internet - The power of the buyer

When the internet emerged, many thought - and some feared - it would signal the end of many authoritarian regimes. In that way the internet has proved to be much more a tool that is changing the world as we know it dramatically, but can be used in very different ways.
The CSMonitor illustrates how unexpected the use of the internet can be in China in this very telling story on what is called 'team buying'. In stead of democracy Chinese internet users use the internet to buy a cheaper washing machine. Now, it emerged in Guangzhou, but this might we a really big hit everywhere.

internet - Jumping the firewall

Asiapundit (who I missed because he changed RSS-feeds without telling) gives an overview of the methods to jump the leaky firewall of China's internet censors. For veterans like AP climbing that firewall is a standard procedure, but for the newbies in China his articles might have some very useful tips.

internet - Skypelag replaces jetlag

It feels a bit like a jetlag, but it cannot be, since I have not seen an airplane. Hard to concentrate, a light feeling and a tendency to dooze off. This morning I was talking to a colleague in Amsterdam and she came up with a diagnosis, after listing to my complaints. "You have a skypelag".
So, then "Skypelagged" would be the best way to describe my state. I'm currently brokering half a dozen deals between mostly internet-savvy people on at least three continents. In most cases they have not yet really met, but would now and then wave through webcams to each other.
They will get their jetlags too, but for the time being talking and negotiating over the internet seems to work fine. I guess it is time to prepare writing a book on this modern illness. The Skypelag.

labor - Attending the international Wage Indicator Conference

In June I will be attending an international conference in Amsterdam for the Wage Indicator Project.
Officially I will be representing the China Wage Indicator that will be launched in the coming months, but it will also be a great opportunity to meet people and see what direction the noses are pointing. Last year eight European countries were added to the project, now it includes Argentina, Brazil, India, the USA, South Africa. South Korea and a pilot project in China will be next. Very exciting all.

life - Trips to Maasbree and Zwolle

On Sunday and Monday I'm traveling in the Netherlands, a planned trip on Sunday to Maasbree (Mothersday!) and an unexpected one to Zwolle. Not really place where I expect many of my readers, but you never know. Let me know by email if somebody is around. Late Sunday evening drinks could be possible in Hotel Wientjes, where I'm expected to stay or I might still have an hour left on Monday, before I leave Zwolle early afternoon.

internet - Skypecast delayed till Tuesday

The announced Skypecast on Technorati, China and cultural bias will be delayed until Tuesday. A trip on Sunday is suddenly expanded to Monday and I'm not sure I can be online. So, we have a try on Tuesday. Apologies for the change.

law - What if law firms ignore the law?

I'm a bit surprised by a tone of indignation from foreign law firms, especially in Shanghai, who fear a crackdown, as China Confidential says here, and China Law Blog says here. What is the problem? The Shanghai Lawyers Association notes in a memorandum that some foreign law firms develop illegal activities and urge for action from the government.
Foreign law firm do have strict limitations on what they can and cannot do in China. They do need a lot of licenses and if they do not have it, and have only a status as representative office for example, they have even less legal rights than those with a license have. Foreign firms can for example never litigate, just a hobby they tend to practice in their home countries.
The Chinese regulations and laws on law firms are strict but not that remarkable. What is remarkable that those foreign firms obvious have been able to get away by doing illegal activities. Now, when their competitors complain about that, and when the government might act on legitimate complaints about illegal activities, how can they complain?
Would you hire a law firm that is involved in illegal activities? Let's get real, I would say.

internet - Testing Skypecasting II

I just played around using Skypecasting a bit, as a preparation for a larger test on Monday. The number of people hanging around right now is still pretty low: I have met some of the same names in different Skypecasts.
What might scare off people a bit is that you have to accept a "Skype-out" call to enter a session. While my credit was not touched, that might still be a barrier. In the future Skype might actually start to charge for some extra services and that is probably why they have added this function that does not make sense for a free service.
Sounds quality was rather different. Sometimes of a much lower quality you would get on a one-to-one skype call or on a regular conference call. Sometimes is was excellent. Functionality works pretty well, you can mute people and in emergencies even kick them out. I did so a few times to test the system and people were back pretty fast. So, when somebody really wants to be a nuisance, you cannot keep them out. Guess that is one of the functions you might have to pay for later: to have a really private conference.

labor - China restricts college enrollments

When I saw the news that the State Council is going to restrain the enrollment of new students in an Indian paper, I thought they would have it plainly wrong. But here, in the China Daily, I now see the same item.
I'm not sure whether this is a smart move.
At the end of the 1990s China's universities initially doubled the intake of students, without investing more in teachers, buildings and other resources. In terms of numbers that did have its effect on the numbers. Last year the total number of students was even five million, while in 1998 the number was slightly over one million.
That has been bad for the overall quality of the education and large numbers of graduates now end up getting no jobs, despite their degrees. Now the traditional Chinese eagerness to get educated has to be brought under control again, the China Daily noted.

