Archive for ‘Technology’

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30/06/2014

Meme Manufacturing: China Taking Orders for Suarez Bite Bottle Openers – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Well known for his dives, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez is deft at selling fouls that didn’t happen.

Now he’s become a business opportunity for online vendors in China skilled at selling products that don’t exist.

With the hope of cashing in on Mr. Suarez’s infamous biting of Italian player Girogio Chiellini during Uruguay’s World Cup win over Italy last week, almost 200 merchants on Taobao, the e-commerce site run by China’s Alibaba, are selling Suarez bottle openers.

A screenshot shows an advertisement on Taobao for a Luis Suarez can opener. “One bite and its open, it says. Taobao

Using a Photoshopped image that went viral after the game of Mr. Suarez’s mid-bite visage grafted onto a plastic figurine and preparing to chomp down on a bottle lid, the vendors are selling the openers for as little as 15 yuan ($2.50).

“One mouth, one opener….one bite and it’s open,” read one advertisement.

Given the social media storm that followed the bite, the openers could sell briskly. The problem is, like part of Brazil’s World Cup infrastructure just weeks before the tournament, it doesn’t exist yet.

As cunning in the cut-throat world of Chinese e-commerce as Mr. Suarez is on the field, Taobao vendors contacted by China Real Time gave different motivations for putting up advertisements for the products.

One vendor, who was advertising the openers for an outrageously expensive 9,999 yuan, admitted he didn’t actually expect to sell the product. Instead, he said, he was using Mr. Suarez’s outburst as a marketing opportunity.

“Honestly, I won’t really sell it at that high price even if I have it on hand. It’s just for pleasure,” said the vendor selling under the name Drinchlee. “I was just doing it for entertainment around the World Cup, and you can take a look other stuff that I am selling, such as football teams T-shirts!”

Others were more serious about turning the meme into cash. One vendor with the screen name Lin Mumu0393 said he had received 108 orders and that he was still working with manufacturers to make the product. He said he would have limited supplies in two weeks.

via Meme Manufacturing: China Taking Orders for Suarez Bite Bottle Openers – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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27/06/2014

China’s Maker Movement Gets Government Support for DIY Workshops – Businessweek

On a Wednesday night in late May, about 60 people assembled in a warehouse in downtown Shanghai for a presentation on how to make mini sports cameras like the popular GoPro (GPRO). The meeting was organized by XinCheJian, one of China’s first hackerspaces, which offers workshops for participants interested in design and technology to create everything from robots to smartphone apps.

A 3D printer makes a miniature chair during the China International Technology Fair in Shanghai on May 8, 2013

The weekly gatherings attract 30 to 150 people and offer them a way to share ideas, skills, and inspiration. After attending a meeting in 2012, Rockets Xia, an environmental advocate with a Chinese nongovernmental organization, was so impressed by a 3D printing demonstration that he quit his job and went to work for DFRobot, a Shanghai-based company that makes robotics kits and other hardware for hobbyists.

The popularity of XinCheJian, which means “new factory,” is a sign of China’s joining the growing maker movement—what former Wired editor Chris Anderson in his 2012 book Makers described as the “third industrial revolution,” in which entrepreneurs use open-source design, 3D printing, and crowdfunding to manufacture goods on their own. In China, 30 independent hackerspaces, including XinCheJian, have opened across the country.

via China’s Maker Movement Gets Government Support for DIY Workshops – Businessweek.

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24/06/2014

China’s Government Admits Chinese Patents Are Pretty Bad – Businessweek

For years, China’s leaders have exhorted the country’s businesses to become innovative. After all, a glorious country like China that is reasserting its role as a global superpower should be known for more than just its copycat and me-too companies. So while Chinese presidents come and go, the message is the same: Whether it’s Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, or the current boss, Xi Jinping, the country’s leaders have consistently talked about the importance of local innovation. Paraphrasing Xi’s remarks at a speech earlier this month at the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Xinhua news agency reported that the government’s goal is to “push forward the fusion of science and [the] economy, so that science and technology strength can be transformed into industrial and economic power.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in Beijing on June 9

By China’s own scorekeeping, though, the country’s innovators still have a way to go before they can meet the Communist Party’s expectations. While the number of patent applications inside China is “booming,” according to a report today by Xinhua, “the quality of patents is still poor.” Writing about a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, Xinhua added, “China owns very few patents featuring originality and high or core technology.” Fewer than 1,000 Chinese patents have won recognition from counterparts in the U.S., Europe, or Japan, added Xinhua.

China is making progress. The gold standard in international patents remains the U.S., and Chinese from the People’s Republic applied for almost 6,600 patents in the U.S. last year, according to data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  That’s just ahead of France and more than double the number from India. China had the sixth-largest number of patents granted by USPTO. Still, China’s innovators are hardly leaders in the U.S. The Chinese total of 6,597 U.S. patents puts it far behind Japan’s 54,170 applications. Even more embarrassing, Taiwan, the island that Beijing considers a province of China, had 12,118 patent applications granted.

via China’s Government Admits Chinese Patents Are Pretty Bad – Businessweek.

