Archive for: china
Foxconn has been in the news quite a bit this past year, though not in the way that I’m sure the executives would like. First it was for poor working conditions. Then it was for mass suicides occurring on a daily basis attributed to the poor living/working conditions. And now some more less than stellar news for the consumer electronic manufacturering giant. Truth be told, it’s not really another “bad” story per say. Just a handful of pictures from a recent Wired/Gizmodo project showing the rather bleak living arrangements in this factory that honestly looks like it hasn’t seen much TLC in years.
Supposedly, Foxconn recently outsourced their building upkeep and maintenance to a third party to avoid conflicts of interest lawsuits. While we’re on the topic of the building itself, you’ll see from the images inside that the interior decor is completely void of any “homey” feeling. Stark, dirty walls, a lone TV (they have one per floor) in the TV room, and rooms that look more like jail cells spell out a life that lacks any type of creature comforts.
If you’re interested to see what working minimum wage in your typical overcrowded Chinese factory is like, hop on through. It’s actually quite eye opening…
Apparently the iPhone 4 is a smashing success over yonder in China, for all of their brick & mortar Apple stores have completely depleted their stock of the popular handset. If you’re a Chinese resident and still want in, you’ll have to take your cash online if you hope to score any touchscreen action. Of course, if scalpers wouldn’t snap up every damn device that’s available and then resell them at exorbitant prices, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
But regardless of who is or isn’t buying up all of the Chinese iPhone 4′s, there is something to look forward to. November should see stock once again replenished if physical purchases are still your go-to method.
- September 30, 2010 3:13 pm
‘Tis a bad day to be an iPhone 4 scalper in Beijing. Apparently, the Apple store in said city relaxed restrictions on the number of iPhone 4′s any one person could by. As you can imagine, scalpers and re-sellers swarmed down on the location like a colony of flies on a nice, fresh animal carcass. Unfortunately for the scalpers (or flies if you prefer), the mad rush caused so much commotion that the store was closed by security. Once reopened, the per-person restriction was back in place at (1) iPhone 4 per human body.
How bad was it? Apparently, the scalpers were buying 20-30 at a time and then marking them up considerably (above the already high contract-free price of $800 USD) and reselling them within the same mall. From the reports I’ve seen around the web, it was literal chaos. It’s pretty nuts that some people will get so riled up over something as simple as a phone. Was it worth it guys?
And the battle wages on…
The latest in an almost juvenile yet entertaining (and I’ll admit it, liberating) move by Google has them yet again, sticking it to the red man. We’ve already seen Google close up shop with their .cn search page, choosing to redirect it to google.hk — Hong Kong’s freer flowing version. China responded by filtering results. So Google countered again with another “catch me if you can” by implementing the now common accompanying Twitter feed essentially killing two censored birds with one stone. First off, the Twitter feeds included in search results are not censored, including plenty of highly controversial topics involving China. Second, Twitter itself has been more or less banned in China for obvious reasons. Awesome, a twofer!
So now we all just sit back and wait for China to make their next move and then see how Google responds. It’s fun for me and I’m sure it’s fun for a lot of you out there. Nothing like a little playground justice, huh?
LA Times Tech Blog
Since Google made their bold stance to pull out of China regarding censorship issues earlier this year, the internet world has been in a firestorm. More recently however we’ve actually seen more controversy and actions taken regarding the “bigger picture”. For instance, this past week GoDaddy announced that they too would be following in Google’s footsteps and abandoning any further .cn domain registrations. Also on the list of potential movers is Dell, whom stated the idea was on the table.
One company whom so far has publicly (and rather proudly) voiced that they will continue operations in China is that of Microsoft. Former CEO Bill Gates was quoted saying:
At some point you have to ask yourself, do you want to do business in that country or not…”
Microsoft PR has gone on further stating that while they [Microsoft] appreciate other companies’ stances on the censorship/China issue, Microsoft remains committed to China and obeying local laws.
It is this stance that has Microsoft in the cross-hairs of the US Government body who took to their podiums today to denounce Microsoft’s decision as foolish and short sighted while simultaneously praising Google for theirs. And for the most part, I agree with the governments stance.
For me personally, Microsoft’s viewpoint leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Their defense — that they’re merely obeying local laws — is a bullshit excuse and response. What if China supported mass genocide and the killing of red headed step children thanks to specially crafted chips implanted in every person residing in the country at birth that allowed constant 24/7 tracking? If Microsoft made such a chip for much broader users, would they continue to directly deal with China and sell them said chips simply because they were merely “obeying the law”?
Now I realize the genocide example is an extreme example that fortunately is not taking place (in China anyway). But the main point still stands. Merely pushing off all of their reasoning as “because they said so” is the worst defense Microsoft could use. In the end it leaves them looking like pro-communist anti-consumer rights supporters which isn’t exactly the image they want to portray.
So again I ask: Is this all getting overblown or is Microsoft treading a fine line?
