China
Chinese Internet Advertising Revenue Reached CNY14.87 Billion In Q4 2011
(Fri, 03 Feb 2012)
Chinese Internet websites have continued to benefit from the maturing demand for online branding, Internet promotions, and e-commerce sales. EnfoDesk, Analysys International's business information service branch focusing on the new media economy, has published a monitoring report for the Chinese Internet advertising market in the fourth quarter of 2011, stating that the market scale of [...]
>> read more
Inspur International To Sell Chinese E-government Business (Mon, 30 Jan 2012)
Hong Kong-listed information technology and outsource software development company Inspur International has published a report, stating that it will sell its e-government business, Shandong Inspur E-Government Software Limited, to Shandong Inspur Software Company Limited for CNY23 million. Inspur International is expected to gain about CNY259,000 from the disposal, and the capital gained will be used [...]
>> read more
CNNIC: China's Microblog Users Reached 250 Million In 2011 (Sun, 29 Jan 2012)
China Internet Network Information Center has published a new statistics report, stating that there were 250 million microblog users in China by the end of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 296%. Meanwhile, the use of traditional Internet communication applications like email and forums saw significant declines. Microblogging has become one of the most important Internet [...]
>> read more
China's Tencent To Acquire 49% Stake In Foreign Game Publisher (Sun, 29 Jan 2012)
Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings Limited has announced that it will invest USD26.95 million to acquire 49% of the issued shares of Level Up. Meanwhile, under the option agreement signed by the two parties, Tencent has the ability to spend USD9.9 million to increase its stake in Level Up to 67%. Founded in Singapore, Level [...]
>> read more
360buy.com Inaugurates Pick-up Service Along Beijing's Subway Lines (Sat, 21 Jan 2012)
Chinese B2C e-commerce website 360buy.com has launched a new pick-up service along subway lines in Beijing, covering 20 stations on Line 5 and Line 10. The new service is available in stations at Lishuiqiao, Datunludong, Beixinqiao, Dongsi, Tiantongyuanbei, Tiantongyuan, Chongwenmen, Anzhenmen, Shaoyaoju, Sanyuanqiao, Liangmaqiao, Nongzhanguan, Guomao, Haidianhuangzhuang, Mudanyuan, Liujiayao, and Zhangzizhonglu. The company already has [...]
>> read more
Chinese Internet websites have continued to benefit from the maturing demand for online branding, Internet promotions, and e-commerce sales. EnfoDesk, Analysys International's business information service branch focusing on the new media economy, has published a monitoring report for the Chinese Internet advertising market in the fourth quarter of 2011, stating that the market scale of [...]
>> read more
Inspur International To Sell Chinese E-government Business (Mon, 30 Jan 2012)
Hong Kong-listed information technology and outsource software development company Inspur International has published a report, stating that it will sell its e-government business, Shandong Inspur E-Government Software Limited, to Shandong Inspur Software Company Limited for CNY23 million. Inspur International is expected to gain about CNY259,000 from the disposal, and the capital gained will be used [...]
>> read more
CNNIC: China's Microblog Users Reached 250 Million In 2011 (Sun, 29 Jan 2012)
China Internet Network Information Center has published a new statistics report, stating that there were 250 million microblog users in China by the end of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 296%. Meanwhile, the use of traditional Internet communication applications like email and forums saw significant declines. Microblogging has become one of the most important Internet [...]
>> read more
China's Tencent To Acquire 49% Stake In Foreign Game Publisher (Sun, 29 Jan 2012)
Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings Limited has announced that it will invest USD26.95 million to acquire 49% of the issued shares of Level Up. Meanwhile, under the option agreement signed by the two parties, Tencent has the ability to spend USD9.9 million to increase its stake in Level Up to 67%. Founded in Singapore, Level [...]
>> read more
360buy.com Inaugurates Pick-up Service Along Beijing's Subway Lines (Sat, 21 Jan 2012)
Chinese B2C e-commerce website 360buy.com has launched a new pick-up service along subway lines in Beijing, covering 20 stations on Line 5 and Line 10. The new service is available in stations at Lishuiqiao, Datunludong, Beixinqiao, Dongsi, Tiantongyuanbei, Tiantongyuan, Chongwenmen, Anzhenmen, Shaoyaoju, Sanyuanqiao, Liangmaqiao, Nongzhanguan, Guomao, Haidianhuangzhuang, Mudanyuan, Liujiayao, and Zhangzizhonglu. The company already has [...]
