Despite the fact that Axl Rose is the only original member left in Guns N’ Roses, his (I say "his" because this is truly one man’s project with the help of some hired hands) album Chinese Democracy is quite possibly the most anticipated album in history. At this point (and I can say this as a huge fan of the original band), it’s not even that people expect it to be good.
Baidu Blocked By Major Chinese Sites
It appears that Baidu, the Chinese search giant, has hit a bit of a stumbling block. Some major portals and social networks in its home market have stopped the company’s spiders from indexing their sites.
Chinese Watch Olympics Online At Work
Large numbers of Chinese are going online to watch the Olympics while at work as employers prevent them from watching the events on television.In a survey by marketing company Carat China, half of respondent said they watch the Olympics online while at work. Online live streaming or replays of the Games increased on weekdays when fans were not able to watch television due to work.
Shuttered Chinese Vid Sites Still Pull VC Cash
One supposes if one has access to billions, what’s tens of millions on a calculated bet? One could say that, but one still gets upset when one loses money in the pop machine. In the case of some Chinese online video sites, it’s more like three pop machines. Doh!
Blogger Busts Chinese Propaganda Photo
It’s no wonder the Chinese government doesn’t really trust the Internet. It makes it a lot easier to call them out. Darn those democratic institutions! Chinese bloggers and forum members forced a photographer to admit he doctored a photo for the good of the State. It’s not that there aren’t pregnant chiru antelope in Tibet, it’s just that they’re usually not pregnant in June. And trains scare them.
Chinese Freedom Fighter Slams Google
You have to love sometimes the rhetoric of freedom fighters. The US had Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale. More recently, China has university professor Guo Quan, who, after being deleted from Google’s index at the behest of the government, called Google "a servile Pekinese dog wagging its tail at the heels of the Chinese communists."Ooh. I love it when people get all revolutionary.
Chinese Democracy Advocate To Sue Google, Yahoo
On the (sort of) bright side, few people were probably deprived of the information – it’s not as if Google and Yahoo are all that popular in China. The downside is that both companies seem to have suppressed something yet again. Also, they will soon be sued for doing so.
Chinese Can Only Access Video from State-controlled Companies
You knew it had to happen sooner or later: China is cracking down on Internet video. Under the new regulations, Chinese web surfers will only be able to access video from state-controlled companies. It looks like these regulations will effectively kill user-generated and other video sharing sites. However, as the AP reports, there is some uncertainty there:
Google Applauds Chinese Talent Pool
In America, much of Google’s success is attributed to its brilliant employees. In China, there’s no reason that the situation would be any different, but as a bonus, the company could gain a competitive edge by hiring locals.
Chinese Searches Hijacked
Domains containing the word “search” in China were hijacked yesterday… pointing to search engine Baidu (and partly, another government website).