Hasta La Gadget!

The world’s largest Internet population got a lot bigger in the past year, jumping 20,3 percent to 450 million–that’s more than a third of the country’s population of 1.3 billion.

Of course, that massive number of users aren’t able to access the whole of the Internet. The Chinese government has been notoriously hard-lined in its censorship of those sites it deems a threat. In the past year, the government has shut down more than 60,000 sites and removed more than 350 million pieces of content deemed pornographic.

A number of high profile America sites including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been blocked as well. According to Chinese authorities, VoIP service Skype is next on the list.

If you own a flat screen TV, a hybrid, a PC, or any number of cell phones, chances are you own a small but very sought after piece of China. The country accounts for 97 percent of the world’s rare earth production, which is used in all manner of gadgets, and it recently announced plans to scale back exports by 10 percent in 2011. The move probably won’t have a big impact on the average consumer, but it’s certainly gained a lot of attention on the world market: the US threatened action in the World Trade Organization, stocks for rare earth mining companies spiked significantly, and Sony Corp. vowed to decrease its dependence on the minerals. It’s actually not like the rest of the world is lacking for rare earth resources — American’s are actually sitting on 13 million metric tons of the stuff, which companies in the US and Canada are making a mad dash to mine. Trouble is, just getting the stuff out of the ground isn’t enough — China still has a monopoly on rare earth processing, and US companies are reluctant to spend the eight years and minimum $500 million necessary to construct a chemical separation plant. So what does all this mean for you? Well, not a whole lot, unless you happen to be China’s Minister of Commerce, in which case you should probably stop surfing the web and get back to work.

China tightens hold on rare earth exports, markets soar originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Yahoo!  |  Reuters  | Email this | Comments

There are run-of-the-mill KIRFs, above-average KIRFs, and this. While we’ve definitely been privy to a few comical iPhone / iPod knockoffs over the years, there’s a certain layer of hilariousness to this one that just can’t be beat. The iPod nano watch isn’t even a genuine Apple product; in fact, it’s simply a mod that’s so easy, your mum could probably pull it off with minimal effort. That clearly hasn’t stopped the factories in Shenzhen from churning out an iPod nano watch knockoff, complete with a 1.8-inch resistive touchscreen, inbuilt SIM card slot, Bluetooth, a microSD slot, FM radio tuner, a side-mounted camera sensor and a speaker for good measure. You’ll even get a fancy “Slide to Unlock” screen before being able to dig into the underlying UI, but that chintzy plastic wrist strap all but destroys any respect it was hoping to garner. Thankfully, the unit you’re peering at above is being dubbed an “engineering prototype,” with the final version expected to boast a 3.5mm headphone jack and a modicum of self-worth. We’ll see, won’t we?

iPod nano watch gets knocked off, has little to worry about it originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink M.I.C. Gadget  |  M8Cool  | Email this | Comments

So just what is the Creative ZiiEagle Movie Box? What exactly do you get from this? Here’s what we’ve gathered:

• A set-top box featuring 668 movies from Celestial’s Shaw Brothers Film Collection.
• “3,000 years of Chinese culture and secrets of the much elusive ‘Confucian thing.'”
• A price tag — 888 Singapore dollars ($676 in US currency) — that “solves the perennial video piracy problem in one stroke.”
• The reason for that awesome picture above to exist.

Singapore, consider yourself enlightened, and consider your days of video piracy officially numbered.

Creative ZiiEagle Movie Box promises 3,000 years of Chinese culture in one sleek burgundy package originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZiiEagle, Creative  | Email this | Comments

There’s not much to see right now, but it appears that Red MR is well on its way to becoming one of the most advanced (and probably the most amusing) karaoke bars in the world. Ahead of its Hong Kong debut this Saturday, said company has already installed six Surfaces in its two bars, and is aiming to fit more to fill up all 80 rooms — and that number could go up to 300 in the near future — once Microsoft has ramped up production. With Red MR’s customized software (still under wraps), customers will be able to pick songs, order food, watch TV, and play games on the Surface while listening to a drunk rendition of My Heart Will Go On. Oh, and there’ll also be a few Kinects dotted around the bars, but it’s not exactly clear whether they’ll be in the rooms as well. Anyhow, we’ll be flying out to Hong Kong to check it out later this week, so stay tuned. For now, you can watch a demo of the Surface’s Liar’s Dice game after the break.

Update: Our friends over at M.I.C Gadget found a video from Apple Daily that teases the karaoke UI. Have a look after the jump.

Continue reading Microsoft lands its largest ever Surface order… from a karaoke bar (update: new video)

Microsoft lands its largest ever Surface order… from a karaoke bar (update: new video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Engadget Chinese  | Email this | Comments