China

In a rare independent study of China's energy sector, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that the problem with China's coal power generation is not that its power plants lack cleaner technology.

The emissions are definitely higher than they could be, the report found, but the culprit is usually low-quality coal rather than low-tech plants. As an MIT statement explains:

Lower-grade coal, which produces high levels of sulfur emissions, can be obtained locally, whereas the highest-grade anthracite comes mostly from China's northwest and must travel long distances to the plants, adding greatly to its … Read more

China Mobile, China's largest cell phone operator, plans to establish a research and development facility in Silicon Valley in 2009, according to a report from ChinaTechNews.com.

This is the first overseas research and development facility that China Mobile has set up, the news site reported.

Like mobile operators throughout the world, China Mobile is looking to add new data services to its offerings. The president of China Mobile's Institute of Research, Huang Xiaoqing, told the news site that it sees most of its revenue today coming from voice services, but the company recognizes that data services are … Read more

Much has been made of Beijing's decision to keep a lighter version of its Olympics traffic restrictions, not least because whatever the city did to clean the air seemed to have worked in August. But the renewed measures are weaker and the probable effect is unclear.

Alex Pasternack at Treehugger points out that the sustained restrictions, which took effect October 1, will be weaker than during the Games. Only one fifth of cars will be pulled from the road on weekdays, versus half under the Olympics rules.

According to The Beijinger (also via Alex), the city's other restrictions … Read more

This country is in a bad way. Stocks are plummeting, people love Sarah Palin and The 404 made it to 200 episodes. We celebrate this momentous occasion with the beautiful and talented Natali Del Conte. Between the poisonous Chinese candy and steamy Calls from the Public, we're sure you'll laugh, chortle, chuckle, or otherwise plotz.

REMINDER: The 200th episode celebration continues this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at GSTAAD located on 26th Street and 6th Avenue. Be there or Dan the Mantern will beat you down!

On today's show, we made a startling discovery about NDC, this poor, poor chile has never participated in a great American tradition: Trick or treating. Because we love her, and we know you do too (so stop drooling), we're going to make sure she has a great Halloween experience. We invite you to enter the Choose Conte's Costume Contest. We're not sure what the prize will be, but there are a number of fantastic video games strewn across Jeff's desk. Ground rules: Nothing you wouldn't want to see your mother/sister wear. Also, the geekier the better (cuz that's how NDC roles). Good luck!

Security researchers recently found that IM conversations on the Chinese Skype program were not only filtered, but also recorded on a massive, nonsecure, server. The possibility of surveillance flies in the face of Skype's supposed strong encryption, and has provoked outcry among privacy advocates.

Users of the TOM-Skype platform, marketed in cooperation with a Chinese company, were "regularly scanned for sensitive keywords, and if present, the resulting data [were] uploaded and stored on servers in China," according to the report by Nart Villeneuve. Voice communications may have been catalogged, but researchers reported they did not find recorded … Read more

Skype's president said that the company was largely unaware of a major security breach affecting Skype users in China.

In a blog published Thursday, Josh Silverman, Skype's president, explained he did not realize that TOM-Skype, Skype's partner in China, was logging and storing users' instant messages that were deemed offensive by the Chinese government.

He said the company knew that instant-messaging chats were monitored by the government, as all communications in China are. And he explained that Skype disclosed this to users in 2006, explaining that a text filter was being used to block certain words in … Read more

TOM-Skype, eBay's joint venture in China, is recording customer text chats and censoring them if they contain certain keywords related to topics the government deems objectionable, according to a report released on Wednesday (PDF) by researchers in Canada.

"TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance," the report concludes. "What is clear is that TOM-Skype is engaging in extensive surveillance with seemingly little regard for the security and privacy of Skype users. This is in direct contradiction of Skype's public statements regarding … Read more

[UPDATE: I wrote the below before seeing an update on Danwei noting that the fine was canceled. This only underlines the power of online controversy, especially considering that the cancelation notice says the man was still guilty: they are merely using discretion in this case.]

Police officers who said they were investigating the distribution of "harmful information" from a new business' IP address found a 30-minute adult video on a hard drive and fined the owner 1,900 RMB ($277 USD), according to a reported translated by ESWN.

The crux of the legal claim appears to be the … Read more

The mobile-phone industry is expected to boom, despite the current global financial crisis, thanks to new growth in emerging markets, according to Portio Research.

In a Monday report, the analyst firm predicted that the world's population of mobile-phone users will increase from the current 50 percent to 80 percent in 2013. This translates to a "staggering 5.8 billion people," Portio said.

"The mobile industry continues to confound expectations with spectacular accelerating growth," the report stated, attributing the growth mainly to China and India's markets.

China topped Portio's list of top growth markets, … Read more