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China

Living in China: Shanghai’s bad habits surveyed

As part of the preparations for the Shanghai World Expo, the Shanghai municipal government has marked the 600 day countdown by publishing a report on ‘uncivilized behavior‘ among locals. The report is based on an online survey in which over 5,000 Shanghai citizens were polled on what kind of behavior they consider annoying or rude […]

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China Consumer Behavior

Gaming in China: 55.5 million Chinese play online games

China’s online game market has expanded noticeably. To date the number of online gamers in China has reached 55.5 million, a recent report said. Statistics show that, of the total number of online gamers, those under the age of 22 accounted for 52.5 percent, gamers with education backgrounds of junior college level and below made up 77.1 percent, those with no income accounted for 30 percent. Gamers in the group with an income are mainly concentrated at the income level of 1,001 to 2,000 yuan […]

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Design Innovation

Elizabeth Gilbert’s “A different way to think about creative genius” talk at TED

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk […]

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China Consumer Behavior Information Technology Trend Watching

Internet in China: Search engine users up 33.6% year-on-year, exceeding 200 million

Search engine users in China reached 203 million by the end of 2008, with a yearly growth rate of 33.6 percent, according to the latest statistics released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) recently. The “2008 Report on Chinese Search Engine User Behavior” published by CNNIC points out that the search engine market continued to develop at a high speed in 2008, and more netizens began to try search engine services with different characteristics […]

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China Consumer Behavior

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: Beijing has more cars on roads

Beijing registered 65,970 new motor vehicles in the first 45 days of 2009, with a daily increase of 1,466, according to the municipal traffic authority. That brought the total number of automobiles in the city to 3.56 million as of February/2009, according to figures from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau […]

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Design Innovation Software

Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry ‘Sixth Sense’ demo at TED

This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine Minority Report and then some […]

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China

Gaming in China: Chinese government says no to “Wrath of the Lich King”

JLM Pacific Epoch reports the Chinese government “has rejected two applications by the second expansion for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King since China’s Spring Festival (January 25 – February 1).”

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Design Information Technology Software

Autodesk Announces New Infrastructure Modeling Software for Utilities, Telecommunications and Governments

Autodesk announced new Infrastructure Modeling software products, which help users in utilities, telecommunications organizations and government agencies improve the design and management of their infrastructure. Autodesk’s portfolio of products — including AutoCAD Map 3D 2010, AutoCAD Raster Design 2010, Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2010, and Autodesk Topobase 2010 — provides users with an intelligent and comprehensive […]

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China

Living in China: “Rising unemployment hit migrant workers” video

Tania Branigan, from the Guardian, reports on the rising unemployment among the migrant workers in China…

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China Economics

Intellectual Property: U.S. claims victory in WTO complaint on China piracy, China vows copyright cooperation

The United States claimed victory recently in a groundbreaking World Trade Organization case against China for failing to protect and enforce copyrights and trademarks on a wide range of goods. ‘Today, a WTO panel found that a number of deficiencies in China’s IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) regime are incompatible with its WTO obligations,’ acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said in a statement. The International Intellectual Property Alliance, a coalition of U.S. music, movie, book and software industry groups, conservatively estimates that piracy in China costs them more than $3.7 billion in lost sales. The WTO ruling means China and other nations ‘can’t simply go through the motions’ of protecting intellectual property, but must provide effective results, Neil Turkewitiz, an executive vice president at the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement…