Things are happening. It is a constant of the universe. None of us can escape the relentless march of happening things. But what if you missed some of these things, say, things about tech in China that happened over the last week? Well, my friend, this is your lucky day.
1. Jeremy Lin Brings the Linsanity to Sina Weibo
By international law, all news organizations were required to publish at least one news story on Jeremy Lin this week (this number will increase exponentially over time until all news articles are about Jeremy Lin — the Linsanity Singularity). Ours is about Lin’s Weibo account, which is racking up followers at a speed previously only associated with certain Japanese porn stars. (Yes, that link is safe for work. It’s Wikipedia.)
2. Rumor: Siri Adding Chinese Support Next Month
Net rumors have it that Siri, Apple’s personal assistant, will be adding support for Chinese next month. If true, she’s learned the language more quickly than almost anyone else I know. I guess that’s the advantage of being a robot. Whatever, Siri. Learn to speak Dongbeihua and all the other local dialects, then I’ll be impressed.
3. Strange Censorship on Weibo: Bug or Conspiracy
We looked at the social media firestorm surrounding Wang Lijun and tried to figure out what the heck Sina was doing. Blocked, then unblocked, then blocked again, then re-unblocked? That’s not a pattern of censorship we’ve seen before. To the speculatorium!
4. Real Name Deadline for China’s Microblogs is Looming, New Users Already Way Down
Speaking of Weibo, we took a look at Sina’s January numbers, and it turns out they’re pretty grim. New users are way down, which doesn’t bode well for the service post-March, when all users will be forced to register with their real names or lose posting privileges. Turns out losing anonymity makes the internet way less fun.
5. Beijing School Uses iPad in the Classsroom
One of Beijing’s ritziest schools has started using iPads in the classroom, but only for propaganda Morality and Society classes. It’s good to see that China’s privileged wealthy elite are finally getting access to iPads in the classroom. Carrying their own personal iPads to and from school must have been wearing them out.
That’s all for this week, folks! For our full spread of China coverage, you can click here or subscribe to our China RSS feed.