Media_Is the father's business attractable?

Lachlan Murdoch, seen as the heir apparent to his 74-year-old father Rupert as head of News Corp, quit the media giant because he is tired of New York and traveling, reported Reuters.

The 33-year-old Murdoch will go back to Australia with his wife and son.

Will Rupert blame on the son? Or remind the hard experience the old times when he went back from Oxford to Australia to help on his father's business?

Though, father's business is not always attractable.

Banking_Goldman Sachs Group buy 9.9% in ICBC

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Allianz AG of Germany are close to an agreement to buy a 9.9% stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China for about $3.5 billion, from Marketwatch.

Media_Baidu, the Chinese version of Google on Nasdaq?

hmmm, a story from MSN money tells how U.S. investors will think about Baidu.

I know somewhere in China Google is blocked, while Baidu works well. So Baidu should be a choice for invetors who are interested in search engines, right? maybe.

Media_Corn is not only popular in Pod

Seriously speaking, Marketwatch reported that "About 10% of the 100 most popular programs in the iTunes Music Store are tagged "explicit."". But that doesn't mean Pod is only famous for corn, right? If we could do a survey on the pornography movie, TV series, novels, there should be a big share, too. It is human nature, not just because of podcast's coming.

So when the reporter say "Millions of bloggers, but does anyone care?", I totally don't agree. Miillions of people is not a big deal among the total population in the world, but in certain group, it affects a lot. I always believe....

Media_web portals run for desktop

When desktop monopoly Microsoft competes in the web search area, Web portals such as Yahoo and Google are interested in developing desktop products. Google is developing Google desktop lately, while Yahoo bought a desktop-product company Pixoria yesterday.

All those monopoly companies want to control more, more and more, while small companies have to find the unpopular/unfocused area to develop.

Media_How many music records companies in Hong Kong?

Look here, hundreds of companies are operating in Hong Kong. Really huge. Do all of them make money, I wonder.

Opinion_another type of "terrorism"

When 27-year-old Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes was shot on his way to the office, he may never think of himself as a "suspected terrorist". But this innocent young guy was dead under those "anti-terrorism" guns. (CNN's report)

British's firm decision to find the London bombings terrorists is right and aspected, but it doesn't mean it could shoot common people, even "suspected people". The whole happening is similar with the U.S.'s attack to Iraq, where the Iraq is a "suspected country" but in fact not the real terrorist.

People will always scare when the others near them die. To say, after Sep. 11 happened, after London bombings happened. So they always require their government to do something to protect them, even extreme things. It is understandable, but they should be care of their extreme feelings to evolve to "another kind of terrorism".

Economy_Let's give a surprise

Surprise, surprise. RMB is revalued.
When Premier Wen said we will revalue RMB in an unexpected time, we should have known it will happen.
When China's GDP growth reached 9.5% in the second quarter, we should have known it will happen soon.
When people think it is still too early to ask the revaluation, China has done that.

In an old Chinese saying, "succeed on unexpectedly doings". Now China did. Reporters are pretty busy yesterday, and I guess no one are prepared for that. Asian Wall Street Journal did a good job with two pages fullly covering the impact on various industries. In such urgent circumstances, the only way is to prepare it at any time.

The yuan closed at 8.1111 against the dollar at 3:30 p.m. local time from 8.110 yesterday, according to data on the State Administration of Foreign Exchange's Web site.

Is the revaluation just a beginning? Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman said so; Japan's Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said so. Will Chinese officials said so?

Now RMB is floating; what Amy wonder is if bankers could trade derivatives right now, hedging on the value change every day?

Media_Is "virtual society" still virtual?

"One of the Internet's advantages is you could communicate with anyone including a dog". People said when Internet first developed in China.

Now you couldn't have the opportunity to chat with a dog because dogs are required to register with identity cards before chatting. Now big online service providers such as Tencent are required to ask all the users chatting with real name and identity numbers, reported Sina.com. Tencent's branded online chatting software is QQ, used by 150 million active users, or almost 10 percent of the total population in the nation.

It is the beginning for all Internet users in China to be required to register with their real identities. Analysts are divided into three groups, supporting, protesting and neutral. It is highlight by Sina.com that Korean government will implement the "real identity" law on the Internet. The official excuse for the government is to fight with online violence.

