Internet

Shenzhen, at the cutting edge of tech in China, has highest Weibo penetration rate

Posted: 12/14/2012 11:17 am

It could be argued that Shenzhen is becoming China’s very own Silicon Valley. It is the home of Tencent, China’s largest web company and creator of QQ and the WeChat/Weixin apps, and also Huawei, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. Shenzhen will also be home of Baidu’s impressive new international headquarters when it opens in 2015. This doesn’t even touch on the fact the vast majority of the world’s electronics are manufactured here or near here, and a burgeoning trade of gadgets and toys has made Huaqiangbei almost as famous as Tokyo’s Akibahara neighbourhood.

It should be no surprise then that Shenzhen also leads the way when it comes to internet penetration rates and use of Sina’s popular Weibo microblogging service. The Shenzhen Development Internet Research Report found that Shenzhen’s internet penetration rate is 76.8%, well ahead of Beijing and Shanghai. It means means 7.97 million people are online in the city.

Liu Bing, vice-president of China Internet Information Center, said that Shenzhen’s netizens infrastructure is better than most cities in China. Netizens between 20 to 40 year-old account for approximately 60%. Take a closer look on these young netizens, student groups are comparatively smaller while on-job groups are bigger. Netizens’ education level is higher than the national average.

Guangzhou’s rate stands at 72.9%, also ahead of Beijing and Shanghai.

As for Sina Weibo use, the report says it is used by 58.6% of netizens in Shenzhen, which is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

At the same time, Shenzhen weibo users are more active. The ratio of netizens who use weibo 3 times per day is 16 percentage points higher than the average. Weibo users that spent more than 2 hours per day account for 35.3%.

Except for performance on weibo, Shenzhen netizens are also more active on SNS, blogs, BBS and online videos compared with netizens in other first-tier cities.

Perhaps Beijing’s vaunted Zhongguancun won’t be considered ground zero for China’s tech industry for much longer.

(h/t @Chomagerider)

Tagged: BaiduHuaqiangbeiInternetShenzhensinatechtencentWeibozhongguancun

Beware: WeChat (Weixin) random hookup results in scam in Dongguan

Posted: 11/21/2012 3:00 pm

(drawing by Li Yong)

WeChat, also known as Weixin, has been growing like a bad weed in China these days. The iOS and Android app is now being used by more than 200 million people, and is the pick-up tool of choice for many laowai in China because it facilitates chatting with nearby strangers.

Given how ubiquitous the tool has become, it’s not surprising that a scam has finally surfaced. Users in Dongguan are being warned after a woman met up with a stranger she had chatted with on the service in April this year. The stranger then threatened her and demanded she hand over her bank card, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

The woman, who works in a hotel, was invited by a Weixin contact to meet up and have a chat. In the end, she met an accomplice of a criminal surnamed Lu, who comes from Hubei Province and ran a restaurant with another man Jian before it went out of business.

Unable to support themselves, Lu and Jian set up a criminal gang. As part of the arrangement, Lu’s girlfriend and brother used Weixin to meet and then steal from strangers.

Police say there have been six similar cases in Dongguan this year involving rape, theft and blackmail.

Police explained that because Weixin is newer than rival services such as QQ, it is poorly policed. They warned residents to be vigilant when using the service, and not to meet strangers who refused to identify themselves or asked to borrow things.

Tagged: CrimeDongguanhook-upInternetQQScamtencentwechatweixin

Baiyun airport rolls out free unlimited Wi-Fi

Posted: 12/20/2011 12:43 pm

As of this past weekend, writes Southern Metropolis Daily, Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport now offers free unlimited Wi-Fi throughout the terminal building.

They’ve named the network “AIRPORT-WIFI-FREE,” but you’ll need a mobile phone number or [Sina?] Weibo account to log on through a browser. A reporter for the newspaper went to check it out and found a strong signal everywhere from the main hall to departure areas in both the A and B gate corridors, adding that the connection was fast enough to watch streaming video no buffering needed.

Press #4 for Facebook

Also just launched are 63 “multifunction media kiosks” spread throughout the airport, where you can check flight info, update your Weibo, play games or recharge device batteries.

Baiyun International Airport has had 100 paid Wi-Fi hotspots since December 2009, upgrading service in July this year to offering 2 free hours of Wi-Fi which required calling a toll-free number. The airport’s newest Wi-Fi offering claims a maximum speed of 100 MB/s.

Tagged: AirportInternetTravelWi-Fi

China neuters the Net Nanny…. in Chongqing

Posted: 06/25/2011 2:00 am

News this week that China has - finally - lowered the Great Firewall and permitted unrestricted access to the interwebs was greeted by cheers from China’s Internet glitterati — even if it is only in Chongqing.

Rock star and Baidu manager Kaiser Kuo greeted the news by tweeting: “Hells yeah, let’s all move to Chongqing!” (As if they need more people).

Many, many others shared in Kaiser’s enthusiasm, though, including me. When friends fly back to Europe or North America from China, one of the first things they notice is just how fast and responsive the “real” Internet is. We’ve become accustomed to no Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and others unless we have a VPN, which is often painfully slow.

So the experiment in Chongqing is a good sign. The government is setting up what’s called a Cloud Computing Special Zone which will offer unfettered and unrestricted access to the Internet. Several companies have already signed up to do business in the zone; they will mostly provide offshore data services. Details from the Global Times:

One factor that helped gain approval for Chongqing’s cloud special zone is that the Liangjiang New Area is important to the development of western China.

The Chongqing government also agreed to meet several requirements, such as data services for clients within China still under government administration, and relevant departments having the authority to carry out sample inspections on the data in the special zone, the report said.

Cao Yujie, consultant director of CCW Research, an IT market research and consulting agency in Beijing, told the Global Times that the cloud computing business is in its early stages worldwide, adding that there is great potential for its development.

“A special optical cable directly connected to the outside Internet is not necessary to run a cloud zone, but its installation in Chongqing could be attributed to demands of foreign companies as some websites are blocked in China,” Cao said.

China neutering the Net Nanny, even if just in Chongqing, is proof that money really does trump ideology.