China will face serious difficulties during the next two quarters with 60 percent of new graduates facing unemployment, according to a report published by the National Development and Reform Commission.

internet - "BBS more important than weblogs"

Sam Flemming of CIC data talks to China Tech News about his new company monitoring the internet in China.

Blogku Media will be an interesting one to watch to see how they adapt this western model to China. Unlike the west, there aren't a comparatively large number of "A-List" bloggers that have potential to generate a lot of income through advertising, at least not yet--with definite exceptions like Keso and celebrity bloggers like XuJingLei.
For now, we believe that there are more interesting conversations and larger volume of conversations on BBS, than blogs, especially for our clients.

If time allows Sam will join my test of Skypecasting on Monday when we want to talk with the Shanghai webloggers group about the recent events at Technorati, the global weblog search engine trying to get a more international flavour by adding celebrity-blogger Xu Jinglei to its top-100.

media - "How can I not slaughter you?"

The Shenzhen tour guide Wu Jingmin published a book on his experiences, after first having caused a hype over the internet, explains ESWN in this translation of an article in the Nanfang Daily.
China and the internet are ideal to create a buzz and obvious it changes the way how books are being published.
This does seem an interesting book that should be translated in full for all those poor foreign tourists coming to China. For Wu Jingmin it would be an extra way to make money. No everybody is happy about the image the tourist industry in China gets:

"This affair will directly the image of tourism in Shenzhen. Will tourists dare to join the groups organized by the tourist agencies?" A veteran Shenzhen travel agency worker decried. "How can it be as frightening as he put it? There may be individual instances, but he makes them sound as if this is everywhere."

internet - Testing Skypecasting

The VOIP-company Skype has launched a new feature that allows us to hold online meetings with up to one hundred people. Now, it is too early to say it will work, but it seems interesting enough to try to do some online testing. I'm planning a small-scale test on Monday (in the evening in China) to discuss the latest developments on Technorati with the Shanghai webloggers.
Isaac Mao just tells me he did some testing with twenty people and it worked excellent.
This is mainly for testing, so I will announce the details to the group of volunteers that have signed up by then. In a later phase we will try to get a hundred people together to test the limits of the systems. Please skype me if you're interested to join in the first test.

internet - MSN Spaces: not blocked but just hard to get in

When a website is hard to get in, in China most people think it is the official firewall or nanny that tries to stop them. Frank Dai of Global Voices explains that the largest provider of weblogs, MSN Spaces, is not blocked, but just has changed its way to login. He ads some information to get access again.
Some site remain officially blocked and you would need a proxy to get to them, like the weblogs hosted at blogger.com and the largest online encyclopedia Wikipedia. I'm still in the dark about what is happening to the search engine for weblogs Technorati. There are troubles in getting access, but when I test the route the testing system just breaks down, unlike with 'normal' blocks where you can see where the problem actually is.

Incident at the Meihe mine

media - Beating up the journalists

ESWN translates two reports by Chinese journalists who were beaten up while reporting on a mining accident in Jilin province. The story is not that uncommon: local interests and those of the central authorities often collide. When journalists, representing in their own way governmental interests, get in the middle, they might get beaten up.

media - The future of Reuters

Mark Glaser of Mediashift has a great start for a discussion on the future of Reuters. But I'm missing an important aspect, I comment on this piece: (tipped by Rebecca)

Of course news wires can be paid for by their governments like AFP or Xinhua. But that is a business model for the 19th century, Reuters has at least a business model for the 20th century. I'm eager to learn from the business models of the 21th century.

internet - Technorati puts up Sina homepage as no.1

Sam Flemming called me to point at his latest entry, telling the world Xu Jinglei has lost her second position at the Technorati top 100. (We just are too eager to tell about it, so we do not wait till the rss-feeds work). The winner is now the home page of the Sina.com blogs. It tooks us ten seconds to decide that this was a mistake.
When you search blogs, you do not search the interfaces that lead to those blogs, do you? At least things are moving and BoingBoing is down to no.3. We all wonder who will be tomorrow's number one.

media - The troublesome magazine market

Danwei gives an overview of the possibilities to start a print publication in China. Very little has changed here over the past few years, getting access is still troublesome in the offline world. They only mention three options, while there are at least five, perhaps even six. For example using a book number, of publishing in Hong Kong. But those have, just as the other three options, severe limitation.

internet - Moving on the Technorati-discussion

The debate whether Technorati is a truly international search engine for weblogs or just an American one with since a few days a Chinese one on top is mainly going on offline. Apart from Xu Jinglei, Sam Flemming mentions a few other Chinese weblogs that deserve a place on their top-100. Massage Milk, Pan Shi Yi and Zheng Yuanjie.
Only getting the few famous weblogs in would be a nice cosmetic change, but would not make the search engine as such better. Most of the (over 600) hosts for Chinese weblogs are not configured to let Technorati search, and that they have in common with many French, Iranian and other hosts. Technorati now says they would only search databases that want to be searched. I feel that when they really want to call themselves a global service, they should do something about it. Most services do not really care about getting listed, since they see no added value. That is, I think, the real question to tackle.