We reported over a year ago on the release of the first mini-PC based on a China-developed processor. But according to Fool’s Mountain, it seems like that it either didn’t really ship or perhaps it didn’t register on his radar. So, there is a supposed new release that is the “second” first-ever commercial product based on an indigenous Chinese processor (the Loongson).
Some interesting details from the Fool’s Mountain post:
Over the past decade, researchers and engineers at the China Academy of Science has been given a budget in the tens-hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a commercially viable processor design, using only Chinese intellectual property. And although there have been numerous press releases about various technical feats, the simple fact of the matter was, you couldn’t actually find a commercial PC based on the Loongson.
Combine with this the fact that a different processor project (汉芯, Hanxin) was found to have been a complete fake (the researcher actually purchased a Freescale DSP and ground off the markings on the packaging)… all in all, it’s been a difficult process.
This new mini-computer only apparently shipped 500 units, which raises doubts about its legitimacy.
For tech specs see here — in short, it’s a slow and lightweight mini-PC. But hey, it’s only $262USD.
Does anyone know more?
My friend Nod has some new work up on the Behance network. It’s a pretty mix of the traditional and modern, of analog and digital.
See the rest of the series here.
Spotted on the web, a luxury concept hotel in Guilin: the Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA) Libre.
They are the only Chinese hotel that is part of the global Relais & Chateaux (luxury hotel and gourmet restaurants) alliance.
Book one of the 46 individually-designed rooms now! Via concierge.com.
Click for full-sized image with translations.
There’s more here. Via Longyin Review.
This plopped into my inbox like a piece of anonymous spam, but who could resist such a beautifully crafted piece of spam:
Title:
创业要简单！创业要面试！创业更要学习！
(Entrepreneurship made simple! Entrepreneurship needs interviews! Entrepreneurship needs to be studied!)
The website given is hosted on Baidu’s blog platform and is titled:
华人第一创业系统—-在家创业系统，让创业变得更简单！
(Chinese people’s first entrepreneurship system — be an entrepreneur at home, makes entrepreneurship simple!)
Inside the site, there are posts about classes/meetups as well as tips/stories for budding entrepreneurs. One post talks about how the creator of massively popular MMORPG 传奇 (Legend of Mir) got his start, and quotes him saying, “I then discovered my own two formulas to get rich: The first is focus, the second is rhythm.
See site.
The 6th Chinese Internet Research Conference is themed, “China and the Internet: Myths and Realities.”
It takes place on June 13-14 in Hong Kong. Topics are interesting, and registration only costs 300 HKD.
Go here for full details.
Mafia is a decently well-known game within role-playing communities. To put it succinctly (see wikipedia for a more elaborate explanation of the game), it’s a game played by a group of people in a living room, where people are secretly assigned mafia or innocent roles.
During each turn the innocents have to suss out which people are mafia and vote to kill them. At the end of each turn, the mafia gets to choose to kill another innocent. The game ends when only mafia or innocents are left alive.
Sometimes this live-action game is played on a forum, or even through IM.
And then (according to press statements), the game was brought to China by a foreign student who was in Silicon Valley.
Exhibit A: http://killer.uland.com/
The game was transferred to forums/chatrooms in China and the avatars were dolled up. They also added a new cops role (making it cops, killers and innocents).
Exhibit B: http://www.ss911.cn
These people dolled it up some more, stole some graphics from existing games and created a spiffy GUI for it. They are currently setting up the ability to buy items for your character (making them look prettier or have new special weapons).
What’s interesting to me:
- Does the game work well with just text (versus the living room in-person context)?
- Does the game become more interesting with the cops role?
- Will it evolve further?
(Also: Is it unethical for them to use pirated graphics? I don’t think so — at this beta stage, they’re clearly placeholders for what’s to come. Even if they’re not: They’re using them so badly right now, it would be silly to penalize them.)
Thanks to Gamasutra writer Frank Yu for his help: Check out his new blog — Yum Yum Games.
(Original link to Killcity/SS911 via Dennis’ Blog.)
From IfGoGo, by awflasher:
- People used to greet with “Did you have the dinner?”, now they say “Did you feel it(the shaking) last night?” instead.
- People used to care where their friends live, now they care on which floor do their friends live.
- People now always check carefully on the walls with a magnifier after every aftershock to make sure their house is safe.
- People now start to regard 2-floor as a very high place (to live)
- People now dislike those who always shake their legs.
- People now cannot bear with those who set their cell phones to vibration mode.
- People now are easy to get scared when their legs start to shake (even just ordinary shaking)
- People now feel very bad when the building is shaking. But after it stops shaking, people still worry about whether there would be another one. (No matter whether it is shaking, people are nervous)
- People served by CMCC swear to stop using CMCC while people served by China Unicom swear to stop using China Unicom. (CMCC and China Unicom are the only two mobile service provider in China, the mobile communication was not working for a very long time after the major quake in May 12)
- People now start to calculate how long will it take to run to the ground (from their rooms) as soon as they have nothing to do.
- People now start to carry a bag with the their most valuable belongings all the time.
- People now start to suspect themselves, and always ask each other, “Was there any shaking just now?”
- People now always try to stare at the glass of water every 5 minutes (to check whether there’s a shock).
- People now are very interested in Geography knowledge.
- People now are very interested in life instinct
- People now hesitates about whether to put off there shoes every time before they go to bed.
- People now are always in front of a TV or a PC Screen, watching the news though most of the news has already been broadcast weeks before.
See original article.
Rough translations given below image.
Source: 青青春春的秘密花园
Source: Daisy*蓓蓓〓部落格〓
Source: 雪茉莉
Source: PChome forum
Source: Ligaohau’s blog
Link sources: China Vortex, China IWOM Blog, ju690 news.
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