>> read more
New Tag Results, from Technorati and Ingboo
(Fri, 05 Mar 2010)
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
>> read more
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
>> read more
Lightspeed Ventures Raising US$875 Million for US/China Fund
(Fri, 03 Feb 2012)
Bloomberg reported that Lightspeed Ventures, an international VC firm is said to be finishing raising a new fund worth $875 million. $200 million is said to be ear marked for China based companies. This reflects a growing trend for U.S. VC’s to get a taste of the burgeoning Chinese market where start-ups can take advantage of the enormous opportunities to scale. In September last year, China’s most prominent start-up incubator, Innovation Works closed a US$180 million fund. The fund was backed by famous investors like Ron Conway of SV Angel and Yuri Milner of DST Global. Some of Lightspeed’s most prominent investments in China include 99Bill, an electronic payments company; Dianping, like Yelp; ihaveu, a luxury e-commerce store. They have also invested in LivingSocial in America, the biggest Groupon competitor. So if you are a start-up looking for funds, you can get ready to pitch Lightspeed in China. Related posts: Zero2IPO Group Launches China Venture Database The Founder Institute Expands To Singapore To Boost Local Startups Ecosystem NetDragon and IDGVC Announced $50millions Fund To Invest Mobile App Development Market Related posts: Zero2IPO Group Launches China Venture Database The Founder Institute Expands To Singapore To Boost Local Startups Ecosystem NetDragon and IDGVC Announced $50millions Fund To Invest Mobile App Development Market
>> read more
Zuckerberg Salary to Drop from US$500K to US$1 a Year (Fri, 03 Feb 2012)
Since Facebook filed their registration for IPO with the SEC on February 1st, everyone has been digging into it to uncover information that was formerly very private. One of the more interesting pieces to pry into is how much money the top guys get paid. 27 year old Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO was paid $500k in salary in 2011. However, effective 1 January 2013, his salary will be $1. Sound unfair? Of course it’s not. Based on the upper end valuation of $100 billion after the IPO, Zuckerberg will be worth $28.4 billion. This excludes performance bonuses. According to the filing, in 2011, Zuckerberg “received $220,500 for the First Half 2011 bonus, which reflected the impact of his performance in leading our product development efforts, our success in growing Facebook’s global user base and developing strong developer and commercial relationships.” But has all this wealth changed Zuckerberg as a person? My friend Yuancheng, met Zuckerberg in Beijing last year and said he seemed like an “ordinary young person” Also David Kirkpatrick, the Writer of “The Facebook Effect” told me that Zuckerberg is a normal guy who likes doing normal things. What isn’t normal for most ‘young’ people is [...] Related posts: Facebook Pushes into Group Buying Market Facebook’s Potential IPO Filing Pushes RenRen Shares Up 50% Renren Almost Dropped Below Its IPO Price
>> read more
Alibaba Sets a Good Example By Establishing an Environmental Protection Fund (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
Xinhua News reported that China’s largest internet e-commerce titan, Alibaba, has set up a fund called the Alibaba Foundation. The initial fund of 50 million yuan is dedicated to the development and support of China’s environmental protection organizations. Additionally a portion of the funds will be directed at natural disaster relief, as well as to the poor and disabled. Most of the funds will mainly come from donations from Alibaba’s group of companies. “The establishment of the foundation is aimed at creating a good environment for public welfareand arousing awareness among the company’s employees and the public over environmentalprotection,” said Jin Yuanying, secretary general of the foundation. Such a move by Alibaba is a good example for other big and profitable Chinese companies to follow. The wealth of Chinese companies, driven by China’s economic boom, should lead them to consider what greater things can be achieved with their expanding profits. Hopefully Chinese companies will start to realize that chasing short-term profits at the expense of the environment is detrimental in the long term, to not only their profits but their health. This mind shift will take some time though In many Western countries, social responsibility and environmental sustainability has existed for a long time. There is greater awareness, standards and laws enforced in relation to environmental pollution. Many companies create programs for their employees to participate or volunteer in, such as planting trees, [...] Related posts: Yahoo China, Might Be The Next To Say Goodbye Alibaba – CEO resign because of frauds in B2B market TradeSparq Introduces Social Sourcing, It Is the Alibaba Combined With Linkedin
>> read more
Chinese Learning App, Mandarin Madness Launches on iOS and Android (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
Back in November, an Australian start-up called Native Tongue came to Beijing to promote their to be released app, Mandarin Madness at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing. Now, the app has officially been launched on both the iOS and Android platform and sell for 0.99 cents. Mandarin Madness claims to make learning Chinese Mandarin language “Fun, fast and effective” by adding gaming features to it. I know when I first tried to learn Chinese when I was a kid, I found it so boring to the point where I didn’t want to learn. They used old books, crappy cassette tapes and repetitive exercises. I quickly lost motivation. I tested out the Mandarin Madness app out to see if it actually made learning fun, engaging and effective. When you open the app, there are four topics to learn about. Obviously aimed at beginners, you can learn about animals, numbers, clothes and vegetables and claims to teach you 230 words. The purpose is not to teach grammar, but rather vocabulary, listening and character recognition. The game starts out at level 1, where you first watch characters float down from the top of the screen, then you need to match it with the corresponding picture. [...] Related posts: LBS have not yet got popular in China Only 2.1% of Chinese Mobile Developers Plan Working on Symbian Platform, Says 2011 Chinese Mobile App Developers Report Introduction of Four Micro-video Services: Is an era of Micro-video coming?