DailyTech
Security, censorship, and internet rights are all the rage right now aren’t they? Fresh off of the previous post on the ACTA leak and older news of Google and China, fresh information is surfacing that has Dell doing as Google — pulling out of China. With Dell’s rumored exile, that would be two major companies to stand up and speak out against China’s overly aggressive tactics when it comes to the digital world. The plan for Dell is to supposedly hop on over to India where they already have another plant.
Critics are already coming out and labeling the move as more of a pricing tactic (land, taxes, etc.) than a “don’t be evil” Google-fied move. That tactic is plausible no doubt. But threatening to pull a $25 billion dollar business out of China simply to get cheaper land rates in either country seems mighty risky don’t you think? Especially considering how publicized it is going to be.
Guess we’ll have to sit back and watch. What do you think of Dell’s new found conscious?
DailyTech
Google took the tech world by storm back in early January by stating (out of the blue I might add) that they were going to cease censoring search results in China and that if China pushed back, the California based company was going to pull out of China all together. Yet here we sit almost two months later and not much else has developed besides a few comments hurdled back and forth between the Chinese government and Google. To most, we’ve already written off Google’s future in China as pretty much finished. I mean, China is one of the most censored markets in the world whereas Google is one of the most outspoken on such policies — complete opposites. Consider it a pretty substantial surprise then that Google announced today, more or less “positive” negotiations with the Chinese government.
Today at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, CEO Eric Schmidt went ahead and stated that “while there was no set in stone time-table yet, he sees a resolution happening in the not too distant future”. Should we cheer? Or should we stand back, holding on to our truckload of caution? I’m siding with the latter for now. China isn’t exactly the negotiable type at the world table, nor have they every really shown that they care what the rest of the world thinks of them. But if there is any truth in Schmidt’s response, consider it one of the greatest revolutions in the modern technical era. If such a concession is made by the Chinese government, I will be generally intrigued to see how other companies follow suit.
Think there’s any chance Google can “win” in China?
Cnet News
[Image Source]
- February 17, 2010 11:17 pm
You know, with each passing day of not being able to see the Olympics live either how I want on TV or god forbid, stream anything worthwhile, it becomes more and more clear — NBC flat out sucks as a network. Earlier this year they handled the whole Tonight Show/Jay Leno/Conan Obrian fiasco in a less than stellar manner and now they are in the process of making this one of the worst Olympics yet. To say coverage is terrible is a gross understatement. The blatant tape delays until prime time are greed at it’s worst and a complete pain in the ass for those who actually care about the games, as by the time they actually see the tape delayed events, the outcomes of each have been spilled onto the internet in one form or another. But so far, this is all from the viewers perspective. That is until US Skier Jake Zamansky started tweeting of NBC’s shit filled Olympic’s broadcasts as well. Then it got interesting.
Earlier today, Jake Zamansky made a few critical tweets calling out NBC. The tweets were then automatically pulled onto the NBC Olympic website’s live scrolling Twitter feed. Pretty funny stuff huh? Oddly, NBC didn’t feel the same way. Instead, they’ve gone ahead and begun removing any and all negative or critical tweets from Jake Zamansky’s athlete Twitter page — censorship at it’s finest.
Perhaps the saddest part is in the fact that CCTV in China — a government run TV channel in a communist country who routinely takes pride in censoring outside media — has more and better live coverage of the Olympics. What does that say for NBC’s corny “fireside chats” each and every night, recapping old news and Olympic highlights that our hours upon hours old? All of this grief is merely touching on the TV aspect. We haven’t even gotten into the whole live streaming thing yet.
To recap: NBC completely butchers live Olympics coverage for their own personal gain — not in any way to actually broadcast and showcase the games in any sort of way….and they censor the hell out of critics. Awesome! Hopefully NBC doesn’t get their hands on the next Olympics and ruin them too. Then again, they couldn’t suck any more than they do now…
AlleyInsider
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The big news on the interwebs a couple of weeks ago centered around this small little attack on Google by some nefarious hackers originating outside of the county. After some digging around, the general consensus is that it came from China, more importantly the Chinese government. Even a few weeks later, the whole Google/China scene is a cluster and actually finding the people responsible has proven to be quite difficult even for someone with pretty extensive resources such as Google.
Google is done fooling around though. They’re hiring the big guns. Under a new agreement still in the final stages of being hammered out, Google will begin enlisting in the NSA to track down the culprits behind the Google attack from mid-January. Right away privacy watch groups will call out Google for shifty practices as giving the government extensive access to the copious amounts of data collected by Google has trouble written all over it.
Initially, I’m pretty optimistic that the right intentions will be sought. Looking further into the future however, I’m more skeptical. We’ve already seen governments excising full control of user data for their own agendas in secrecy in places such as the UK — which just so happens to have one of the most robust cyber security/monitoring networks in the world.
I’m not trying to over-hype this Google-NSA relationship nor am I trying to drum up fear mongering. I’m merely voicing legitimate worries that I assume any normal human would have. But now I’m turning the tables on you. Is finding those responsible for the Google attack, with a rather slim chance of any actual legal recourse, worth sacrificing vast amounts of user data? And will this unholy union lead to further, more serious privacy issues later on down the road?
Drudge Report > Washington Post
