The Tech Dynasty

Green Dam bursts under Netizen pressure

Jul 2, 2009 09:33

I had meant to post this yesterday when I learned of it, but having my nation's birthday to celebrate proved too much of a distraction--apologies. So, if you've not yet heard, Green Dam Youth Escort appears to be dead.

What was, as of July 1, to be mandatory censorship software installed on all new computers in China, has been indefinitely delayed due to a lack of prep time being given to hardware manufacturers.
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Obama loves his Blockberry

Jun 25, 2009 15:47

I don't have the strength or wherewithal to blog about yet another block, so instead of talking about the blocked/not-blocked status of Google today in the PRC, I thought I'd go instead with a bit of levity.

Fortunately China's shanzhai culture never leaves a man wanting for a chuckle, and it is especially amusing when that pseudo product offers up the latest un-authorized endorsement from a celebrity in a Chinese ad. This time it's none other than the President of the United States, Barack Obama, touting the wonders of his beloved BlackBlockberry.

From WSJ China Journal: "The ad promotes a smartphone called the "BlockBerry旋风 9500" (旋风, xuanfeng, means "whirlwind"), that more-than-slightly resembles the BlackBerry Storm, Research In Motion's (RIMM) first touch-screen device, released last fall. The touch-screen BlockBerry purportedly runs on Windows Mobile software, has WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G wireless capabilities, and comes in six colors, from purple to champagne."

The post astutely points out that the image contains some rather sloppy design work, with the image of Barry-O having been reversed, causing the lapel pin to not only appear on the wrong side, but with the flag backwards as well -- I guess (ahem) accuracy wasn't what the ad is going for.

The tagline beneath Obama reads: "Obama's BlackBerry. My Blockberry旋风 9500"

When China Journal contacted MobileUncle, the Web site where the ad first appeared, they were informed that the producer of the Blockberry is a factory in Shenzhen, which despite the name on the ad, is not called Haff-Comm. Shanzhai or not, this WiFi/Bluetooth enabled, 3G ready, Windows Mobile handset, is sure to be a popular product when it hits electronic markets and online Taobao shops next month sporting the relatively low price tag of around 1500 RMB ($220 USD) -- the Blackberry Storm runs about double that.

(h/t FarWestChina/HHR)

Green Dam Youth Escort: A summary of the Holey Harlot

Jun 19, 2009 18:01

Not since the release of Windows Vista has such a poorly designed, expensively developed, non-mandatory but strongly encouraged, scenically sounding piece of software created such a buzz as has Green Dam Youth Escort.

The new was-said-to-be-mandatory-but-now-isn't-and-maybe-never-was software, produced for the Chinese Government as a way to protect the world's most massive population from the evils of fairer skin tones, has everyone up in arms.
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Harmonization goes one step further, soon to be on all Chinese PCs

Jun 9, 2009 10:23

Well, it's June 9--five days after that anniversary of events that "never happened"--and Internet access is limping back to normal here in the PRC. Twitter is unblocked and Flickr is... erm... flickering back to normal. YouTube and Blogspot are still out, but maybe those switches are in a different GFW building or something. I'll be patient.

And just as the sun was beginning to shine on my online experience, I get this news:
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Chinese block darn near everything ahead of Tiananmen Anniversary

Jun 2, 2009 18:20

I intentionally try to keep things apolitical here on The Tech Dynasty. This is a tech blog, and politics have little to do with the wonderfully utopian world of technology.

However, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention what an absolute pain in the butt living in China can be when anything remotely controversial pops up. This Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the violent suppression of the student-led demonstrations of 1989, putting everyone in the upper echelons of Chinese politics on edge.
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