>> read more
Aliyun to Merge with K-Touch? (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
It all started probably two weeks ago when words were swirling about Alibaba’s potential acquisition of K-Touch, China’s smartphone vendor. The rumor has never been confirmed or denied by both companies. And now the latest update says that one exec of K-Touch said it’s actually Aliyun, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba will be merged into K-Touch. Still, neither made any response yet. People who revealed the information said the two companies will make an announcement in the coming month though. The potential merger means that Alibaba will spin off Aliyun and put it into another company. According to people familiar with the matter, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba commented that the new company doesn’t have much to do with Alibaba except that Alibaba will be one of its stakeholders. As the research and innovation frontier of Alibaba, Aliyun has worked out many cutting-edge technology and products including elastic, on-demand, cloud-based storages for site builders, cloud-based servers, YunOS and so forth. The research arm also developed an Alibaba smartphone which was OEMed by K-Touch, so it’s totally a surprise that the two agreed to a deal. Aliyuan now has a total payroll of about 1200 people, the subsidiary is mainly [...] Related posts: Rumor, Jack Ma Wants to Buy Ctrip Rumor: Tencent/Alibaba to Downsize in 2012? Meituan Snags up Former Alibaba VP as COO
>> read more
Bloomberg reported that Lightspeed Ventures, an international VC firm is said to be finishing raising a new fund worth $875 million. $200 million is said to be ear marked for China based companies. This reflects a growing trend for U.S. VC’s to get a taste of the burgeoning Chinese market where start-ups can take advantage of the enormous opportunities to scale. In September last year, China’s most prominent start-up incubator, Innovation Works closed a US$180 million fund. The fund was backed by famous investors like Ron Conway of SV Angel and Yuri Milner of DST Global. Some of Lightspeed’s most prominent investments in China include 99Bill, an electronic payments company; Dianping, like Yelp; ihaveu, a luxury e-commerce store. They have also invested in LivingSocial in America, the biggest Groupon competitor. So if you are a start-up looking for funds, you can get ready to pitch Lightspeed in China. Related posts: Zero2IPO Group Launches China Venture Database The Founder Institute Expands To Singapore To Boost Local Startups Ecosystem NetDragon and IDGVC Announced $50millions Fund To Invest Mobile App Development Market Related posts: Zero2IPO Group Launches China Venture Database The Founder Institute Expands To Singapore To Boost Local Startups Ecosystem NetDragon and IDGVC Announced $50millions Fund To Invest Mobile App Development Market
>> read more
Zuckerberg Salary to Drop from US$500K to US$1 a Year (Fri, 03 Feb 2012)
Since Facebook filed their registration for IPO with the SEC on February 1st, everyone has been digging into it to uncover information that was formerly very private. One of the more interesting pieces to pry into is how much money the top guys get paid. 27 year old Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO was paid $500k in salary in 2011. However, effective 1 January 2013, his salary will be $1. Sound unfair? Of course it’s not. Based on the upper end valuation of $100 billion after the IPO, Zuckerberg will be worth $28.4 billion. This excludes performance bonuses. According to the filing, in 2011, Zuckerberg “received $220,500 for the First Half 2011 bonus, which reflected the impact of his performance in leading our product development efforts, our success in growing Facebook’s global user base and developing strong developer and commercial relationships.” But has all this wealth changed Zuckerberg as a person? My friend Yuancheng, met Zuckerberg in Beijing last year and said he seemed like an “ordinary young person” Also David Kirkpatrick, the Writer of “The Facebook Effect” told me that Zuckerberg is a normal guy who likes doing normal things. What isn’t normal for most ‘young’ people is [...] Related posts: Facebook Pushes into Group Buying Market Facebook’s Potential IPO Filing Pushes RenRen Shares Up 50% Renren Almost Dropped Below Its IPO Price
>> read more
Alibaba Sets a Good Example By Establishing an Environmental Protection Fund (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
Xinhua News reported that China’s largest internet e-commerce titan, Alibaba, has set up a fund called the Alibaba Foundation. The initial fund of 50 million yuan is dedicated to the development and support of China’s environmental protection organizations. Additionally a portion of the funds will be directed at natural disaster relief, as well as to the poor and disabled. Most of the funds will mainly come from donations from Alibaba’s group of companies. “The establishment of the foundation is aimed at creating a good environment for public welfareand arousing awareness among the company’s employees and the public over environmentalprotection,” said Jin Yuanying, secretary general of the foundation. Such a move by Alibaba is a good example for other big and profitable Chinese companies to follow. The wealth of Chinese companies, driven by China’s economic boom, should lead them to consider what greater things can be achieved with their expanding profits. Hopefully Chinese companies will start to realize that chasing short-term profits at the expense of the environment is detrimental in the long term, to not only their profits but their health. This mind shift will take some time though In many Western countries, social responsibility and environmental sustainability has existed for a long time. There is greater awareness, standards and laws enforced in relation to environmental pollution. Many companies create programs for their employees to participate or volunteer in, such as planting trees, [...] Related posts: Yahoo China, Might Be The Next To Say Goodbye Alibaba – CEO resign because of frauds in B2B market TradeSparq Introduces Social Sourcing, It Is the Alibaba Combined With Linkedin
>> read more
Chinese Learning App, Mandarin Madness Launches on iOS and Android (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
Back in November, an Australian start-up called Native Tongue came to Beijing to promote their to be released app, Mandarin Madness at TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing. Now, the app has officially been launched on both the iOS and Android platform and sell for 0.99 cents. Mandarin Madness claims to make learning Chinese Mandarin language “Fun, fast and effective” by adding gaming features to it. I know when I first tried to learn Chinese when I was a kid, I found it so boring to the point where I didn’t want to learn. They used old books, crappy cassette tapes and repetitive exercises. I quickly lost motivation. I tested out the Mandarin Madness app out to see if it actually made learning fun, engaging and effective. When you open the app, there are four topics to learn about. Obviously aimed at beginners, you can learn about animals, numbers, clothes and vegetables and claims to teach you 230 words. The purpose is not to teach grammar, but rather vocabulary, listening and character recognition. The game starts out at level 1, where you first watch characters float down from the top of the screen, then you need to match it with the corresponding picture. [...] Related posts: LBS have not yet got popular in China Only 2.1% of Chinese Mobile Developers Plan Working on Symbian Platform, Says 2011 Chinese Mobile App Developers Report Introduction of Four Micro-video Services: Is an era of Micro-video coming?