People supporting "freedom of speech" will never bear such excuse. The point is if online users could enjoy "freedom of speech" even if they are registered with the real identity. If they couldn't, then it's a pity for the country.

Media_Mobile radio and podcasts

Amy is doing some research on online music radio these days. Interestingly, Amy found the world's first 3G radio player on the Virgin Radio website by chance. It looks cute, but not sure if its voice and service quality is good . Anyone used it before?


Also, there is podcasting show on the Virgin Radio. It claims to be the first UK radio station to offer a podcast of a daily show. A new way for DJs to advertise themselves is born...

Company_Haier dropped the bid for Maytag

China's Haier Group dropped out of the three-way bidding contest for Maytag Corp., leaving Whirlpool Corp. and Ripplewood Holdings LLC to contend for the No. 3 U.S. appliance maker，reported Bloomberg.

Haier doesn't have the strong official background as baby CNOOC, which made it more concerned on the amount of M&A spending. I say it is smart not to spend the money out of its affordability .

Company_Microsoft's Vice president go to Google China

Li kaifu, Microsoft's vice president , will become the chief executive of Google China, and be responsbile for the operation of the Google research center opening in the third quarter, reported Sina.com.

Google's surprising annoucement has offended Microsoft, the biggest software maker in the world. It has already submited litigation of violating the non-competition promise to the district court of the State of Washington. Microsoft said Li should be forbidden to be recruited by its main competitor according to the promise he made before.

Google's last trade price is 309.9 USD, while Microsoft 's is 26.16 USD. Compare the two prices, you will find who is the hero in a new era, Google's stock price shows people's expectation as a new Nasdaq noble.

Could I say Microsoft's era has passed?

Company_fair or unfair?

I talked about the difficulty for a Chinese company to buy a U.S. company several days ago. Then Dave, one of my Australian readers, commented that it is also difficult for a foreign company to buy a full Chinese company. That's true, I have to admit(sorry, Dave, I can't re-comment because my blog comment is blocked here in China).

It is not totally wrong for U.S. politicans to be worried. In a "mysterious" economy such as China's, people outside are easily suspecting how markets will operate, or be operated. Some activities may be forbidden, such as foreign banks could not hold more than 20 percent of the local banks; Some activities are encouraged, like government will support huge low-interest loan when baby CNOOC planned to buy U.S. oil supplier Unocal.

Newsweek just did a story analyzing the bidding contest for Unocal. "It's an unfair playing field," Chevron vice chairman Peter Robertson said on yesterday's story on Newsweek . "If any foreign government can do that, their companies can not only buy Unocal, but any company they want." Chevron is the competitor of Baby CNOOC in the bidding contest.

It is always hard to say something is fair or unfair, Amy has learned.

Media_Fell in love with blogger.com

I always suggest people using blogger.com; not because I use it, but I really love its services, improving services.

Blogger.com is not that convenient to upload pictures at first; you could either use the "hello" software or use picture websites such as Flickr. But now pictures could be direcly posted via clicking the "image"button on the "edit toolbox". Three choices are provided for you to adjust how pictures and texts cooperate. It has solved one of my big problems.

Now, it has another service named blogger mobile. Here is an interesting piece on how to use it.

All nice things about blogger.com is you will never be bothered by those services, but always find something enjoyable. Improving services will not make a quick money, but it will make users more loyal to the website. In the era, loyalty is the most important factor for shareholders to trust the company. Have a look at Google: how much is the stock price now???

Media_when new technology come?

"Look, any time a new technology comes about, it disrupts old business models. Any time there’s a new technology that empowers the consumer, some people in the industry get nervous because it’s all about control, and there are a lot of people in the industry who don’t want to see the consumer have control. But you gotta deal with this. Let’s look at the benefits that come out of this."

The words are quoted from the interview of Blake Krikorian, CEO of Sling Media on Engadget. The company's business is, in one sentence, helping users to redirect the TV signal to a laptop or desktop PC anywhere and anytime. "It may change the Hollywood business model" the interview said.

