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AlexBowman › Comments
请投我一票[1].Please.Vote.For.Me.2007.D5.HA... - 视频 - 优酷视频 - 在线观看 - http://v.youku.com/v_show...
Documentary Film 'Please Vote For Me' on Youku
- AlexBowman
请投我一票[1].Please.Vote.For.Me.2007.D5.HA... - 视频 - 优酷视频 - 在线观看 - http://v.youku.com/v_show...
Documentary Film 'Please Vote For Me' on Youku
- AlexBowman
Open Office Macros - http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php
Very useful resource for open office macros
- AlexBowman
Open Office Macros - http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php
Very useful resource for open office macros
- AlexBowman
“Who likes Chinese art?” - http://shanghaiscrap.com/...
According to the Times, Chinese bidders ... bid up some work of art tens and even hundreds of times Christie’s estimates. For example, a dubious vase from the Qianglong reign, estimated at US$2000 – US$3000, sold for $550,000; other pieces went for similarly inflated values. In any case: woe be unto the poor young man who suddenly finds himself the high bidder against one of these plants! His colleagues, all as drunk as he, start to pound his back and encourage him to out-bid the interloper. By this point, the MC is asking a different question: “Who really loves Chinese art?” Go figure: it’s always the young man with the company party who best appreciates Chinese culture, and ends up paying RMB 1000 ($146) for a painting worth a tenth of that. But, at least for a drunken moment, he has the admiration (read:face) of his colleagues. Personally, I always wonder about how much the spouses of these young men will appreciate the new acquisitions.
- AlexBowman
China’s Mr. Wu Keeps Talking - http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
A profile of Wu Jinglian. Extracts: AT 79, Wu Jinglian is considered China’s most famous economist. In the 1980s and ’90s, he was an adviser to China’s leaders, including Deng Xiaoping. He helped push through some of this country’s earliest market reforms, paving the way for China’s spectacular rise and earning him the nickname “Market Wu.” Mr. Wu — who still holds a research post at an institute affiliated with the State Council, China’s cabinet ... his assessments are often harsh. In books, speeches, interviews and television appearances, he warns that conservative hardliners in the Communist Party have gained influence in the government and are trying to dismantle the market reforms he helped formulate. He complains that business tycoons and corrupt officials have hijacked the economy and manipulated it for their own ends, a system he calls crony capitalism. He has even called on Beijing to establish a British-style democracy, arguing that political reform is inevitable.
- AlexBowman
Is Bo Xilai's corruption crackdown good for China? - http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009...
Global Voices on Bo Xilai's Chongqing crackdown and the law. Extracts: Whether what we're seeing in Chongqing is simply a crackdown on graft or actually a struggle against corruption, the fact is that is has dug up quite a few corrupt officials, and that is what's most important. With all the corrupt Party officials and cadres taken down in this crackdown action, it still hasn't smeared the reputation of the Party, in fact has displayed the central Party leadership's resolve to fight corruption... ... With how easy it's been for Chongqing to launch a small-scale cultural revolution, this is a tragedy for all Chinese people. ... Disregard of the law, lack of respect for rule of law, lack of lasting mechanisms in the fight against corruption, instead a hundred “cultural revolutions, a hundred “storms to fight corruption and root out evil”, the result of all which is the more they fight the darker things get, and the worse corruption gets.
- AlexBowman
“Who likes Chinese art?” - http://shanghaiscrap.com/...
According to the Times, Chinese bidders ... bid up some work of art tens and even hundreds of times Christie’s estimates. For example, a dubious vase from the Qianglong reign, estimated at US$2000 – US$3000, sold for $550,000; other pieces went for similarly inflated values. In any case: woe be unto the poor young man who suddenly finds himself the high bidder against one of these plants! His colleagues, all as drunk as he, start to pound his back and encourage him to out-bid the interloper. By this point, the MC is asking a different question: “Who really loves Chinese art?” Go figure: it’s always the young man with the company party who best appreciates Chinese culture, and ends up paying RMB 1000 ($146) for a painting worth a tenth of that. But, at least for a drunken moment, he has the admiration (read:face) of his colleagues. Personally, I always wonder about how much the spouses of these young men will appreciate the new acquisitions.
- AlexBowman
China’s Mr. Wu Keeps Talking - http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
A profile of Wu Jinglian. Extracts: AT 79, Wu Jinglian is considered China’s most famous economist. In the 1980s and ’90s, he was an adviser to China’s leaders, including Deng Xiaoping. He helped push through some of this country’s earliest market reforms, paving the way for China’s spectacular rise and earning him the nickname “Market Wu.” Mr. Wu — who still holds a research post at an institute affiliated with the State Council, China’s cabinet ... his assessments are often harsh. In books, speeches, interviews and television appearances, he warns that conservative hardliners in the Communist Party have gained influence in the government and are trying to dismantle the market reforms he helped formulate. He complains that business tycoons and corrupt officials have hijacked the economy and manipulated it for their own ends, a system he calls crony capitalism. He has even called on Beijing to establish a British-style democracy, arguing that political reform is inevitable.