>> read more
Aliyun to Merge with K-Touch? (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
It all started probably two weeks ago when words were swirling about Alibaba’s potential acquisition of K-Touch, China’s smartphone vendor. The rumor has never been confirmed or denied by both companies. And now the latest update says that one exec of K-Touch said it’s actually Aliyun, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba will be merged into K-Touch. Still, neither made any response yet. People who revealed the information said the two companies will make an announcement in the coming month though. The potential merger means that Alibaba will spin off Aliyun and put it into another company. According to people familiar with the matter, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba commented that the new company doesn’t have much to do with Alibaba except that Alibaba will be one of its stakeholders. As the research and innovation frontier of Alibaba, Aliyun has worked out many cutting-edge technology and products including elastic, on-demand, cloud-based storages for site builders, cloud-based servers, YunOS and so forth. The research arm also developed an Alibaba smartphone which was OEMed by K-Touch, so it’s totally a surprise that the two agreed to a deal. Aliyuan now has a total payroll of about 1200 people, the subsidiary is mainly [...] Related posts: Rumor, Jack Ma Wants to Buy Ctrip Rumor: Tencent/Alibaba to Downsize in 2012? Meituan Snags up Former Alibaba VP as COO
>> read more
techblog86: Chinese government launches its own Google, "powered by" People's Daily, communist party newspaper. No tanks. http://is.gd/cX0QC #techblog86
(Mon, 21 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: WordPress 3.0 in simplified Chinese, thanks to @roamlog. It's here: http://is.gd/cWZPs #techblog86 (Mon, 21 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @judyrey: Notice the Trending Topic's has a "Promoted" Tweet for Toy Story. Is Twitter finally making $$$? (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @DavidFeng: Shanghai’s Apple Store: Good For Mid-July? http://bit.ly/aXmDG6 on @techblog86 — @faytoday 用了「阿拉儂上海」的啦，哈 :-P 陸家嘴要開果子店了! (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @DavidFeng: Great stuff! RT @ricowyder: Singapore's getting 1GBit/s. I like! http://nyti.ms/bIR0g8 (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
>> read more
techblog86: WordPress 3.0 in simplified Chinese, thanks to @roamlog. It's here: http://is.gd/cWZPs #techblog86 (Mon, 21 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @judyrey: Notice the Trending Topic's has a "Promoted" Tweet for Toy Story. Is Twitter finally making $$$? (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @DavidFeng: Shanghai’s Apple Store: Good For Mid-July? http://bit.ly/aXmDG6 on @techblog86 — @faytoday 用了「阿拉儂上海」的啦，哈 :-P 陸家嘴要開果子店了! (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
techblog86: RT @DavidFeng: Great stuff! RT @ricowyder: Singapore's getting 1GBit/s. I like! http://nyti.ms/bIR0g8 (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)
>> read more
Review Of Marry Me Sugar Daddy
(Sun, 15 Jan 2012)
Marry Me Sugar Daddy is one of the best sugar daddy sites on the web for wealthy men looking for beautiful women to share their life and interests with. The site offers a variety of options depending on what you are looking for in a relationship but the site it geared for more long term [...]
>> read more
Top 10 Dive Sites (Mon, 09 Jan 2012)
Trigger Valley is one of the top 10 dive sites: There is a Thila inside the channel with 2 narrow sandy channels on either side. These narrow channels in this amazing dive site are occupied by the Titan Triggerfish and used as a mating ground. Be aware of the Titan Triggerfish and don’t get close [...]
>> read more
Best Dives Sites in World (Fri, 06 Jan 2012)
Filitheyo Kandu is one of the best dive sites in world. The Filitheyo Kandu dive site is a hugely popular diving location in the Maldives, a channel spanning 2 kilometers which is comprised of 3 smaller dive sites; Filitheyo Outside, Filitheyo Thila and Dolphin Corner. The dive location Filitheyo Thila is a “U”-shaped reef, with [...]
>> read more
Best Dive Sites (Tue, 03 Jan 2012)
Broken Rock may be amongst the best dive sites. Apart from Kudarah Thila, Broken Rock is most probably one of the the most well-known dive sites in the South Ari Atoll. This Thila is literally a broken rock with a 2-metre wide canyon that splits the small Thila in two parts, from the west to [...]
>> read more
Dive Sites (Sun, 01 Jan 2012)
The dive sites on the top of the thila is like untouched reef with stunning table corals. These layered coral formations offer plenty of protection for the Maldivian marine life such as the morays and shy reef fish. There are cleaner wrasse stations peppered all around the reef and it is not uncommon to spot [...]
>> read more
Marry Me Sugar Daddy is one of the best sugar daddy sites on the web for wealthy men looking for beautiful women to share their life and interests with. The site offers a variety of options depending on what you are looking for in a relationship but the site it geared for more long term [...]