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17/06/2014

China’s Gray-Haired Set Could Boost Digital Shopping – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Online shopping in China isn’t just for the young, according to a new survey. That could be good news for an already quickly growing e-commerce industry that largely caters to the young.

While the bulk of online shoppers are still in their 20s and 30s, a survey published Tuesday by data provider Nielsen said the number of online consumers aged 55 or older grew 72% between 2012 and 2013. It cited data from Taobao, one of China’s largest shopping websites, which is owned by Alibaba Group, though it didn’t release the underlying figures.

“China could become the world’s most aged society by 2030,” said Tao Libao, a Nielsen official with responsibility for e-commerce, in a prepared statement. “The elderly online consumers deserve more attention from both current online retailers and brick-and-mortar retailers who are going to venture online.” People aged over 60 could be 30% of China’s population by 2030, Mr. Tao said.

They survey said they tend to be more careful shoppers, attracted by easy price comparisons and special discounts given that they often have less income than younger people.

“It’s cheaper to buy online,” said Zhang Jinnian, a Beijing shopper in her fifties who has been using the internet to shop for the past year. In that time she has bought clothes, shoes and a bicycle online. “It’s always more expensive in a store,” said Ms. Zhang, who declined to give her exact age.

via China’s Gray-Haired Set Could Boost Digital Shopping – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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11/06/2014

Mozilla to Sell $25 Smartphones in India and Indonesia – India Real Time – WSJ

Smartphones as cheap as $25 powered by Mozilla Corp.’s software will be available in India and Indonesia later this year, an executive said.

Mozilla has been pitching its Firefox mobile operating system for low-cost smartphones in emerging markets as an alternative to Google Inc.’s Android and iOS from Apple Inc. through partnerships with major handset vendors, carriers and assemblers since July.

The U. S-based company has collaborated with four handset makers such as ZTE Corp.000063.SZ +1.32% , LG Electronics Co. 066570.SE +0.13% and five wireless carriers including Telefonica SA, TEF.MC -0.16% Deutsche Telekom AG DTE.XE -0.59% ,America Movil SAB AMX.MX -0.30% to launch five Firefox-powered smartphones in Europe and Latin America so far.

But the price for these smartphones are above US$60 and are still too expensive for most consumers in India and other Southeast Asian countries, Mozilla Chief Operating Officer Gong Li said in an interview on the sidelines of the Mobile Asia Expo.

“One U.S. dollar means a lot of things to consumers in emerging countries. It’s difficult to sell smartphones that cost more than US$50 in those markets,” he said.

To tap the next billion first-time smartphone users, Mozilla is collaborating with Chinese chip maker Spreadtrum Communications Inc. to unveil a low-cost chipset that enables smartphones to be priced at $25 this year.

“With a $25 price tag, there is no price gap between a smartphone and a feature phone. This attractive price point would help motivate feature phone users to switch to smartphones,” said Mr. Gong.

via Mozilla to Sell $25 Smartphones in India and Indonesia – India Real Time – WSJ.

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06/06/2014

Stunning fossil eggs provide insight on ancient flying reptiles | Reuters

A spectacular fossil find in China – a prehistoric egg extravaganza from 120 million years ago – is providing unique insight into the lifestyle and gender differences of pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs.

An artist rendition depicts ecological reconstructions of Hamipterus, the flying reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs. REUTERS/Chuang Zhao/Handout via Reuters

Until now, only four pterosaur eggs had ever been found, and all were flattened during the process of fossilization.

But Chinese scientists said on Thursday they had unearthed five pterosaur eggs preserved beautifully in three dimensions at a site in northwestern China that also includes no fewer than 40 adult individuals of a newly identified species that lived in a bustling colony near a large freshwater lake.

“This is definitely the most important pterosaur site ever found,” said paleontologist Zhonghe Zhou, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences‘ Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

The creature, Hamipterus tianshanensis, had a crest atop its elongated skull, pointy teeth for catching fish and a wingspan of more than 11 feet (3.5 meters).

via Stunning fossil eggs provide insight on ancient flying reptiles | Reuters.

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06/06/2014

China’s Xiaomi, the World’s Fastest-Growing Phone Maker – Businessweek

On May 15, behind the curving, imperial facade of the China National Convention Center in Beijing, a veteran technology executive named Lei Jun walks onstage before a thousand raucous fans and members of the media. It’s a familiar scene everywhere now, and like many technology chiefs, Lei peppers his talk by ticking off some of the recent successes enjoyed by his company, the mobile device maker Xiaomi. Sales have been higher than expected; more than 50 million people use the company’s MIUI operating system. Then he gets to the new products, which today are a smart TV that can be controlled with an app and an Android-powered tablet computer, called Mi Pad, that comes in five colors and is priced to undercut the iPad mini. “I hope through our endeavor we can make Apple (AAPL) feel some pressure,” Lei says.