- AlexBowman
Is Bo Xilai's corruption crackdown good for China? - http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009...
Global Voices on Bo Xilai's Chongqing crackdown and the law. Extracts: Whether what we're seeing in Chongqing is simply a crackdown on graft or actually a struggle against corruption, the fact is that is has dug up quite a few corrupt officials, and that is what's most important. With all the corrupt Party officials and cadres taken down in this crackdown action, it still hasn't smeared the reputation of the Party, in fact has displayed the central Party leadership's resolve to fight corruption... ... With how easy it's been for Chongqing to launch a small-scale cultural revolution, this is a tragedy for all Chinese people. ... Disregard of the law, lack of respect for rule of law, lack of lasting mechanisms in the fight against corruption, instead a hundred “cultural revolutions, a hundred “storms to fight corruption and root out evil”, the result of all which is the more they fight the darker things get, and the worse corruption gets.
- AlexBowman
Beijing's Olympic building boom becomes a bust - http://www.latimes.com/news...
"Completely empty. "Empty." By Rodman's calculations, 500 million square feet of commercial real estate has been developed in Beijing since 2006, more than all the office space in Manhattan. And that doesn't include huge projects developed by the government. He says 100 million square feet of office space is vacant -- a 14-year supply if it filled up at the same rate as in the best years, 2004 through '06, when about 7 million square feet a year was leased.
- AlexBowman
Beijing's Olympic building boom becomes a bust - http://www.latimes.com/news...
"Completely empty. "Empty." By Rodman's calculations, 500 million square feet of commercial real estate has been developed in Beijing since 2006, more than all the office space in Manhattan. And that doesn't include huge projects developed by the government. He says 100 million square feet of office space is vacant -- a 14-year supply if it filled up at the same rate as in the best years, 2004 through '06, when about 7 million square feet a year was leased.
- AlexBowman
The devil is in the details: Financial information and systemic problems - http://www.voxeu.org/index...
The Basel regulatory capital requirements categorise commercial banks’ financial risks into trading and banking book exposures. First, we find that the losses reported to date may primarily be due to the fact that the trading book is marked to market. While the models used might work for individual firms, in the aggregate they lead to systemic risk. Second, banking book exposures are marked to rating, to delinquency, and to default, depending on the sophistication of the model.Deficiencies in these models mean that mortgages and commercial and industrial loans might not be adequately reserved, and the losses on assets not marked to market may be understated. Finally, the financial architecture is concentrated with regard to risk models and financial institutions. Valuations depend on a handful of risk management providers with proprietary data and a few risk management models.inancial regulators have delegated responsibility for risk management...
- AlexBowman
The devil is in the details: Financial information and systemic problems - http://www.voxeu.org/index...
The Basel regulatory capital requirements categorise commercial banks’ financial risks into trading and banking book exposures. First, we find that the losses reported to date may primarily be due to the fact that the trading book is marked to market. While the models used might work for individual firms, in the aggregate they lead to systemic risk. Second, banking book exposures are marked to rating, to delinquency, and to default, depending on the sophistication of the model.Deficiencies in these models mean that mortgages and commercial and industrial loans might not be adequately reserved, and the losses on assets not marked to market may be understated. Finally, the financial architecture is concentrated with regard to risk models and financial institutions. Valuations depend on a handful of risk management providers with proprietary data and a few risk management models.inancial regulators have delegated responsibility for risk management...
- AlexBowman
Trouble in Tokyo … and in London. - http://blogs.cfr.org/setser...
HotelFoo liked this
Brad Setser discusses declining Japanese exports and the role of the pound as a reserve currency regarding central bank portfolio balancing: "Japanese exports are down. Way down. The 35% y/y fall in December is consistent with a brutal collapse in intra-Asian and global trade. The yen, though, is up. Way up against some currencies. It recently approached a record high against the slumping pound.""“The pound isn’t a natural reserve currency in the way that the dollar would be.” The fall in global reserve growth will cut into central bank demand for pounds no matter what. "
- AlexBowman
More to worry about … the US downturn looks to be getting worse when it should be getting better - http://blogs.cfr.org/setser...
Paul Swartz, my colleague at the Council’s Center for Geoecononomic Studies, continues to track how the current recession compares to past recessions. The United States fiscal deficit is now rising faster than in past cases. The biggest previous change was in 2000-2001 recession, when W’s tax cuts combined with a big cyclical fall in tax revenue to produce a large swing in the United State fiscal position. A modest surplus quickly turned into a large deficit. The swing in the United States fiscal position this time around is likely to be even larger. Counter-cyclical fiscal policy is back.
- AlexBowman
More to worry about … the US downturn looks to be getting worse when it should be getting better - http://blogs.cfr.org/setser...
