhe-1A is a milestone of China’s supercomputer industry.
Sina Microblog Changing The Life of Chinese Internet Users
Thanks to the rapid development and growing popularity of the Internet, network media in China is playing a larger role in expressing public opinions and in the distribution of information about major news events. A survey showed that 94.3% of Chinese internet users confirm micro-blogging is changing their life, and 70% of the respondents said that they would double check the information on micro-blogs everyday. They always kept a close eye on their updates and even some main stream media said micro-blog is almost like a news agency.
Apple Chinese fanboys were extremely excited with the first Apple store opening in Shanghai, so do I. You would not believe how crazy the Chinese are, there were 300 people queuing up for the store throughout the night, with their precious iProducts accompanying them… What’s more, someone even called up the McDonalds delivery to solve his hunger while waiting in line… This is why China is highest traffic for Apple stores.
iPhone 4 & iPad Launch in China
The official Chinese iPhone 4 and iPad launch drawn thousands of Chinese Apple fans to the Apple retail stores at Beijing and Shanghai. Everybody takes their chance to grab one from the Apple stores. And we have a whole set of photos and videos of the amazing crowds.
Wait in line and buy an iPhone 4 seems to be impossible when Apple bumped up the sales limit on iPhone 4 from two to unlimited in Beijing’s flagship store. The rule of limiting sales to two per customer is removed and this draw a big crowd of Chinese customers to purchase the new iPhone. However, these people are not buying it for themselves, they are here to buy the mighty handset in large quantities and resell it at a high price to those who are anxious to get one. There’s no way to stop the crazy situation so Apple store suddenly closes its doors.
Apple Online Store and App Store Now Available In China
Apple announced the dual launch of its Chinese online store and app store in late October 2010. All the Chinese citizens can access to Apple.com.cn to purchase iPhone 4 and iPad instead of lining up behind numerous scalpers outside Apple Store. Yeah, Apple Store is a great destination for customers in China.
The Hi-Tech Gizmo Behind Taiwanese Animated News
Ever wondered what’s the great technology behind those Sims-style animations which are done by the Taiwanese news media, Apple Daily? Well, looks like the Taiwanese outlet is using a high-tech gizmo called “Light Stage X” system. It has been used to film blockbuster movies such as Avatar and Spiderman. So, without the Light Stage, we can’t see the animated Steve Jobs.
Porn Video Appears On Nokia N8 Launch Event Live Stream
This really happened in China. August 25 is the day Nokia China is ready to introduce the incredible N8 smartphone through a launch event. The event was broadcast on several major Chinese sites, but one of the live streaming videos got “hacked”. A porn video scene appears suddenly and stunned everyone. Click in to see the screen capture, it’s NFSW.
China Demands Real Names From Mobile Phone Users
China will introduced a new system to protect privacy and reduce spam messages for their cellphone users. When people setting up their new mobile phone accounts, they are now require to register with their real identities. All carriers in China are to adopt the real-name registration system starting this month. Within three years, the carriers must also register the real identities of all existing users. In the meantime, many Chinese mobile phone users rely on prepaid phone services rather than contract plans that often require registration.
Cellphones and Computers in China Got Infected With Virus
Two viruses hit over 6 million of computer users and 1 million of cellphone users in China at 2010. For the PC virus, it’s called the Stuxnet cyberworm which can break into computers and steal private information, especially from industrial firms, sending it back to a server in the United States. As for the cellphone virus, it’s nicknamed as ‘Zombie’ and this virus spreads quickly by random and mass sending of text messages to users. Scary.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Visit China
US billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have hosted a banquet in China Beijing as part of their 3 days visit in China. It generated a debate about how China’s wealthy should be mobilized to perform philanthropy. What’s more, Buffett was invited by BYD, the famous battery and auto maker in China, for a series of events to showcase its clean car initiatives. Both billionaires really enjoyed the trip.
China’s Diving Diva Was Secretly Videotaped Using Infrared Camera
Someone in Beijing is naughty enough to use a portable infrared camera to videotape divers and post the nude clips onto the web. Divers who were wearing tight and thin swimsuits got their bodies exposed under the infrared camera, and this had caused a misery for the divers, especially Chinese diving queen Guo Jingjing. She got the most attention due to her entire body was clearly seen.
China Customs Charge You Tax For Bringing Along iPhone or iPad
Yes, China customs wants a slice of the Apple iPhone/iPad pie. If you’re heading to Shenzhen with your beloved iPhone 4’s and iPad’s, you’ve been warned. Chinese customs officials have been notified to crackdown on iPhones and iPads by assessing a 20% import duty.
This is the hottest story in China tech industry. Two of China’s most successful .com companies took their long grudge towards each other to the public. One party is Tencent, whose instant messenger QQ enjoys 612.5 million active users. With such huge scale of user base and the convenient client software that come along, Tencent stretches into online game, news, e-commerce, e-mail, audio-visual etc. and crowns in most territories. The other party is 360, an Internet security service provider whose “360 safeguard” came to be China’s No.1 security software within the first year after launch, covering no less than 75% of China Internet users and thus becoming the second most popular desktop client software. Surprisingly, a war broke out them. Feel free to read the full story at ChinaHush.
Leading European electronics retailer Media Markt opened its first Asian store in China, Shanghai. It is the first Media Markt China store and it takes up a sales area of 9,500 square meters. The five-level store aims to provide products from the domestic and overseas markets, as well as special customer experiences in trying out all sorts of digital products in their store. They also provide free Wi-Fi lounge and cafe which serve sandwiches and pizza. Yummy! Media Markt will expand to 9-11 stores in several cities of China by the end of 2011.
This is breaking news. Mark Zuckerberg is in China! Yes, this is real. The founder/CEO of Facebook and Time Magazine’s newly crowned Person of the Year was spotted at the head offices of Baidu in Beijing. He also met the head of Sina, the operator of a popular microblogging service and Internet portal in China. Further more, he traveled from Beijing to Shanghai, visiting e-commerce company Alibaba. We have lots of photos and videos.
And that’s it from us, but we’re sure there’s something you’d like to add. That’s what comments are for! Let us know what stories made 2010 for you.
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