Most readers surely know that the media went into a frenzy over a story, a false one, that Google search was now fully blocked in China. Rebecca MacKinnon summed it up very well, and there is an interesting discussion led by Matthew Ingram here at GigaOm. The mindless replication of this “story” was amazing to watch; [...]
Last week I participated in a Sinica Podcast on the Internet in China and Zhang Wuben and his magic mung beans. I somehow ended up as the sole defender if the efficacy of properly practiced traditional Chinese medicine; the other guests seem to believe it is some kind of Chinese voodoo. From the Sinica site: Mere [...]
This post originally appeared on Sinocism.com, my blog about more general China topics. China’s efforts to build its “soft power” have been in the news over the last few months. So far none of the coverage of the media strategy for soft power has discussed what may be the fatal flaw in the government’s strategy-the [...]
Leading Chinese map provider AutoNavi holdings is planning to raise $100 in an IPO on Nasdaq under the symbol “AMAP”. The company generates most of its revenue from automobile navigation. Wireless and online mapping services (through its MapABC Technology subsidiary) account for approximately 10% of overall, and Google specifically accounts for just over 1%. (As [...]
On Thursday Fred Wilson posted a chart from Comscore listing the top 30 global Internet properties. There are six Chinese sites on the list-Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, Sina, Sohu and Netease. The Comscore data significantly understates the size of major Chinese websites. I have borrowed the chart and inserted it below. Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner has [...]
According to a report from Sina IT-Facebook亚洲战略加速：争夺谷歌中国工程师-Facebook has recently hired several senior Google China engineers. The report says that Facebook has also recently created an “Asian Project Team”. Recently there have been reports that Facebook is preparing to enter China. Perhaps these hires are part of those plans, perhaps they will support Facebook’s growing Chinese [...]
John Markoff of the New York Times discovered more information about the attacks on Google that precipitated the company’s retreat from China. In “Cyberattack on Google Said to Hit Password System” he writes that: …a person with direct knowledge of the investigation now says that the losses included one of Google’s crown jewels, a password [...]
There is a report in the Chinese press that Netease is in talks to buy into Microsoft’s MSN China joint venture by purchasing the 50% share owned by the current Chinese partner. MSN China is a joint venture that was established in 2005 between Microsoft and Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. (SAIL). This report is unconfirmed and [...]
The Machinima film ”网瘾战争 War of Internet Addiction” won top prize at the 2010 Tudou Festival, as Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs describes on his blog. Congratulations to 性感玉米 SexyCorn ( @CorndogCN on twitter) and his team for making such a good and important film. You can see it on Tudou below, or watch an English subtitled version [...]
Inside Social Games reports on a couple of rumors making the rounds recently: Social Rumors about Chinese Gaming Companies: Tencent Looked at CrowdStar, Shanda Going for RockYou?. I doubt either of these transactions will occur; Tencent is said to have backed away from Crowdstar when the price approached $200m, and Rockyou, which has raised $117M, is [...]
Items of Interest