Paul Swartz, my colleague at the Council’s Center for Geoecononomic Studies, continues to track how the current recession compares to past recessions. The United States fiscal deficit is now rising faster than in past cases. The biggest previous change was in 2000-2001 recession, when W’s tax cuts combined with a big cyclical fall in tax revenue to produce a large swing in the United State fiscal position. A modest surplus quickly turned into a large deficit. The swing in the United States fiscal position this time around is likely to be even larger. Counter-cyclical fiscal policy is back.
- AlexBowman
Art as a Financial Asset Class - http://www.portfolio.com/views...
This paper analyzes the performance and risk-return characteristics of three major emerging art markets: Russia, China, and India... The Russian art market exhibits positive correlations with most common financial assets and a positive market beta, whereas the Chinese art market demonstrates a negative correlation overall and a negative market beta... Portfolio optimization under a power utility framework suggests limited diversification potential, but with a downside beta of 0.43, investing in Chinese art offers hedging potential during financial market downswings. We conclude that investing in art is not an effective, purely financial investment. Artwork, unlike assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and certain investment funds, should be kept for the enjoyment of its aesthetic returns as well This of course gets it exactly backwards. Art isn't a financial asset class with added aesthetic returns; it's an aesthetic asset class (a bit like music, say) with added financial value
- AlexBowman
Art as a Financial Asset Class - http://www.portfolio.com/views...
This paper analyzes the performance and risk-return characteristics of three major emerging art markets: Russia, China, and India... The Russian art market exhibits positive correlations with most common financial assets and a positive market beta, whereas the Chinese art market demonstrates a negative correlation overall and a negative market beta... Portfolio optimization under a power utility framework suggests limited diversification potential, but with a downside beta of 0.43, investing in Chinese art offers hedging potential during financial market downswings. We conclude that investing in art is not an effective, purely financial investment. Artwork, unlike assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and certain investment funds, should be kept for the enjoyment of its aesthetic returns as well This of course gets it exactly backwards. Art isn't a financial asset class with added aesthetic returns; it's an aesthetic asset class (a bit like music, say) with added financial value
- AlexBowman
Google just came out with "Latitude" which will show everyone where you are. http://m.google.com/maps... Discuss it here:
metalerik, J. D. Ebberly, Luke and 81 other people liked this
This looks like the payoff from the Jaiku purchase. Location aware applications are the way to go, I just don't know if it will reach the critical mass and flow necessary for it to become useful.
- Dave Senior
Nothin new here.Nokia had launched an App like this called "friendView" months ago. Although yes....this has a broader scope since it supports multiple platforms , rather than just symbian phones.
- Ray
Google Latitude makes my phone smarter than the Jaiku Nokia client ever did. I'm looking for connections bgoldbach@yahoo.com via Latitude.
- Bernie Goldbach
Big (and little) brothers (and sisters) will be watching me.
- Marc Pinter
I could see it gaining critical mass where others don't simply because it's Google.
- Jalada
anybody knows how to uninstall it? I'm feeling stalked since I activated it :-\
- Markingegno - Donato
When you visit the latitude page from an iPhone, you get a coming soon page. Native iPhone app in the works?
- Dave Senior
Looks really interesting! I am keen to explore it further. Oh, if anyone is interested I have a post with a couple thoughts here: http://pauljacobson.org/2009...
- Paul Jacobson
Link to Nokia FriendView : https://friendview.nokia.com/
- Ray
Hmm, how does this compare with FireEagle?
- Tyson Key
Burglars will find this very useful.
- AlexBowman
I'm still waiting on the next leap with location-based services. After using Jaiku, Plazes and numerous other LBS apps, nothing really new here, except becoming available to more people I guess... Who cares where your friend and relatives are if you can't communicate with them or exchange opinion on places, etc... For when the real contextual services integration?
- Rudy De Waele
This is privacy's nightmare, anyone has some info on link between NSA and Google ? (http://bit.ly/klmw)
- Christophe Pierret
Alex: only stupid ones will. How do you know who else is or is not in my home just because I'm not there?
- Robert Scoble
Christophe: privacy is dead, get over it.
- Robert Scoble
Every one can now be Mr Bourne & enact some CIA game - like having a chip implanted in your wrist !! Why on earth would I want anyone to track me down tho - unless I am treking in the Patagonian mountains
- viki saigal
@Robert feeling the same. If you want privacy don't use the Internet :)
- Orli Yakuel
Not convinced it will change my habits. It's cool technology, but it doesn't bring me value (personal view): http://vanelsas.wordpress.com/2009...
- Alexander van Elsas
sorry Robert, but "privacy is dead" is a stupid argument. It may be dead for you, it is not dead for a lot of people.
- Andre
The future is mobile, Google understands that. Mobile and social. Look at Japan (a country not included in the available countries, by the way).