>> read more
Top 10 Dive Sites (Mon, 09 Jan 2012)
Trigger Valley is one of the top 10 dive sites: There is a Thila inside the channel with 2 narrow sandy channels on either side. These narrow channels in this amazing dive site are occupied by the Titan Triggerfish and used as a mating ground. Be aware of the Titan Triggerfish and don’t get close [...]
>> read more
Best Dives Sites in World (Fri, 06 Jan 2012)
Filitheyo Kandu is one of the best dive sites in world. The Filitheyo Kandu dive site is a hugely popular diving location in the Maldives, a channel spanning 2 kilometers which is comprised of 3 smaller dive sites; Filitheyo Outside, Filitheyo Thila and Dolphin Corner. The dive location Filitheyo Thila is a “U”-shaped reef, with [...]
>> read more
Best Dive Sites (Tue, 03 Jan 2012)
Broken Rock may be amongst the best dive sites. Apart from Kudarah Thila, Broken Rock is most probably one of the the most well-known dive sites in the South Ari Atoll. This Thila is literally a broken rock with a 2-metre wide canyon that splits the small Thila in two parts, from the west to [...]
>> read more
Dive Sites (Sun, 01 Jan 2012)
The dive sites on the top of the thila is like untouched reef with stunning table corals. These layered coral formations offer plenty of protection for the Maldivian marine life such as the morays and shy reef fish. There are cleaner wrasse stations peppered all around the reef and it is not uncommon to spot [...]
>> read more
Japan
Domains with .tokyo could be available next year
(Wed, 11 Jan 2012)
From next year, Internet users may be able to have domain names ending with .tokyo, .sendai or .canon in e-mails and Web sites, according to sources. At least five local governments and two Japanese companies--Canon Inc. and Hitachi Ltd.--have indicated they plan to register their names for top-level domains under a plan to massively increase the number of available domains on the Internet. Domains are a set of Internet addresses that come after an "@" mark. The ones installed in the root zone of e-mail and website addresses are called top-level domains. There are only 22 top-level domain categories, including one for countries, such as Japan's .jp. Companies typically use the .com category, while .org is for nonprofit organizations. In 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S. nonprofit organization that manages domains across the globe, decided to liberalize the usage of top-level domains. It will begin receiving applications for the new domains from Thursday to April and then examine whether it will allow them to be registered ahead of their expected use next year. (Yomiuri)
>> read more
Japan developing cyber weapon (Sun, 01 Jan 2012)
Japan has been developing a virus that could track down the source of a cyber attack and neutralise its program, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday. The weapon is the culmination of a Y179 million ($A2.28 million) three-year project entrusted by the government to technology maker Fujitsu Ltd to develop a virus and equipment to monitor and analyse attacks, the daily said. The United States and China are reported to have put so-called cyber weapons into practical use, Yomiuri said. Japan will have to make legal amendments to use a cyber weapon as it could violate the country's law against the manufacture of a computer virus, the daily said. (MSN)
>> read more
Used bookstores turn to Internet sales for a lift in turbulent times (Fri, 30 Dec 2011)
When talking about books, there are not as many polarizing issues as the
contrast between chain bookstores and independent booksellers. Many people blame the former group for the gradual disappearance of the latter. Without demonizing the big chains, independent shops
have traditionally been an important part of the local community. This is particularly true for the English-language used bookstores which for many years have been serving the expatriate community
across Japan. The two only surviving shops in Tokyo - Good Day Books and The Blue Parrot - are devoted to their mission and plan to stay around for many more years to come. (Japan Times)
>> read more
Softbank, Alibaba seeking partners to take over Yahoo (Wed, 09 Nov 2011)
Softbank Corp. and China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are talking with private-equity funds about making a bid for all of Yahoo Inc. without the company's blessing, sources said. Alibaba and Softbank, in an effort to buy back stakes owned by Yahoo, have grown impatient with a lack of progress in direct talks with the firm, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. The two companies aim to work with partners that haven't signed nondisclosure agreements circulated by Yahoo that can make it harder to bid for the whole company, the sources said. Yahoo prefers to sell a smaller stake, rather than cede complete control, they said. (Japan Times)
>> read more
World's biggest blog obsession (Mon, 05 Sep 2011)
Internet users in Japan spend more time reading blogs than any other country in the world, according to a recent study from comScore, a research company measuring the digital world. The average Japanese user spent 62.6 minutes reading blogs during June of this year, when the survey was conducted. That was far more than second-place South Korea with an average of 49.6 minutes and third-place Poland with 47.7 minutes. Japanese may appear busy and overworked, but they manage to squeeze in a lot of blog time. (Japan Times)
>> read more
From next year, Internet users may be able to have domain names ending with .tokyo, .sendai or .canon in e-mails and Web sites, according to sources. At least five local governments and two Japanese companies--Canon Inc. and Hitachi Ltd.--have indicated they plan to register their names for top-level domains under a plan to massively increase the number of available domains on the Internet. Domains are a set of Internet addresses that come after an "@" mark. The ones installed in the root zone of e-mail and website addresses are called top-level domains. There are only 22 top-level domain categories, including one for countries, such as Japan's .jp. Companies typically use the .com category, while .org is for nonprofit organizations. In 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S. nonprofit organization that manages domains across the globe, decided to liberalize the usage of top-level domains. It will begin receiving applications for the new domains from Thursday to April and then examine whether it will allow them to be registered ahead of their expected use next year. (Yomiuri)
