Showing posts with label web and tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web and tech. Show all posts

Welcome to Google HK, China!

0 comments Posted by S. at 3/27/2010

So after long battles with the Chinese government about censorship issues, instead of pulling out of China completely, Google decided to move its google.cn to the HK servers. So when you type in google.cn you actually get redirected to a google.com.hk page that is catered to the China market (i.e. the interface language is simplified Chinese as opposed to HK's traditional Chinese and the search results actually bring up China sites as opposed to HK, etc).


During dinner tonight we had a quick debate on whether it was a good idea for Google to do so and what the CPC's view of this is. Perhaps it actually benefited both parties, as Google hasn't pulled out completely since they're now in a free market state that's still part of China. Meanwhile, the government can save face (God knows how important face is to Chinese people) by showing that they have unwavered and Google was the one forced to make the adjustment. With the servers out of mainland China, the great firewall of China can now censor all results on the China catered google.com.hk. No Google censorship help needed; win-win situation. OR Google just made a horrible move by pissing the government off even more -almost like a "na-na-na-nana you can't catch me" taunt.

During dinner I was agreeing with the former. But on the way home, I started thinking about how the Chinese government has been handling this since the move. The first thing that came to my mind, which speaks loudly of the government's pov, is that they have combed through all Chinese bbs forums and deleted every Google-favouring post and thread. And they didn't stop there. With some social seeding work, they planted threads and posts here and there to fuel negativity towards Google.

As we all know, the CPC is pretty good at telling people what and how to think. Then again, those who would actually care and notice the Google censorship issue are the more educated and hopefully can think for themselves. But most importantly, widely affected are expats who cannot live without google and those are the same expats who would have bought a VPN to climb over the great firewall of China.

Anyway, at the end of the day maybe it doesn't really matter since Baidu (a Made in China search engine) owns more than 50% of the market share and Google China only brings in 1% of their revenue.

 

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A Model Who Kills with Hair

0 comments Posted by S. at 7/19/2008

Sega has a new videogame on the drawing board. Though the storyline is kept secret until next year, I already know it's going to be one of my favourite games since GoldenEye on the N64. The heroine on the game will be struting the turf like she's on catwalk and transforming her hair into a boot, when necessary, to kick butt. Just think, it'd be even cooler if when she kicks high, Christian Louboutin's famous red sole will flash before us. And maybe Pantene or someone will do some product placement and attribute her strong hair to a new Hair Strenghtening Conditioner. Hmm.. maybe they'll let us download a new wardrobe each season to keep up with style.

Who doesn't love a stylish, butt-kicking girl with great hair?

 

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The Mac Cult is Worldwide

0 comments Posted by S. at 7/17/2008

I was thinking about Reverend Run's writing posts on his Blackberry in his bathtub and that maybe I should do the same, in my bathtub and on my iPhone, my 2G iPhone.

Yesterday I attended an iPhone party in Hong Kong. It was basically a networking event, organized by MACitizen and HKU Mac User Group, for people with ideas for iPhone apps, people who can develop the apps, people who can provide a platform for the apps and everyone in between. And then there were the outliers like myself, who is a passerby of the city and wanted to see what the scene is like in Asia in regards to the web and tech. Communities here seem to be pretty strong. Hopefully I'll get to check some more stuff out in the near future.

At the party I also met this guy who started a weekly networking event called Web Wednesday for those in digital and internet media in Hong Kong. He's on an expansion with this event throughout Asia, and has been contacted by a guy in Beijing who wants to bring it there. Since I'm heading up there on Tuesday and going to be there for a while with my next adventure, I'll probably contact him and maybe he can help me navigate the industry in China.

Sadly though... I didn't win the iPhone they were giving out at the party.

 

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