- Paul Papadimitriou
My life is an open (Mac) book ..he said ! @ Scoble
- viki saigal
missing search fucntionnality when invitating friends
- Frédéric Sidler
I think it's nothing dramatically new - others offer similar services - what's important is that it's Google. And that gets widespread attention and adoption readily. Piece at http://TheNextWeb.com on Latitude this morning - http://twurl.nl/ohhzrq - and a piece I wrote entitled 'Imagine there's no Google' which scared the crap out of a few people, for differing reasons! ( http://twurl.nl/0b0dx6 )
- David Petherick
Hmm, I recall certain early UMTS-enabled phones in the UK (mostly made by Motorola and NEC) having Assisted GPS functionality for use with mapping services provided by 3. Interestingly, the "Find Me" service that utilised it was discontinued ages ago, and I don't know of any services or methods of accessing that functionality with a webapp...
- Tyson Key
As for privacy, don't use the app if you don't want people to know where you are. besides, it's possible to enter any info you want. currently I am in Yokohama Japan, as far as this app is concerned.
- adam garrett
Latitude is pretty cool but as @mtrends (Rudy) said it's not exactly anything new. The fact that it's Google does mean it'll have far larger reach than any of the other similar mobile services I've tried in the past. Personally I would have loved to see GTalk integrated so you could chat to your friends through the same app. *That* would be a nice next step. (It is the year of conversation after all ;) - http://is.gd/i6Zn)
- Tarek Abu-Esber
Andre: your cell phone company knows exactly where you are if you are carrying a cell phone. So, not sure how this has any more privacy implications than carrying around a cell phone in the first place. With this I choose who sees my location. That puts me in charge of my privacy.
- Robert Scoble
Obviously they lack vision, given that Location-Based Services are a Big Thing(TM) as of late.
- Tyson Key
@Robert: I know, and I have been personally using brightkite for quite some time now -- I am just trying to say that privacy is not dead at all. http://www.eff.org/issues...
- Andre
and @Robert, personally I think the geo aware stuff should focus more on the paranoids. For example there is no mention of granular permissions on google latitude home. So some privacy sensitive person jumps on and say "oh fine, now everyone will be able to see where I am. not interested."
- Andre
Interesting to watch what people thinks about it in Twitter search: http://search.twitter.com/search...
- Orli Yakuel
Hi guys, Google scares us! We are running a LBS plus location contextual services integration (similar to brightkite) , so you can partecipate, comment, private messaging, etc... But Google has all but in separate properties, it could soon integrate Talk, MyMaps and now Latitude all together....
- Christian
Am I the only one who is not finding how to uninstall it [I'm on a laptop, using Gears]
- Markingegno - Donato
I have a love/hate relationship with Google, love the services, hate the monopoly. GeoLoc is a huge topic for Sergey and Larry, this is a strategic direction of Google. Latitude will succeed, because of Google's power on the internet and Google's strategic will. They changed the way internet works by simply clustering search results by GeoIP location. I now have to fight from France to be listed in search results in the UK or US (with an english-language site), I should have hosted my server in the US...
- Christophe Pierret
@scoble "That puts me in charge of my privacy"? Yes, Latitude lets you actively increase your visibility. But it doesn't limit your carrier from knowing where you are, whom you call, etc. It's a facade, not actual control. And, as cool and useful as it may actually be, privacy concerns will likely limit its mass appeal.
- Tim Peter
According to the site, currently supports only Android, Blackberry, Windows, and Symbian. iPhone and Java coming soon. ;-) @davesenior was right
- Danny Whitt
looks good, installed it on my SE w950i and works well. I like it.
- Parth Awasthi
Since it won't support my Country, I just set it from iGoogle - Sweet.
- Orli Yakuel
Hmm, does it work on Symbian OS/S60v2? Also, does it support GSM/UMTS triangulation for phones without a GPS chipset?
- Tyson Key
Robert do you want privacy to be dead? Your statement leaves no room for anything else. Privacy is constantly losing ground to social media, but there shouldn't be a trade off. Put the user in control, that is the only way privacy can be managed. Unfortunately there is no business model that supports such an obvious solution ;-)
- Alexander van Elsas
Alexander: I have learned over and over again that by trading my privacy I get way more back in return. So, I guess I am in the process of killing privacy in some form, yes. Certainly the world I live in is far different than the world my parents grew up in, privacy wise.
- Robert Scoble
I've been using a si,ilar app called nokia friendview from nokia beta labs. But google latitude will obviously overshadow it due to the mass support/appeal. I only wish google had integrated Gtalk (nokia friendview allows you to comment on other peoples statuses through the app) with the application so you could chat with the contact in real time ..in case they have not shared their number with you. But then again ... Would you really show your location to someone who doesn't have your number ? Comments ?
