Tag: china
Google launching free, legal, music downloads… in China
Internet giant Google today launched a service that provides completely free, legal downloads of songs from all four major labels. The caveat? It’s only available in China. Damn.
There will be over 350,000 tracks available at launch, from both Chinese and Western markets. Users will be able to search by artist and song name, but also by the level of ‘beat’ in the song, and its ‘instrumentality’, whatever that is.
Google’s making the move due to massive levels of piracy in the world’s most populous country. The search engine lags behind its competitor Baidu in the country, mainly thanks to Baidu’s MP3 search functions. This launch should help Google compete in a market where 99% of music consumed is illegal.
Google’s free music service (via Reuters)
Man killed by exploding mobile phone
A man in his twenties in Guangzhou, China, has died after an exploding mobile phone severed an artery in his neck. He’d just replaced the battery after charging it. It’s unclear what make or model the phone was, or if it was a dodgy third-party battery, but police are investigating.
Amazingly, it’s the ninth recorded death by exploding phone in China since 2002. One man died when his battery overheated due to the heat of an iron mill he worked at and blew a hole in his chest. Since this incident however, newspapers have published advice on how to avoid mobile phone explosions that I think we can all take on board. Click through to see them over the jump.
Canon doesn't make vacuum cleaners
Today, ladies and gentlemen, Canon did not announce a vacuum cleaner. It didn’t announce one yesterday either, or one the day before. In fact, it’s never announced a vacuum cleaner. That’s why Canon’s Russian service personnel were a little confused when people started calling saying that their vacuum cleaner was broken.
What seems to have happened is that a major electronics supplier bought a job lot of vacuums that a dodgy Chinese factory had produced with the Canon label, figuring (correctly) that it’d help them sell. Hilarious. If you’ve got one, then please send it to us – we’d love to review it.
(via EnglishRussia)
Related posts: iRobot automated vacuum cleaners | Roomba vacuum cleaner hacked to become Bluetooth Pac-Man!
Video surfaces of the Android-based Dream G2
The good news is that the G2 seems to exist. I suppose someone could have installed Android on a random phone and added a Google logo to the back, but it seems like quite a lot of effort for a hoax. Unfortunately it matches the previous rumours in that it has no physical keyboard, relying instead on a stylus for input (eww).
Back on the bright side, though, Google Reader, Notebook, and Docs are all present. I’d kill for a decent RSS reader that syncs with a desktop or web-based reader on a mobile phone. Lastly, at about 0:48, check out the awesome green android charger! Omg, how cute is that!
(via AndroidGuys)
Related posts: G2 (and G3!) rumours surface, debate over release date | Get an “Android Dev Phone 1” (that’s a Google G1 phone) by becoming a “developer”
Get to work in 1 minute and 12 seconds on China's new bullet train
My bus to work currently takes me about 50 minutes – a distance of about 5 miles. Using my good old physics A-level, that means it travels at about 6.5mph. That’s rubbish. Walking is about 3mph. This train, however, would shorten my commute somewhat…
INTERNET CELEBRITIES: Smiley Chinese iPhone Girl
A month ago, she was a nobody, toiling in an iPhone factory in Shenzen in Southern China, but she’s rapidly becoming internet-famous thanks to a cheeky smile and v-sign to a co-worker on the production line…
Full official specs for the Canon 50D appear on the Canon China webiste – and then disappear!
I’m starting to find it really hard to believe that these things are happening by accident but whether it was a sloppy programmer or Canon’s marketing department manipulating the hell out of the internet community, what we do know is that for a short time, Canon China’s website published the full specs of the much awaited Canon 50D SLR camera. And when I say full specs, I mean full specs.
Thanks to the chaps at the Photography Bay…
Lenovo IdeaPad U8: Mobile Internet Device
If you love the idea of easy-to-use mobile internet, but you don’t want to, or can’t invest in an iPhone or iPod touch, then you’re pretty much screwed. Sorry. But there might be some light on the horizon, thanks to Lenovo…
ITV News' John Ray to appear in the next Smash Bros game?
Last Wednesday, there was a bit of a fuss when ITV News journalist John Ray was beaten up by Chinese police in Beijing whilst covering a story about, er, the Chinese police beating up pro-Tibet protesters. I know what you’re thinking: “What a perfect premise for a video game”…
Google launches ad-funded music search service in China, to battle local piracy
Google is trying to succeed where all have failed, by stemming the impact of piracy in China.
Its latest venture, an ad-funded music search service, hopes to go some way toward making a bit of money out of flogging music in China, a country where it’s believed 99% of all music distributed has been obtained illegally somewhere along the line.
Google’s music search service will lets users browse “tens of thousands” of songs…