>> read more
Japan developing cyber weapon (Sun, 01 Jan 2012)
Japan has been developing a virus that could track down the source of a cyber attack and neutralise its program, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday. The weapon is the culmination of a Y179 million ($A2.28 million) three-year project entrusted by the government to technology maker Fujitsu Ltd to develop a virus and equipment to monitor and analyse attacks, the daily said. The United States and China are reported to have put so-called cyber weapons into practical use, Yomiuri said. Japan will have to make legal amendments to use a cyber weapon as it could violate the country's law against the manufacture of a computer virus, the daily said. (MSN)
>> read more
Used bookstores turn to Internet sales for a lift in turbulent times (Fri, 30 Dec 2011)
When talking about books, there are not as many polarizing issues as the
contrast between chain bookstores and independent booksellers. Many people blame the former group for the gradual disappearance of the latter. Without demonizing the big chains, independent shops
have traditionally been an important part of the local community. This is particularly true for the English-language used bookstores which for many years have been serving the expatriate community
across Japan. The two only surviving shops in Tokyo - Good Day Books and The Blue Parrot - are devoted to their mission and plan to stay around for many more years to come. (Japan Times)>> read more
Softbank, Alibaba seeking partners to take over Yahoo (Wed, 09 Nov 2011)
Softbank Corp. and China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are talking with private-equity funds about making a bid for all of Yahoo Inc. without the company's blessing, sources said. Alibaba and Softbank, in an effort to buy back stakes owned by Yahoo, have grown impatient with a lack of progress in direct talks with the firm, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. The two companies aim to work with partners that haven't signed nondisclosure agreements circulated by Yahoo that can make it harder to bid for the whole company, the sources said. Yahoo prefers to sell a smaller stake, rather than cede complete control, they said. (Japan Times)
>> read more
World's biggest blog obsession (Mon, 05 Sep 2011)
Internet users in Japan spend more time reading blogs than any other country in the world, according to a recent study from comScore, a research company measuring the digital world. The average Japanese user spent 62.6 minutes reading blogs during June of this year, when the survey was conducted. That was far more than second-place South Korea with an average of 49.6 minutes and third-place Poland with 47.7 minutes. Japanese may appear busy and overworked, but they manage to squeeze in a lot of blog time. (Japan Times)
>> read more
New Tag Results, from Technorati and Ingboo
(Fri, 05 Mar 2010)
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
>> read more
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
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なんでも逆さまに喋れる女の子（動画）：Girl Can Say Any Word Backward
(Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
>> read more
フェイスブックのS1書類の社是～中国はどこ？：Facebook Mission Statement per S1 - Where's China? (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
>> read more
バーンズ＆ノーブル、アマゾン出版本を店頭で売らない宣言：Barnes & Noble Won't Sell Amazon Books. War Begins (Wed, 01 Feb 2012)
>> read more
エベレストのエレベーター：Everest Elevator (Tue, 31 Jan 2012)
>> read more
ジョブズはゲイツの手紙をベッドの脇に置いて逝った：Bill Gates: 'I wrote Steve Jobs a letter as he was dying. He kept it by his bed’ @Telegraph (Sat, 28 Jan 2012)
>> read more
>> read more
フェイスブックのS1書類の社是～中国はどこ？：Facebook Mission Statement per S1 - Where's China? (Thu, 02 Feb 2012)
>> read more
バーンズ＆ノーブル、アマゾン出版本を店頭で売らない宣言：Barnes & Noble Won't Sell Amazon Books. War Begins (Wed, 01 Feb 2012)
>> read more
エベレストのエレベーター：Everest Elevator (Tue, 31 Jan 2012)
>> read more
ジョブズはゲイツの手紙をベッドの脇に置いて逝った：Bill Gates: 'I wrote Steve Jobs a letter as he was dying. He kept it by his bed’ @Telegraph (Sat, 28 Jan 2012)
>> read more
Korea
Moved
(Fri, 29 Jul 2011)
Moved: This blog is only for archiving purposes Check out:
My Google+ page My new blog My homepage
>> read more
Open Web Asia is Here Again (Wed, 07 Jul 2010)
Open Web Asia, the conference that I created together with some good folks, was last held in October 2008. In 2009, we nearly held the Open Web Asia '09, but the plan faltered as the main sponsor backed off at the last minute (and besides I was too busy having my freshman year at Google.) But the good spirit lives on, and a group of energetic and capable folks in Malaysia rekindled the pulled off the South East Asia version of Open Web Asia -- dubbed "Open Web Asia South East Asia" or "OWA-SEA". It's a very long name, but as I expect the future Open Web Asia conferences to take place in various cities in Asia, I think it makes more sense if we just go with the city-as-the-postfix system, a la TEDx. Open Web Asia SEA will be held in KL, Malaysia next week. The conference will host great local speakers (and some foreign ones including myself, and Serkan Toto over at Techcrunch), and the conference has already seen 270+ registrants. (You can register here.) I'm really hoping this to become yet another successful Open Web Asia conference. The guy who is doing the bulk of heavy-lifting for this conference is Daniel CerVentus. Daniel and I exchanged many emails and I'm really looking forward to meeting him in person finally. He and I have a lot to catch up, as we both know what it takes to pull off a conference of this scale. Another heads-up for the Open Web Asia conference is that Dr. Gang Lu and his gang (no pun intended ;-) are preparing another Open Web Asia in Taiwan, hopefully to be held this year. Yet another good news is that we have started talks for sponsorship for Open Web Asia Seoul 2011, and it looks very promising so far. (It's too early to share any plans at this point though.) For any future Open Web Asia's, I will check back and share any progresses; For the upcoming one in Malaysia, I will try to cover any interesting companies that catches my attention. But I'm sure Serkan will do a much better job spotting and introducing interesting services anyway.