- Ray
@scoble I have to disagree that privacy is dead for everyone, it's dead for Web2.0aholics, for sure. Facebook / twitter / friendfeed / del.icio.us etc have public disclosure of personal information as a business model, and it brings value for PR-minded people (like U :-), for joe-the-plumber it is a whole different matter The value of public disclosure of personal information in this case is not well perceived..
- Christophe Pierret
You say you're concerned with privacy, but it seems you don't even tried to uninstall the app, do you? Did you succeed?
- Markingegno - Donato
It will only work if I can turn it on for different groups of friends at different times. Also, this is one more reason Facebook needs their own Maps solution.
- Jesse Stay
Christophe: I didn't realize that credit card data bases had anything to do with Web 2.0. Or cell phone services that know where you are every minute of every day (and who help out the government to find you if needed). Or the hundreds of thousands of video cameras that we don't even notice anymore like in Las Vegas Casinos watching our every move. Or that grocery store buying cards aren't reporting that you bought Diet Coke last night. Yeah, right, you have complete privacy. Keep on believing that.
- Robert Scoble
Wow! The first screenshot is from Istanbul! An 'easter-egg' for all of us living in Turkey! :-)
- Burak "cyrus" Bayburtlu
Sadly can't see any integration options and no iPhone for now. Hope soon.
- Kris Haamer
@scoble Your point about "privacy is dead" and "puts me in charge of my privacy" are contradictory. I think you're right on the first one. But limiting whether or not my friends can see where I am is not my biggest privacy concern. My friends aren't the ones I worry about.
- Tim Peter
It's reasonable to expect a certain lack of privacy when in public places but I agree with some of the others, this is a little creepy.
- Mattb4rd
@Robert your privacy isn't dead, you are making conscious decisions to trade it for value. And that is the way it should work for everyone. Point is that most don't understand this or know how to deal with it. By control I'm not saying lock it up. I'm saying I want to be the one that decides, not Facebook, Google or whoever.
- Alexander van Elsas
@Christophe I agree about your concern of privacy, in this delicate matter. At Mobnotes.com for location sharing we use this simple approach: we let the user broadcast his position, we don’t do automatically. So it’s up to you to send and share your location and let your friends Know where you are. That’s it.
- Christian
@Robert The fact that you and I believe that it's foolish to believe there still is as much privacy as we'd like is pointless. Patriot act was the definitive blow on privacy. What is interesting is that many people believe that they do have some privacy and want to retain some. "Personal data" is the Web2.0 money. Part of the success of Facebook is how they allow you to have some "perceived" control on disclosure of information
- Christophe Pierret
@alexendar I'm with Scoble on this one. Facebook, Google and the like are not the big threats to privacy. Mobile phone carriers, credit card companies and local governments are. The data trail we leave unconsciously (i.e., credit card purchases, phone calls, security camera images) are far more troubling than those we leave consciously on social networks.
- Tim Peter
Burak: actually the first image centers the map to your own location. Mine is in Athens.
- Panagiotis Astithas
I totally get how this could be cool say, on the G1. I mean, once again a new app/feature comes out that merely hints at what's around the corner. I mean, I agree with Ray above, Nokia Chat aka Contacts on Ovi - does the same thing, but with a lesser known service... However it does have full contacts integration AND chat enabled. Jaiku was only a few years ahead of its time huh? The 'active contacts book' is finally happening...
- James Whatley
Ahh not available for Turkey!
- Alp B.
common sense, people! be wary with who you share your information with! i just manually set mine to the entire town. good luck finding me in the 30,000 people who live here. to be honest i like the brightkite setup better, googles version is a little dodgy at the moment.
- Terry O'Fee
@Tim The threat isn't related to a single service but to ignorance and the inability to control privacy ourselves. Current web business models simply prevent us being in charge of privacy ourselves. Privacy isn't dead, we just need business models that enable us to be responsible for it ourselves so that we can make the trade offs Robert is talking about
- Alexander van Elsas
After all my ramblings and concerns about privacy, I will probably be using Latitude nonetheless once it gets integrated on Windows Mobile or iPhone or Android (web browsing on mobile devices is so boring)
- Christophe Pierret
not available in South Korea, sigh
- Reed
Each and every "where am I " social media startup (Brightkite I'm talkin' bout you!) can this morning bend over and kiss their ass goodbye. Interesting to see what type of integration will be coming.
- Wayne Schulz
I always wanted to know where I am
- paul mooney
The lurkers over at TweetStalk suggest they have a three-phase roadmap; wonder if linking TweetStalk to Latitude is part of that creepy plan.
- Art Beecher
I thought about this more during my commute to the office. What worker privacy implications arise if I subscribe all of my field technician's cell phones, which the company owns, and checked up on them throughout the day?
- Mattb4rd
@Tyson Key: yes it works with cell based location. Less accurate than GPS, but accurate enough for many use cases.
