Keep your fingers off the hinge

Sony (China) is recalling 77,705 VAIO laptop computers in China because of a possible manufacturing defect that may cause overheating.

The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer’s hinge, which may short-circuit and overheat in the power supply connector or the LCD area, possibly causing a place.

The affected laptops are of the VAIO VGN-TZ series (the machine of choice for many journalists) produced between July 2007 and July 2008.

This blog is being written on such a machine.

Sony suggests users contact the company and Sony will provide quality check and free maintenance.

Until then keep your fingers away from the hinge. It may bite or worse things that could be mentioned.
Source: China View

Fujistu UMPC

Research firms are suggesting the growth rate of China’s personal computer sales will drop to a five-year low this year on an uncertain economic environment.

China’s PC sales will grow 18% year on year in 2008 to more than 42 million units. The growth rate —  which would make most companies ecstatic —  is likely to be the lowest one since 2003 according to IDC. Industry insiders said the growth rate will rebound next year.

Wang Jiping, IDC’s analyst, said in a statement, ‘It’s a cycle in the domestic PC industry every four to five years and we believe the growth rate will rebound next year when the economy recovers.’

The UMPC, or ultra mobile personal computer, which boasts super mobility, Internet functions and are relatively cheap, will come under the spotlight in the near future. This writer has just bought one.

It is though that in future, the UMPC sales will equal those of laptops and both sectors will grow and coexist, according to ASUS.
Source: Shanghai Daily

This is an important change in attitudes towards computers even though it looks like fashion reporting.

Technology showed up at Vivienne Tam’s Spring 2009 show, where models came down the runway clutching slim, red HP notebook computers instead of evening bags.

The limited-edition computer, which she called a “digital clutch,” featured the Tam collection’s signature red peony print on its cover. It will be available early next year, sometime around the Chinese New Year.

Vivienne Tam

According to the designer the peony’s petals on the laptop cover symbolize multi-tasking, which is synonymous with being a woman in today’s tech-oriented society.

Not an argument that is easy to follow but sounds good.

Vivienne Tam is a fashion designer based in New York who was born in Guangzhou in 1957.

Her clothing brand is named after her and is inspired by Chinese design and modern fashion. The theme of first collection was East Wind Code.

She authored China Chic, a book on Chinese style. HP said it’s the first time a fashion designer has partnered with a computer company, though others are teaming up with mobile phone companies.
Source: Reuters

Chinese personal computer manufacturer Lenovo wants to concentrate on growing its desktop business in India.

Towards this end, it is expanding its desktop line with its consumer-focused IdeaCentre series. These systems have unusual features such as an anti-bacterial keyboard and face-recognition security. And analysts say the desktops mark a significant departure from the bland aesthetics of Lenovo’s well-known business systems.

Its market share in India is around 6% which is just half that of the leader, HP. But over the last couple of years, the growth of laptops has outpaced that of desktops.

Moreover, growth in the desktop shipment for the April-June quarter of CY08, according to research firm IDC, dropped by 2.4% year-on-year, while the laptop shipments grew 51% over the same period.

Lenovo’s strategy seems to work well with laptops which provides about 60% of its total revenues in the Indian market.

Amar Babu, managing director, Lenovo India, seen above, explains that the growth in desktops will not be at the cost of laptops, ‘in which we are already strong players.  . . .

‘India was the first country where Lenovo’s consumer brand was launched outside China. The laptop business, as the numbers show, is growing effortlessly. We can surely do better on the desktop front too. So we will also look at the desktop growth in smaller cities, where the penetration is low.’
Source: India Business Standard

Loongson computer chip

Chinese researchers are preparing the first multicore versions of Godson, China’s first homegrown microprocessor, with four- and eight-core designs to be released in the coming months.

Zhiwei Xu, deputy directory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology said the four-core version of the Godson-3 should be available this year with the eight-core version planned for 2009.

Chinese PC manufacturer ZhongKe Menglan Electronics Technology began offering a low cost computer based on Godson to schools and governments in 2007. As yet they have not made it in a major way in mass-market products.

MIT, which is about prestigious as you can get, sees the new Godson-3, developed with government funding by more than 200 researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), as a distinct challenge to Intel.

Godson chips are manufactured in China by a Swiss company called ST Microelectronics and are available commercially under the brand name Loongson, meaning ‘dragon chip.’

Loongson chips already power some personal computers and servers on the Chinese market, which come with the Linux operating system and other open-source software.
Sourcea: EE Times and MIT Technology Review

Computer maker Lenovo spent serious money to become a sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, not only designing the Olympic torch but sponsoring athletes and supplying computers for the games’ data and media teams.