I totally agree what he said. To me, his business is another example of grassroot strength. Other examples include VoIP, BT, and so on.

Mytag Group got another offer

Whirlpool Corp., the largest U.S. appliance maker, is offering $1.35 billion in cash and stock for Maytag Corp., topping bids from two other groups for the No. 3 U.S. appliance manufacturer, reported Bloomberg.

Whirlpool's $17 a share bid beats the $16 bid from China's Haier Group and the $14 a share offer from a consortium led by buyout firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC.

Though the final decision will be made a month later, Morgan Keegan Inc. analyst Laura Champine said it will be a problem of antitrust, but "From a political standpoint, it's certainly a more favorable option if you're a politician than combining with a Chinese manufacturer."

Oh, really? Why Chinese manufacturers always welcome the offer from outside, but in reverse, things are so hard?

Investing_10 rules to win "the loser's game".

If you are an amateur investor, then how you will survive in a professional investing world? Here is 10 rules given by Paul B. Farrell from Marketwatch:

(1) Never, never speculate.
(2) Your home is not a stock.
(3) Save lots more.
(4) Brokers aren't your friends.
(5) Never trade commodities.
(6) Avoid new and exciting deals.
(7) Bonds also ride up and down.
(8)Never invest for tax benefits.
(9) Write goals and stick to them.
(10)Never trust your emotions.

a friend needs helper

A friend in Shanghai needs someone who can help him to set up a blog on one of my
sites. If you are familiar with blog stuff and willing to help him(better face-to-face in Shanghai), please contact me. He would like to pay 500 yuan for the job.

This should be a simple blog, with the following characterstics:
- picture as header that I can change myself
- 3 columns, left I want to put some links, middle the text from the
blog, and right a calender, some info about myself and space for thinks
like 'book that I am reading'
- notification when new comment is posted
- possibility to post pictures from Flickr
- It does not matter to me which software is behind it, as long as I am
able to work on it from China.
-RSS feed support

Media_Chinese bloggers' reaction

Isaac refered me the survey by former CNN journalist Rebecca Mackinnon on Chinese bloggers' reaction to registration deadlines. After the survey, Ms. Mackinnon got an unexpected recommedation from a Chinese blogger. The blogger suggested Ms. Mackinnon to have more contact with people who live in China. "" "we can't and don't need to access all information" and he doesn't feel that he is prevented from saying what he wants" . Ms. Mackinnon wrote.

I know Ms. Mackinnon, as an American who could speak and read Chinese and live in China for a long while, my feel pretty annoyed on this comment. But I would like to say it is not strange for a blogger to say things like that. Before I study in Hong Kong, I never realized the importance of the free internet, too. I thought everything I used was already enough for me. If there's any problem, I may contribute the fault to my computer or bad local network. I lived happy at that time.

But when I went back from HK after studying for a while, I felt that I lost my freedom, coz' I couldn't visit many interesting websites I used to go to in HK. 'That's bad", I always complain to my Chinese friend now. I am not happy now.

Before you use a good service yourself, you will never say it is good, isn't it?

My American friends always told me the reason why Bush won in the second Presidential election is that not many Americans go abroad, say, 70%. So they couldn't really find what people in other countries think of the U.S. The same thing happens to China, too, when **% of Chinese haven't been abroad, too.(i don't know the exact number, but I suppose it is higher than the number in the U.S.)


I am not saying who is right or wrong, coz' all those are just different opinions based on different experience. The communication theory tells us to try to know the other party as much as you could.

So, Rebecca, do you feel a little better? hoho

Opinion_the importance of a wage indicator

My friend Fons started a business named wage indicator years before(Not sure how long). Though he is curious in finding investors these days, I believe it will be an useful information source for worldwide business, especially those who want to make use of cheap labors.

After talking with a reporter here in Shanghai, I had some basic idea on the salary of local reporters here. For an experienced reporter, he or she could earn more than 10,000 yuan( almost 1200 US dollars) a month before tax, in addition with special money on transporting and lunchbox.

I heard an interesting example before, comparing the salary of reporters in Hong Kong with ones in Shanghai. In both cities, the average monthly salary for a reporter could cover the price of one square meter in an apartment. So, not that different, huh?