- Davide D'Incau
@Reed. You can also get it from http://m.google.com/latitude on your mobile
- Ray
I think google is taking privacy seriously. They also have information about that in their help pages. For example, they say "Google Latitude only reports your last updated location and does not keep a history of previously reported locations. " http://www.google.com/support...
- Davide D'Incau
I read somewhere in the marketing material that google promote it as real-time. It does not seem to be real-time at least on symbian devices. Example, when you update the status text it won't immediately update on your gtalk profile. there is actually quite a long delay.
- Davide D'Incau
I'm checking it out by downloading Google Gears, which automatically detects where I am via my computer. However, it's detecting where my nearest host's location is, and not mine. Still in the same vicinity, so it's ok.
- Shevonne
True. It's always good to be given options.
- Shevonne
I'm using it now. Just have to wait for more people to install it.
- Richard A.
Some more buzz here: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets...
- Christian
I'd be interested to know what google plan on doing with the data. While there are indeed many different ways in which your activities are being captured, the really sensitive ones tend to have massive restrictions on what they can do with that data. Privacy is your right to keep data about you from being public knowledge if you wish and only you can allow it to be shared. Privacy is not and never will be dead unless all of this data is in the public domain.
- alphaxion
I can't believe they have not unveiled a G1 app at the same time!
- Jean-Charles VERDIE
@christophe yes, privacy nightmare. I'll test it and remove it immediately.
- Jean-Charles VERDIE
not really big news, actually. most of mobile twitter clients I've tested on both iPhone and G1 already propose to post a GPS info with associated map. It's twitter + localization but without twitter :)
- Jean-Charles VERDIE
I wonder what all those people saying that Twitter, Facebook or personal blogging is exhibitionism will think about this!
- Jordi Soler
"My friends aren't the ones I worry about. - Tim Peter" <--- Enough said.
- Derrick Burns
Awwwww... No Philippines...
- Ron
Wow - everyone has completely missed the enormity of this. First, the update is real time (I tested it this morning). Second, Google is showing that it's not a play for the (profitless) social media stage but more likely a bid to get users to give up their location in exchange for ....... LOCATION AWARE ADVERTISING!! Come on all you smarty pants -- nobody can figure this out but me?
- Wayne Schulz
wayne its obvious to me, im not that smart even :)
- atul abraham
from twhirl
Doesn't support my phone so it's dead to me.
- Morton Fox
Whoa, it's apparently in a new 3.0 version of Google Maps for my Blackberry. Sweet!
- David Wilson
I realize I already give Google a mountain of my data, but the idea of posting my exact location to Google and the internet at large seems like a cross between really egotistical and downright creepy in a George Orwell sort of way.
- Eric P
So we are now that much closer to the adsense on our coffee mugs, with ads relevant to our breakfast conversations. (yippie!!)
- April
With Latitude, I'm okay with getting relevant ads. Like being reminded that Denny's is giving away free breakfast after the Super Bowl while I drive by. Or a coupon from the local super market. However, I would like to see more Gtalk integration or tweeting abilities to ask What are you doing?
- Tyler Brownfield
yes - i like it - much better mapping than Bright Kite but miss easy photo integration (or did I just not spot it in latitude? -surely is Google Maps layer)
- Julian Edward
Privacy International identifies flaws in Google Latitude: http://bit.ly/HPmJ
- Christophe Pierret
Wow lots of people seem scared that they'll be really stupid and share their location with people they don't know. Why would they do that? And for thoe worried about people seeing your house is empty for the weekend why not set your location manually to home while you are away? Or just turn off Google Maps on your phone and it won't update. Easy.
- Luke
China to go on European spending spree - http://www.ft.com/cms...
“Confidence is the most important thing, more important than gold or currency,” Mr Wen said at a meeting with Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and business leaders. China would seek to purchase commodities and technologies needed by its companies in an attempt to “help us restore and shore up confidence in the market”. The announcement underlines Beijing’s anxiety that the global financial crisis will prompt a new wave of protectionism which would be damaging to a country such as China which is the second largest exporter in the world. Europe is China’s largest trading partner.
- AlexBowman
China to go on European spending spree - http://www.ft.com/cms...
“Confidence is the most important thing, more important than gold or currency,” Mr Wen said at a meeting with Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, and business leaders. China would seek to purchase commodities and technologies needed by its companies in an attempt to “help us restore and shore up confidence in the market”. The announcement underlines Beijing’s anxiety that the global financial crisis will prompt a new wave of protectionism which would be damaging to a country such as China which is the second largest exporter in the world. Europe is China’s largest trading partner.
- AlexBowman
Evidence That Big Inflation Is Coming -- Seeking Alpha - http://seekingalpha.com/article...
Elliott Ng liked this
Same topic, different thread - current drought in China perhaps causing food price inflation similar to 2007/08 saw?
- AlexBowman
Unemployment in China...Oh Boy - http://www.rgemonitor.com/asia-mo...