Lei established a “10-to-10” schedule at the company

The crowd reacts to each product revelation as if it’s a World Cup goal. The hardware is indeed slick—the TV has the latest high-def specs, and the tablets are the first devices to use the newest processor from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA). But Lei is delivering another, more potent message. He’s effectively giving an hourlong demonstration of an historic moment: China, for the first time, has its own technology brand that consumers truly lust after.

Following the event, the fans mill around in the Beijing smog, taking selfies with their MiPhones, waving Xiaomi signs, trading impressions of the new gadgets. Some made 15-hour trips to be here. Zhi Yuan, 28, who took a seven-hour train ride from Shandong province, proudly shows off his Xiaomi phone, the economical Redmi model. He likes it because it’s easy to use. Lei, he says, “can understand our wishes. He knows what Xiaomi fans want.”

via China’s Xiaomi, the World’s Fastest-Growing Phone Maker – Businessweek.

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06/06/2014

Creativity advances as patent filings rise – China – Chinadaily.com.cn

An increase in overseas patent applications from Chinese applicants is a positive sign for China’s innovation and economy, World Intellectual Property Organization Chief Economist Carsten Fink said.

WIPO emblem.

WIPO emblem. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to the WIPO, China’s patent office became the world’s largest intellectual property office in 2012 in terms of the number of its patent applications, but Chinese patent applicants did not file their patents as frequently abroad in other countries as did those from the United States, Europe and Japan.

Fink said that a changing picture was observed as patent filings abroad by Chinese companies and research institutions have been growing rapidly.

The WIPO found in its new study that the growth of Chinese patent filings abroad increased significantly after 2000, with a five-year average annual growth rate of 40 percent between 2000 and 2005, and 23 percent since 2005.

“That is important because on the one hand, it signals that Chinese companies really operate on the world technology frontier, and (on the other hand) it also suggests that indeed they are pushing the world’s technology frontier. That is a good sign for China’s innovation system,” Fink said.

Fink stressed that overseas patent filings weighed heavily for China’s economy and could be a positive boost.

“That will help Chinese companies to transfer their business models from the past one that relied on low wages to another one that will rely more and more on new technologies, new products and new ideas,” he said.

via Creativity advances as patent filings rise – China – Chinadaily.com.cn.

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23/05/2014

The Secret Weapon Behind China’s Booming Online Retailers? Women – China Real Time Report – WSJ

The secret weapon for many of China’s booming e-commerce companies is women, who shop more, spend more and generate bigger profits. Though the income of Chinese women is generally lower than that of men, they are also more likely to spend on themselves.

As the WSJ’s Wei Gu reports:

A new crop of Chinese e-commerce companies has harnessed the power of female consumers. Shares of Vipshop Holdings Ltd., which specializes in branded apparel at big discounts, have soared 30-fold since the company went public in New York two years ago. Women are 75% of the customer base and provide 90% of the revenue.

The company said it chose apparel because it is more profitable than alternatives such as electronics, which appeal more to male buyers. VIPshop’s gross margin is a healthy 25%.

…

The companies are embracing a research-supported stereotype: Devoted shoppers are disproportionately female. A third of Chinese consumers shopped online more than 40 times in 2013, according to iResearch, a Chinese Internet tracking firm, and 59% of those frequent shoppers were women.

“The ones that are succeeding in China’s e-commerce space are the female-dominated ones,” said Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research. “The optimism level for female is considerably higher, and they drive retail sales.”

A survey of 1,000 Chinese consumers by China Market Research found that 62% of the women between 25 to 45 plan to spend more in the next six months than in the previous six months, compared with only 52% of the men in that age range. Younger women, aged 24 to 35, are the most optimistic of all.

If they found themselves with extra money, Chinese women say they would spend on clothing and health products, while also setting some aside as savings, according to Nielsen. Women in developed markets would spend on a vacation and pay off debt, as well as saving some. As many as 86% of Chinese women believe their daughters will do well financially, versus less than 40% of women in developed countries.

via The Secret Weapon Behind China’s Booming Online Retailers? Women – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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16/05/2014

China to build new hi-tech power network to help fight pollution | South China Morning Post

China will build the world’s largest high-power electricity transmission network as part of the country’s efforts to battle smog and pollution.

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The State Grid Corporation of China – the world’s largest state-owned utilities company – said on its website that the central government would soon approve plans for the construction of 12 power lines connecting the energy-rich interior with heavily industrialised coastal areas. The initial investment is estimated to be at least 210 billion yuan (HK$264 billion).

The 12 projects include eight ultra-high-voltage (UHV) lines, which offer distinct advantages over conventional power lines by transmitting electricity over significantly longer distances with far greater efficiency. Energy losses from UHV power lines are five to six times lower than the conventional ones, studies show.

Despite some concerns about the project – especially the vulnerability of such a broad network to system-wide failures – the emerging technology is being hailed as an ultimately far cleaner, more efficient way to deliver electricity across the country.

State Grid claims UHV power lines can reduce the density of PM2.5 smog particles, which are considered most dangerous to human health, by 4-5 per cent in central and eastern regions and cut coal consumption by 200 million tonnes a year.

via China to build new hi-tech power network to help fight pollution | South China Morning Post.

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