>> read more
Recapping Geeks on a Plane (Wed, 07 Jul 2010)
Sorry about the long blogging silence -- ever since I became the main product manager at Google's Blogger, I've been too swamped. I am learning tons of new stuff these days, and those are definitely worth a separate post later on. I figured a good place to pick up from where I left off with my blogging was recapping on the Geeks on a Plane Seoul, a conference held about a month ago in Seoul. About 20 "geeks" from Silicon Valley and the rest of the world flew all the way to Asia and spent nearly three weeks learning about Asia's IT and Web (while at it, of course, doing lots of social drinking and friendship building.) I organized the Seoul leg of the conference and it was a blast. Given the short time we had (only one full Sunday), Geeks on a Plane Seoul was squarely focused on startup pitches. Though some companies left room for improvement in their deliveries (Korean startups should hone their elevator pitch skills!), in general the pitches were very good. Thanks to our brave journalist Serkan Toto, we had a very good coverage on Techcrunch. If you are a startup in Seoul Korea, you don't get to be featured on Techcrunch every day. Especially, John Kim of Paprika Lab had the honor of having his big headshot featured on the Techcrunch post. I met with one of the startup CEOs that pitched in GOAP, and he said his company has seen a new, increased level of interest from investors and other folks after the Techcrunch post. There is also a blog with detailed introductions to some of the companies that presented in the GOAP Seoul. The blog is here, and it's running on none other than Google's Blogger platform (what a coincidence! :-) Hope the next year's GOAP will stop by Korea too - next time, hopefully with more folks (so we can have a bigger party!)
>> read more
Are You Kidding Me? A Bizarre Story About Online Gaming (Thu, 04 Mar 2010)
A bizarre, sad story related to online games. A married couple in Suwon, Korea has been arrested by the police for negligence of their parental duties. The couple left their three month old baby starve to death, because they were "too obsessed with online gaming." Ironically enough, it turned out that the online game they were playing to their baby's death was themed around, well guess what, raising a virtual avatar. So in short, the couple were too busy taking care of their "virtual baby" that they kept their "real baby" completely unattended and starved to death. The game is called "Prius Online" and the players can adopt an avatar and grow it. Game players can also buy the avatars virtual items such as clothes, or even write a blog about their avatars, much resembling a parenting diary. The parents in charge are said to have been under great parenting stress, presumably due to their financial difficulties, and as their parenting stresses mounted, they became more and more obsessed with the game -- their "escape" from the real world. This is really unheard of, but I'm afraid the world might see more incidents like this as games become more real and blur the lines between the real world and the virtual world. Unlike packaged games, online games and MMORPGs often do not have a clear ending, forcing users to put in endless amount of time and energy into the game. Some players become seriously obsessed with the game and play it for days straight without a wink of sleep. After days of immersive gaming, they might get to confuse the real world and the virtual world, like the way the characters in the movie Avatar gradually became more familiar with the virtual world.
>> read more
1forME is Korea's Etsy (Tue, 23 Feb 2010)
1forME is a newly launched Korean e-commerce site that sells hand-made, artists-produced goods. That's quite a mouthful, but long story short: 1forME is Etsy of Korea.
Etsy saw a gross merchandise sales of about
US$ 180M last year, showing some 105% year-over-year growth. This shows that the handmade goods e-commerce is a proven business model, and for every proven business model there's always an Asia
opportunity, especially if the model is culture-neutral. Well, both e-commerce and the love for handmade goods seem to be pretty universal concept, I guess.
But according to the company's heatmap, Etsy doesn't seem to have a big Asia presence. This
leaves plenty of room for Asian startups to grab the opportunity. 1forME has just thrown hat in the ring, a move that's expected to be followed by many others in the region.
