Not that many people use Facebook in China when you can make the same service such as Xiaonei (how many times must one say this, in today’s world, the minute an online company plans to go global, you better actually go global or choose the nations that have the highest Internet population–and that means China), but seems China is currently blocking Facebook,as Danwei notes:

Danwei readers in Beijing reported earlier today that Facebook seemed to be blocked. It was accessible in Shanghai this afternoon, but now seems to be blocked nationwide.

Creating a large frustration for presumably many young people who helps provide pictures for Engrish.com

The Wall Street Journal China’s Journal:

Beijing’s Olympic organizers have said that the Internet will be uncensored during the Olympics, a dubious claim. If Facebook still is running into interference in Beijing come August, organizers can be fairly certain that at least some of the half million foreign visitors expected here this August will notice.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook has problems for awhile, just like Youtube before it, and Google before that.

Update (07/02/2008):

Aw provides some backend blocking pictures for the proof.

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The Lost Laowai does a superb job explaining (along with good comments) on the difference in the Western and Chinese viewpoints, medias, and perceptions on the recent events in China.

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How many years do you expect until this industry dies out (if at all)?

My personal belief is that although the newspaper industry is in a major decline, print will still play a major part in the daily lives of people around 30 and older, and yet, for those who have grown up with the net always there and with the increasing prominence of blogs, it could be another fifty years before newspaper really succumb in the end to the digital revolution.

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So, I wanted to be able to somehow convince my wife to make a music video with me of Love’s Angel (爱的天使) by Jolin as a romantic thing, but she’s rejected that idea before. Now, I came up with a great idea that she could buy an LV bag (that would be $1000) as long as she and I could make a music video similar to the one that Jolin has.

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So much for Baidu getting preferential treatment as I mentioned before as Universal, SonyBMG, and Warner are now suing Baidu for violating copyright laws:

Three global record companies have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine Baidu.com Inc, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files, an international music trade body said.

Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd have asked a court to order Baidu to remove all links on its music delivery service to copyright-infringing tracks that they own the rights to, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a statement.

The claims have been filed with a court in Beijing, said IFPI, which is backed by global music industry heavyweights.

Of course, filing a claim is the easy part and will be a long road in trying to prove their case.

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Couldn’t help but laugh seeing the History Channel now buying PPC ads after the fact of their great special that I blogged about on Life After People and also my thoughts on Life After People (not to mention creating the pages all after they ran the ads on TV).

Too little, too late, perhaps?

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In the off-chance that one has yet to watch History Channel’s Life After People yet, please note that below will have spoilers on the show and my thoughts on it as well.

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Bump and Update on 1/29/2008:

Click here for more of my thoughts on Star Trek Under Construction.

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Io9 and many others have the scoop on the newest Star Trek trailer for 2008 that provides a lovely snapshot of the original Enterprise being built with the original theme music that gave me some nice goosebumps.

From a Star Trek fan (Trekkie) perspective, hopefully this movie will be better than the last (which I thought was sadly poorly done) and 1,000 times better than the quasi-Star Trek “Enterprise” that tried to build on a new and young fan base that collapsed horrifically when it did not follow Star Trek cannon (how stupid could one be really? Sons and daughters of major Star Trek fans would only denigrate the show which would in turn only turn them off from the show). I only hope that the lesson has been learned and will strictly follow cannon this time. That means no ending the movie by giving Enterprise to the whole original crew as it first goes to Captain Pike (Correction: Captain April, then Pike, then Kirk. hat tip: fishstickjesus)!

From the buzz aspect, if you’re curious, click on the small flashing red button–it leads to a landing page with three cameras that you can adjust to see the picture better. I’m not entirely sure if there is more to the site (and if anyone knows, please tell me), but it certainly would be a good buzz campaign if they did so. Regardless, sadly the site is still mostly under construction (some links do not work) and then there’s a link to Bad Robot, a lovely picture that really tells me nothing, [UPDATE: so go to wikipedia here]. Oh, and forcing people to use Quicktime for the HD? Poor choice imo.

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For those of you with the long MLK weekend, just sending out a reminder about Life After People being shown on the History Channel on January 21st from 9PM to 11PM.

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Bump and Update on 1/29/2007:

Please go here if you are looking for my thoughts on Life After People.

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What looks to be a fascinating TV special by the History Channel coming up on January 21st called “Life After People“:

The human species appeared on Earth about two million years ago and has been changing it ever since. What will Earth look like in the days, weeks, months, years and millennia after humans are gone? How long would it take for our edifices to crumble–all traces of us gone, to be replaced by primordial forests, wild boar, rare cranes in pristine marshes? The clues to the future are right here in the present but are illuminated when we look through the lens of history. Experts from all fields of science will paint the picture, and the destructions and resurrections will all be animated by the magic of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. (Genres: Science & Technology, Special)

Even David Brin is will be getting into it as he notes on Daily Kos:

Watch your favorite Brin put down his pundit thing on the History Channel (again) on January 21, in a docu-future bit called Life After People… a fun look at what could happen to our cities… and animals… if humanity suddenly disappeared.

Would like to put a note via an RSS feed or something, but its unfortunately too far out on the History Channel’s website at this point, but so it goes.

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