China :: Science & Technology

Alibaba Group , Yahoo! Inc and Softbank reached agreement over the controversial transfer of Alipay to a company controlled by Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of Alibaba. Under the agreement, Alibaba will receive no less than $2 billion and no more than $6 billion in proceeds from an IPO of Alipay or other liquidity event or 37.5% of the total equity value of Alipay, and it will continue to participate in Alipays future financial performance. Also, according to the agreement, Alipay will continue to provide payment processing services to Alibaba Group and its subsidiaries including Taobao . Alipay claims to be the largest third-party payment solution in China, while Taobao is the largest domestic ecommerce platform. The deal ends a public dispute among Yahoo, Softbank and Alibaba over Yahoos accusation of Jack Ma stealthily transferring Alipay to an entity owned by Jack Ma without notifying other shareholders. Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said after the settlement that this is a good outcom...

YouTube is closely integrating Googles Hangouts group video chat platform with its live streaming in an effort to make video watching more social. The site has already quietly begun to make live video feeds available to Hangouts users, and will eventually add tools to improve discovery of live streams both within Hangouts and on YouTube.com, I was told by YouTube Live Product Manager Brandon Badger this week. Hangouts has been joined at the hip with YouTube ever since the chat platform launched as part of Google+ at the end of June. Hangouts users can launch YouTube videos right from within the group video chat, and up to ten participants can watch the same video simultaneously. How to watch YouTube Live in Hangouts: Start a Hangouts session in Google+ and invite your contacts to join you. In a separate browser tab, head over to YouTube.com/Live and select a live stream of your choice Copy the YouTube video I.D. of the selected live stream. Not sure how to find it? Just click on the ...

Add to My Stories Share Facebook and Twitter have created a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives, a top scientist believes.Repeated exposure to social networking sites leaves users with an 'identity crisis', wanting attention in the manner of a toddler saying: 'Look at me, Mummy, I've done this.' Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, believes the growth of internet 'friendships' as well as greater use of computer games could effectively 'rewire' the brain. Vain generation: A top Oxford scientist has warned that repeated exposure to social networking websites could harm users. (Picture posed by model)This can result in reduced concentration, a need for instant gratification and poor non-verbal skills, such as the ability to make eye contact during conversations.More than 750million people across the world use Facebook to sha...

From Thursday to Sunday this week, the Shanghai ChinaJoy Game Expo is on . The Expo is a big opportunity for companies to showcase their new titles to a mass gathering of hardcore Chinese gamers. Like car enthusiasts being wooed by gorgeous car models, gaming companies are using an arsenal of attractive female models, dressed in tight character costumes to fulful some type of fetish fantasy of their players. It seems they havent taken much notice ofgovernment directive against vulgarity and obscene, sexually proactivebehavior as reported by Shanghai Daily.Held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, the convention will feature sessions for game companies, game veterans, developers and of course players to discuss and experience the latest trends in the industry. Online game market hits 9.48bn yuan in Q2 2011 The dynamic of Chinese consumers is starkly different to other countries. Since Chinese people dont like paying forthings online , companies have accepted this fact and mon...

Add to My Stories Share Facebook and Twitter have created a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives, a top scientist believes.Repeated exposure to social networking sites leaves users with an 'identity crisis', wanting attention in the manner of a toddler saying: 'Look at me, Mummy, I've done this.' Baroness Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, believes the growth of internet 'friendships' as well as greater use of computer games could effectively 'rewire' the brain. Vain generation: A top Oxford scientist has warned that repeated exposure to social networking websites could harm users. (Picture posed by model)This can result in reduced concentration, a need for instant gratification and poor non-verbal skills, such as the ability to make eye contact during conversations.More than 750million people across the world use Facebook to sha...

When I wrote a year ago that the 3DS could be in trouble , I learned a couple of things: 1. Nintendo fans are passionate. Really, really passionate . 2. Saying any forthcoming product from a company with a 10-million-man army of fans could be in trouble will result in people calling you lots of names. Lots and lots of names . Still, Im glad I wrote it, because I tend to think that, with this weeks news of the devices price dropping from $249 to $169, I was largely right. My thinking went as follows: The 3DS was built with the same business model that the DS and the Game Boy employed before them, centered on dedicated hardware and the sales of expensive game titles. Its a model that, with the arrival of smartphones, tablets, app marketplaces and multiscreen gaming, has become a bit antiquated. Now, dont get me wrong: There are tens of millions of people who will buy the 3DS. There are probably that many core Nintendo fans. But what were seeing more and more of is that the casual fan w...

A couple of interesting messages just appeared from the Hulu Support Twitter account . In several recent responses to subscribers complaining about ads that Hulu plays as part of its premium subscription service, the account tweeted: Were currently an ad-supported service but looking into the option of a higher price ad-free version. Hulu has never entirely ruled out an ad-free model , but the tweets come as a bit of a surprise, since Hulu has long maintained its reliance on ads, even for its Hulu Plus service. Rather than going ad-free, like Netflix has done, Hulu Plus has a slightly lighter ad load but also gives subscribers access to a wider library of content. In an February blog post , Hulu CEO Jason Kilar talked up the value that Hulu provides to content owners in terms of ad revenues, comparing Hulus effective ad rates versus those from broadcast DVR and cable DVR. In a more recent blog post , however, Kilar was more bullish on the companys Hulu Plus subscription service, say...