Chen Xiwen: Not long ago, the Ministry of Agriculture organized a survey which drew samples from 150 villages located in 15 provinces which exported more rural labor. The sample focused on the approximately 38.5% of rural labor who returned home before the lunar new year. Of those who returned home, some 60.4% were home on regular visits to their family. That is to say that their jobs in the cities are still preserved, and they will return to their jobs after the holiday. Of those who returned home, 39.6% of the respondents reported that they lost their jobs or have not found a job, thus returning home. According to these figures, of the 130 million rural labor who are working elsewhere, we think 15.3% in total have lost their jobs or have not found employment (in cities). According to the ratio of 15.3%, we can calculate that out of the 130 million of rural labor working elsewhere, approximately 20 million of them have lost their jobs or have not found employment due to economic
- AlexBowman
Unemployment in China...Oh Boy - http://www.rgemonitor.com/asia-mo...
Chen Xiwen: Not long ago, the Ministry of Agriculture organized a survey which drew samples from 150 villages located in 15 provinces which exported more rural labor. The sample focused on the approximately 38.5% of rural labor who returned home before the lunar new year. Of those who returned home, some 60.4% were home on regular visits to their family. That is to say that their jobs in the cities are still preserved, and they will return to their jobs after the holiday. Of those who returned home, 39.6% of the respondents reported that they lost their jobs or have not found a job, thus returning home. According to these figures, of the 130 million rural labor who are working elsewhere, we think 15.3% in total have lost their jobs or have not found employment (in cities). According to the ratio of 15.3%, we can calculate that out of the 130 million of rural labor working elsewhere, approximately 20 million of them have lost their jobs or have not found employment due to economic
- AlexBowman
Health Care in China: An Idea Whose Time Has Come - http://managingthedragon.com/index...
First, it told me that our Chinese general managers either didn’t trust what they could buy in China or couldn’t find suitable products there. Secondly, it told me that when people start making money, they want to live longer and are less sensitive to the cost of products and services that help them to achieve that objective. From that moment on, I became a believer that health care was going to be a big opportunity in China. Up until now, health care has simply not been a priority for the Chinese government, and the country’s medical industry is one of the last to modernize. According to the World Health Organization, Chinese government spending on health in 2006 amounted to less than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, ranking China 156th out of 196 countries surveyed. Moreover, nearly 50 percent of health care costs in China are borne by individuals, about 18 percent by the government and only 33 percent by various types of insurance.
- AlexBowman
Health Care in China: An Idea Whose Time Has Come - http://managingthedragon.com/index...
First, it told me that our Chinese general managers either didn’t trust what they could buy in China or couldn’t find suitable products there. Secondly, it told me that when people start making money, they want to live longer and are less sensitive to the cost of products and services that help them to achieve that objective. From that moment on, I became a believer that health care was going to be a big opportunity in China. Up until now, health care has simply not been a priority for the Chinese government, and the country’s medical industry is one of the last to modernize. According to the World Health Organization, Chinese government spending on health in 2006 amounted to less than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, ranking China 156th out of 196 countries surveyed. Moreover, nearly 50 percent of health care costs in China are borne by individuals, about 18 percent by the government and only 33 percent by various types of insurance.
- AlexBowman
Motorola and Nokia have 90% of Chinese Smartphone Market. I discuss why here: - http://www.intomobile.com/2009...
jazzgumpy, Steven Perez, Bob Gannon and 3 other people liked this
Why can't Apple and RIM get in? Easy: no stylus on their devices. The Chinese market needs a stylus for their users to be able to input their characters.
- Robert Scoble
from Bookmarklet
I think both Apple and RIM need to realize that not everyone wants a "Touch Screen". For the working man a touch screen is annoying as hell and causes butt dials and makes media players crash.
- MarkCarras
i think the touch screen interface is great but not for typing. that's why i love my t-mobile g1...it has a touch screen but it also has a qwerty.
- Shawn C. Reed
touchscreen + qwerty keyboard seems like another reason the Palm Pre may have a chance there.
- LionelatDell
I can't wait for the Pre to come out... I think it's gonna be a game-changer for sure.
- Shawn C. Reed
Yeap, it's impossible to write Chinese words with your fingers on small touchscreens. Also because Palm Pre's not out yet.
- David Poon
Additionally both are easier to swap a SIM in/out, trade/sell, etc
- Ryan
Very interesting. Shows an error in industrial design by not accounting for the whole population or was an exclusionary choice? You figure that intelligent people make these choices and that at least one person had to understand this issue.
- Robert Miller
Actually, one out of every 10 iPhones sold worldwide are sold in China. And Chinese do not need a stylus for input. Using the romanized Pinyin method which most Chinese learn in school, they can input Chinese very well using a phone typepad. As for Motorola, it is fast losing market share in China.
