• Just in time for Halloween, Microsoft's latest update earlier this week certainly has a trick or treat feel to it. If you're one of the millions of PC users using a pirated version of Microsoft office on a pirated version of Windows then firstly shame on you, and secondly you'll be inconvenienced by a scary black screen every sixty minutes and a perpetual warning that your software is fake on your task bar. The latest WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) and OGA (Office Genuine Advantage) Update isn't meant to “brick” your PC, it is just meant to freak you out and pretend to look like you're system has suffered an untimely death.
• And after that little scare and you are truly repentant this Hallows eve, but still think over a thousand Renminbi is too much to pay to make your computer do the most basic of tasks, then visit the Ubuntu site for a legally free operating system. But don't do it until October 30 when it's latest version, the Intrepid Ibex is released. For an office alternative you can try Open Office.
• Chinese software maker Kingsoft, in reaction to this latest somewhat intrusive update has issued a statement that although they are also against software piracy they won't be introducing an update that is effectively malware to their WPS Office product.

Those sounding the death knell for an Apple, China Mobile iPhone partnership maybe a bit premature. On Friday, a China Mobile spokesperson in Hong Kong confirmed(in Chinese) that discussion between the two sides is still ongoing, but didn’t elaborate on any details. China Mobile has bluntly stated that it has no intention of sharing subscription revenue with handset manufacturers, the core of Apple’s business model. And as the overwhelmingly dominant carrier in China, it is... more ›

Maybe. China Mobile’s CEO Wang Jianzhou confirmed that his company has been in discussion with Apple to bring the wildly popular handset to China, “because our customers like this kind of fashionable product,” said Wang. But, negotiations have stalled over Apple’s subscription revenue sharing business model. In Europe and the US, Apple receives a portion of iPhone users’ data/voice revenue from their wireless carriers. China Mobile, with its 350 million user base and de facto... more ›

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As we all know, there is no internet censorship in China. However, if you've attempted to access one of the estimated 19,032 websites that are inaccessible in China, then you may have experienced some frustration to that end. It's not simply those of you who have been deemed a cultist, separatists, splittist, or attempt to read illicit material from rogue, upstart news organizations, but China's filtration system is a dynamic, evolving beast that smothers forbidden material faster than Prozac. more ›

Have you ever considered the question: Are our children learning from that great resource of information that is the internet? If in some of the poorer countries the answer is a resounding no, that's mostly because computers are expensive and the last thing on the minds of people who are struggling under circumstances of poverty and deprivation. Nonetheless, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nicholas Negroponte had the idea of decreasing the digital divide by making cheap laptops that cost about $100 to make and selling these to poor countries. This became a UN backed non-profit called One Laptop Per Child. more ›

This weekend Shanghai will be host to its first ever barCamp, the ad hoc tech lifestyle “un-conference” where every attendee is encouraged to participate either as a speaker, organizer, or active listener. The action kicks off at 6 pm on Saturday night with a pre-un-conference social at T-Sens, and continues Sunday with the main event at the Toodou offices along the Suzhou Creek. If you bring a prepared talk, arrive promptly at 8:30 am for breakfast and the planning of the day’s schedule. If you arrive late, be prepared for the possibility of speaking to an empty room in the middle of the night: barCamp is touted as a 24 hour event. So far, topics mentioned have included web programming, open source business, urban photography and navigating the Shanghai bus system. more ›

From Reuters: more ›

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... more ›