It cost serious money. Some may come back from like Olympic-themed USB flash drives that cost serious money.

Lenovo announced the Olympic torch design, also featured on a Lenovo laptop, in early 2008. The 4GB flash drive sells for the equivalent of around $142.

Other patterns from Lenovo feature the adorable cartoon mascots of the Beijing Olympics: Beibei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, and NiNi.

A medallion style is currently sold out on Lenovo’s Chinese site, while a $29 4GB stick, and a $58 256MB oval-shaped drive, are for sale, with inexplicable price differences. The last of Lenovo’s designs is a $58, 1GB oval flash-drive sporting the Olympic rings.

Apparently Lenovo also makes a set of titanium Olympic flash drives engraved with the Olympic mascots and sold in a mahogany box. The price would not be insignificant although it has not been announced.
Source: Crave

Sony has begun selling what are called built-to-order personal computers in China and will probably eventually go world wide.

It hopes to increase its PC sales by 30% this fiscal year.

This ‘built-to-order label’ is somewhat misleading. All you are doing is changing the specifications within fairly restricted boundaties.

Basically you can chose between four processors, built-in software and two body designs and a few colors.

In other words Sony does not build a computer for you from scratch. (There are some small boutique companies that will do this for you — at a price.) Instead it lets you select from a fairly restricted list.

Dell probably pioneered it and made it into the center part of its marketing plan. And NEC and a few other PC makers also sell tailor-made models.

The downside is you order today and get delivery in two weeks.

Sony plans to make customization a core element of the sales experience in China although this may be difficult.
Source: Trading Markets

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has released a report on Internet development in China in 2008: Investigation Report on Internet in Rural Area. The number of people connected in rural areas reached 52.62 million by the end of last year, an annual increase rate of 127.7%, much higher than the 38.2% annual increase rate in cities.

There is an emerging force to drive the continuous growth of Internet in China. Investigation shows that 40% (29.17 million) of the 73 million new users come from rural areas.

However, the development gap of Internet between rural areas and cities is still great.

The prevalence rate of Internet in cities is 27.3%.
In rural areas 7.1%.
Reasons for this are:

The education and income level of residents in rural areas are relatively low
Lack of knowledge about computers and the Internet, 53.3%
Lack of equipment to access Internet, 23.1%
The average weekly use of Internet by rural areas users is 12.3 hours, 5.6 hours less than in cities.

A key project led by the government and driven by various parties to support the telecommunication and Internet in rural areas is underway.
Source: China Economic Net

Three containers with suspected toxic electronic waste from the United States were detained by Hong Kong inspectors after environmental activists boarded a cargo ship.

The activists from Greenpeace placed a giant banner across three containers that said ‘Toxic Waste Not Welcomed Here’ aboard a ship that was due to unload the containers in Hong Kong.

The e-waste would then have been trucked to nearby Guangdong province in southern China, where it would have been dismantled.

Edward Chan, a Greenpeace campaigner, said, ‘The Environmental Protection Department and customs have detained the suspect containers and we hope that they send them back the United States.’ The shipment was from a company in Oakland, California.

He said, ‘Hong Kong has always been the transit point for illegal toxic waste into China because there are legal loopholes.’

Greenpeace had tracked the loading of the waste in California.

Southern China has become a world center for the processing of illegal e-waste, with much of the world’s unwanted computers broken down for constituent parts. Without strong safety precautions, workers are exposed to dangerous fumes from parts such as cadmium, lead and mercury.
Source: AFP

According to the median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News Taiwan’s export growth probably accelerated in May as demand from other, mainly China, tempered weakening sales to the U.S.and Europe.

Peter Kurz, head of Taiwan research at Citigroup, said on Bloomberg Television, ‘There will be some influence from the U.S. for sure. But the growing exports to emerging markets in China, Russia, India and elsewhere will help mitigate the impact of a slowdown in the U.S.’

China’s economy expanded 10.6% in the first quarter, compared with 11.9% for the whole of last year, an easing its central bank described as ‘moderate.’

Sales of electronics to the world’s fastest growing major economy have helped Taiwan weather fallout from the U.S. financial crisis, which has cut demand for Asian exports.

Tony Phoo, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Taipei said, ‘We continue to expect robust sales to mainland China to keep overall growth supported. Electronics shipments and sales to Europe and the U.S. are expected to ’stay soft.’

The mainland and the U.S. are Taiwan’s two biggest overseas markets. Overseas shipments are equivalent to about 50% of Taiwan’s gross domestic product.
Source: Bloomberg