China: Mine’s Faster

China: Yoink! I think I’ll just take that title of possessing the world’s fastest computer from you Americans.
USA: Fffffuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

Yes, it’s happened. The Chinese have built a faster computer than the U.S. earning them bragging rights. I wonder how long it will take them to respond? Early numbers report that the Chinese supercomputer is approximately 30% faster than the previous number 1. Nvidia can be partly to blame for supplying over 7,000 graphics cards to aid in powering the computing beast. If you’re interested in upgrading your current video card this nVidia power monger will cost you $2,500 (and yes it does run Crysis, very well).

China has been creeping up the supercomputer rankings in recent years in a bid to boost national pride. Forget investing in your crumbling infrastructure, government corruption, and environmental pollution and start churning out those over sized foam hands with “We’re #1″ printed on them. So what does one do with a 2.507 petaflop processing computer? Prepare for Cataclysm?

Galaxy S launches in China

… and expect the clones to roll out next week. Samsung (25%) decided to cut into Nokia’s market lead (40%) by launching their Android phone in China on Wednesday. One of the fastest growing markets the Galaxy S is targeting the high end customer looking for an alternative to Apple’s iPhone. The phone is expected to start selling on Friday. (link)

At this point I’d be willing to buy a China clone phone if it could reliably run Android 1.6 instead of that garbage interface that is so common for the fake devices. The biggest problem with the China clones is the lack of apps and quality. Nevertheless I’ll looking into getting one.

Samsung Galaxy S (Gizmodo)

Here come the clones

Supposedly available 3 months ago the China clone dubbed “aPad” is yet another cloned product. 7″ screen, WiFi, Android 1.5, does not work with iTunes (which is a plus for me), AND only $210US.

While hackers continue to rip apart the Apple OS and work on a China version it is only a matter of time. Is there anything the Chinese can’t make a cheap copy of? Better features but certainly not equal quality so buyer beware. If you’re not faint of heart hit up the local shops in Shenzhen and remember to haggle, always haggle.

The delay of international shipments from Apple should only boost the demand for other products from competitors. The Nook and Kindle are both moving to better integrate an all around entertainment device to better serve their customer base in hopes of satisfying those staring longingly at the iPad. So long as both devices remain a true ebook reader then their fans should be happy.

And the winner is …

Shaoxing, China. Hold the applause. This isn’t the kind of contest you want to be proud of winning. According to a study by Symantec 21.3% of malicous emails are sent from Shaoxing, making it number 1 in the world. That’s a lot of email to own up to. Is there any wonder why spam has tripled over the past year? Email is mostly unusable thanks to the malicious activity of these criminals.

Symantec was essential in helping Google track down the cyber espionage activity during the past year’s security breaches. Most involving the Chinese state assistance.

The gauntlet has been thrown down

Bye China. Google has left the search business to Baidu. The next step has the gauntlet being thrown down by Google. China felt it could continue to impose its will on the American company but it was wrong. Queue the Chinese state media to begin slandering the company. Looks like the workers at Google.cn will have to start looking for another job. Maybe this guy was upset about the whole thing.

The state whines “YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE TO CENSOR THE INTERWEBS”
Google “YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE TO NOT STEAL FROM US”
State “WE HAD OUR FINGERS CROSSED SO IT DIDN’T COUNT”

I guess it’s up to the people to carry the fight from now on. Google has had enough of the bullshit. Makes you wonder just how many other foreign companies are ready to pull out of the country. China’s protectionist economic strategy continues to be a major deterrent for competition. While it’s a major blow to Internet freedoms for the Chinese population it’s a big statement for international companies operating in China. We’ll have to see what happens next.