- Paul Denlinger
this is the reason both the 5800 and N97 have the type of touchscreens they have ... you need a stylus to be a market leader in Asia
- Jonathan Greene
Another level of detail: All Chinese in China are taught the romanized Pinyin system in school and are familiar with it, so they can use a QWERTY keyboard and phone typepad for simplified Chinese input. Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions which do not teach Pinyin have a harder time with input because they use Chinese radical-based systems for input.
- Paul Denlinger
Paul: interesting. Everyone in China I was watching input data with a stylus. Seems to be the preferred method, no? Oh, and hello! (I love being able to talk to my friends in China -- I saw Paul when I visited there).
- Robert Scoble
I don't know about Chinese characters, but Japanese (kana) input is a lot easier with a touch screen. I text and write emails in Japanese characters from my iPhone all the time. It's great because there are two ways to input: 10 key and QWERTY. The reason a lot of my friends in Japan haven't switched is push - or lack there of, since email attached to your phone (keitai meru) is the standard.
- Mona Nomura
from fftogo
The people in China who need a stylus for input tend to be over 45. Younger people are perfectly at home with romanized Pinyin input.
- Paul Denlinger
My friends in Hong Kong don't have styluses... Weird. But then again, Hong Kong doesn't represent China. ;)
- Mona Nomura
from fftogo
Thoughtful comments from Paul and Mona -- Things I never knew and should. :)
- Robert Miller
You discuss here? Robert the link should be renamed as I thought, Does Robert have a different blog? This "I' is not you :)
- Jonathan Jesse
Robert: Mmmm... Actually no. When you were in China, I think that you may have been mostly taking cars or private transportation. If you want to watch how younger Chinese use their mobile phones, you need to take the buses and subways. That's when you see how they use their mobile phones. ;-)
- Paul Denlinger
Jonathan: sorry, I made that link for Twitter, not for you. :-)
- Robert Scoble
People taking public transport usually have only one hand free. For most it would not be possible to input Chinese with a stylus because if they are standing they need one hand to hang onto support.
- Paul Denlinger
As a Chinese people, I can't wait to stand out and point out my view. First, what Paul said are all true that Chinese in Mainland China are using romanized Pinyin to input rather than the stylus. Because the input speed via Pinyin are much much higher than via stylus. Only a few aged people prefer the stylus (while my over-55-year-old parents use Pinyin). Second, iPhone is all around here although it's not officially released. As long as a phone is unlocked, you can find it here in China.
- yezi
As to the popularity of Nokia in China, I can't explain the reason exactly coz I can't understand it either. As a huge Palm fan, I guess the reason is: 1) Nokia is a well-developed brand and has good words-of-mouth here. People are always saying like this: The quality of Nokia is reliable, I had my phone fallen down three times but it's still ok. 2) Nokia compromised to kill their Wi-Fi function to get the phones officially released. China Mobile, the biggest telecommunication provider, forbids wi-fi.
- yezi
Interesting discussion. I see Motorola adverts a lot less than in 2006, and I see less Motorola's than in 2006. What I do see a lot of is K-Touch and a few others building cheap feature-full phones which are surprisingly robust - at the slimmer margin end of the market.
- AlexBowman
yezi - Battery life, storage, and multi-media capabilities.
- Mona Nomura
On stylus vs. pinyin - on a phone I use a stylus because it's faster (on a computer I use Pinyin). An excellent feature of both Mobile Phone and Computer Chinese Input Methods is contextual prediction of character(s) because of the presence of so many homonym's in the language - higher end phones/products can add a lot of value in this area by using an adaptive/self-updating IME like Google/Sohu offer.
- AlexBowman
This is what I discussed w/ NIa how USA is very iphone centric ~ it's always iphone or nothing
- sofarsoShawn <Pop-Rocks>
The Chinese will have a phone of their own some day soon
- paul mooney
RGE - The Chinese Devil Wears Prada: Why 0% Growth is the New Size 6.8% - http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini...
The Chinese came out today with their 6.8% estimate of Q4 2008 growth. China publishes its quarterly GDP figure on a year over year basis, differently from the U.S. and most other countries that publish their GDP growth figure on a quarter on quarter annualized seasonally adjusted (SAAR) basis. When growth is slowing down sharply the Chinese way to measure GDP is highly misleading as quarter on quarter growth may be negative while the year over year figure is positive and high because of the momentum of the previous quarters’ positive growth.
- AlexBowman
RGE - The Chinese Devil Wears Prada: Why 0% Growth is the New Size 6.8% - http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini...
The Chinese came out today with their 6.8% estimate of Q4 2008 growth. China publishes its quarterly GDP figure on a year over year basis, differently from the U.S. and most other countries that publish their GDP growth figure on a quarter on quarter annualized seasonally adjusted (SAAR) basis. When growth is slowing down sharply the Chinese way to measure GDP is highly misleading as quarter on quarter growth may be negative while the year over year figure is positive and high because of the momentum of the previous quarters’ positive growth.
- AlexBowman
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