>> read more
Moved: This blog is only for archiving purposes Check out:
My Google+ page My new blog My homepage
>> read more
Open Web Asia is Here Again (Wed, 07 Jul 2010)
Open Web Asia, the conference that I created together with some good folks, was last held in October 2008. In 2009, we nearly held the Open Web Asia '09, but the plan faltered as the main sponsor backed off at the last minute (and besides I was too busy having my freshman year at Google.) But the good spirit lives on, and a group of energetic and capable folks in Malaysia rekindled the pulled off the South East Asia version of Open Web Asia -- dubbed "Open Web Asia South East Asia" or "OWA-SEA". It's a very long name, but as I expect the future Open Web Asia conferences to take place in various cities in Asia, I think it makes more sense if we just go with the city-as-the-postfix system, a la TEDx. Open Web Asia SEA will be held in KL, Malaysia next week. The conference will host great local speakers (and some foreign ones including myself, and Serkan Toto over at Techcrunch), and the conference has already seen 270+ registrants. (You can register here.) I'm really hoping this to become yet another successful Open Web Asia conference. The guy who is doing the bulk of heavy-lifting for this conference is Daniel CerVentus. Daniel and I exchanged many emails and I'm really looking forward to meeting him in person finally. He and I have a lot to catch up, as we both know what it takes to pull off a conference of this scale. Another heads-up for the Open Web Asia conference is that Dr. Gang Lu and his gang (no pun intended ;-) are preparing another Open Web Asia in Taiwan, hopefully to be held this year. Yet another good news is that we have started talks for sponsorship for Open Web Asia Seoul 2011, and it looks very promising so far. (It's too early to share any plans at this point though.) For any future Open Web Asia's, I will check back and share any progresses; For the upcoming one in Malaysia, I will try to cover any interesting companies that catches my attention. But I'm sure Serkan will do a much better job spotting and introducing interesting services anyway.
>> read more
Recapping Geeks on a Plane (Wed, 07 Jul 2010)
Sorry about the long blogging silence -- ever since I became the main product manager at Google's Blogger, I've been too swamped. I am learning tons of new stuff these days, and those are definitely worth a separate post later on. I figured a good place to pick up from where I left off with my blogging was recapping on the Geeks on a Plane Seoul, a conference held about a month ago in Seoul. About 20 "geeks" from Silicon Valley and the rest of the world flew all the way to Asia and spent nearly three weeks learning about Asia's IT and Web (while at it, of course, doing lots of social drinking and friendship building.) I organized the Seoul leg of the conference and it was a blast. Given the short time we had (only one full Sunday), Geeks on a Plane Seoul was squarely focused on startup pitches. Though some companies left room for improvement in their deliveries (Korean startups should hone their elevator pitch skills!), in general the pitches were very good. Thanks to our brave journalist Serkan Toto, we had a very good coverage on Techcrunch. If you are a startup in Seoul Korea, you don't get to be featured on Techcrunch every day. Especially, John Kim of Paprika Lab had the honor of having his big headshot featured on the Techcrunch post. I met with one of the startup CEOs that pitched in GOAP, and he said his company has seen a new, increased level of interest from investors and other folks after the Techcrunch post. There is also a blog with detailed introductions to some of the companies that presented in the GOAP Seoul. The blog is here, and it's running on none other than Google's Blogger platform (what a coincidence! :-) Hope the next year's GOAP will stop by Korea too - next time, hopefully with more folks (so we can have a bigger party!)
>> read more
Are You Kidding Me? A Bizarre Story About Online Gaming (Thu, 04 Mar 2010)
A bizarre, sad story related to online games. A married couple in Suwon, Korea has been arrested by the police for negligence of their parental duties. The couple left their three month old baby starve to death, because they were "too obsessed with online gaming." Ironically enough, it turned out that the online game they were playing to their baby's death was themed around, well guess what, raising a virtual avatar. So in short, the couple were too busy taking care of their "virtual baby" that they kept their "real baby" completely unattended and starved to death. The game is called "Prius Online" and the players can adopt an avatar and grow it. Game players can also buy the avatars virtual items such as clothes, or even write a blog about their avatars, much resembling a parenting diary. The parents in charge are said to have been under great parenting stress, presumably due to their financial difficulties, and as their parenting stresses mounted, they became more and more obsessed with the game -- their "escape" from the real world. This is really unheard of, but I'm afraid the world might see more incidents like this as games become more real and blur the lines between the real world and the virtual world. Unlike packaged games, online games and MMORPGs often do not have a clear ending, forcing users to put in endless amount of time and energy into the game. Some players become seriously obsessed with the game and play it for days straight without a wink of sleep. After days of immersive gaming, they might get to confuse the real world and the virtual world, like the way the characters in the movie Avatar gradually became more familiar with the virtual world.
>> read more
1forME is Korea's Etsy (Tue, 23 Feb 2010)
1forME is a newly launched Korean e-commerce site that sells hand-made, artists-produced goods. That's quite a mouthful, but long story short: 1forME is Etsy of Korea.
Etsy saw a gross merchandise sales of about
US$ 180M last year, showing some 105% year-over-year growth. This shows that the handmade goods e-commerce is a proven business model, and for every proven business model there's always an Asia
opportunity, especially if the model is culture-neutral. Well, both e-commerce and the love for handmade goods seem to be pretty universal concept, I guess.
But according to the company's heatmap, Etsy doesn't seem to have a big Asia presence. This
leaves plenty of room for Asian startups to grab the opportunity. 1forME has just thrown hat in the ring, a move that's expected to be followed by many others in the region.
>> read more
New Tag Results, from Technorati and Ingboo
(Fri, 05 Mar 2010)
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
>> read more
Technorati and Ingboo have partnered together to provide an all new kind of subscription experience for Technorati content, including tagged posts. Look for a blue Ingboo icon for a full range of subscription options. Feeds are also available for: Hottest Blogosphere Posts Latest Original Articles from Technorati The Technorati Blog We also have channel feeds, writer feeds, and editorial tag feeds, which can be found on their respective pages.
>> read more
Print Version
