Dangers of Young Generations on The Net

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ebckRNly_Q
At Pacific Coffee this morning I observed a boy; about the age of ten, at an Internet workstation. From the start I see that he is fidgety, and is the type who cannot sit still. When he jumps onto the computer the first thing he does is sign into Facebook. He scans the posts in his Home stream, then proceeds to FishVille for the next 15 minutes.

Continue reading “Dangers of Young Generations on The Net”

Internet Deprived in Shanghai

As I stay in Shanghai on my 6th day I am staring to get Internet withdraws. It is not that I do not have access to the Internet. I do have access to my online store, my emails, my blog and some of my favorite sites.

Although this is possible the mainland Chinese government has effectively killed my net social life. Access to Facebook, Twitter and all Google feeds for blogs are blocked. For the latter I have to figure out the original site, visit it’s Home page and then locate the story I’m interested in. Yes, VPN is one way to get around the Great Firewall, but I am not that addicted to my net social life to pay for VPN service during my short stay in Shanghai, and the free services like Hotspot Shield is not helping.

For Twitter I use it more for sharing interesting finds on The Net and breaking technology related news. I hope my followers will not give up on me during my short period of hiatus. I guess I can only tell when I returns to Hong Kong.

Continue reading “Internet Deprived in Shanghai”

Internet Deprived in Shanghai

As I stay in Shanghai on my 6th day I am staring to get Internet withdraws. It is not that I do not have access to the Internet. I do have access to my online store, my emails, my blog and some of my favorite sites.
Although this is possible the mainland Chinese government has effectively killed my net social life. Access to Facebook, Twitter and all Google feeds for blogs are blocked. For the latter I have to figure out the original site, visit it’s Home page and then locate the story I’m interested in. Yes, VPN is one way to get around the Great Firewall, but I am not that addicted to my net social life to pay for VPN service during my short stay in Shanghai, and the free services like Hotspot Shield is not helping.

For Twitter I use it more for sharing interesting finds on The Net and breaking technology related news. I hope my followers will not give up on me during my short period of hiatus. I guess I can only tell when I returns to Hong Kong.

Continue reading “Internet Deprived in Shanghai”

10 Top Internet Using Countries

Rank Country % of Wrold
Total
# of Internet
Users
1. USA 18.00 210,575,287
2. China 13.80 162,000,000
3. Japan 7.40 86,300,000
4. Germany 4.30 50,426,117
5. Inda 3.60 42,000,000
6. Brazil 3.30 39,140,000
7. UK 3.20 37,600,000
8. South Korea 2.90 34,120,000
9. France 2.80 32,925,953
10. Italy 2.70 31,481,928
Top 10 Total 62.00 726,569,285
World Total 100.00 1,173,109,925

Statistics are collected for 2007. With the recent reform and increase of Internet users in China, it would not be a surprise if China had already surpassed USA as of 2009.

I also question the position of Japan and South Korea, as they are more connected to the Internet than most other countries in the world. The low ranking may be the result of their populations compared to China and USA.

Source: Internet World Stats

China’s Virtual Police

China's Virtual PoliceBeijing, China today introduced the new “Virtual Policeman and Policewoman” cartoon figures who will constantly monitor the web sites Chinese citizen visits. At the moment the Virtual Police is only monitoring 13 Chinese web sites and will eventually covers every domains registered in Beijing, China.

These Virtual Police would periodically appear on Internet surfer’s browser window reminding surfers not to visit porn sites, illegally download music and applications. If the surfers need further assistance, they just have to click on the Virtual Police figure and the surfers will immediately be redirected to the Beijing Police web site.

This is a perfect example of the cultural difference between mainland China and other western countries; particularly United States.

If this sort of government monitoring happens in Canada, United Kingdom or United States there will be a major up roar and citizen revoke. Of course, this is not to say that these government (particularly UK and USA) are not currently monitoring what their respective citizens are doing. In most cases, they are doing it much more subtly. It is well know that United States’ NSA (National Security Agency) monitors Internet traffic. In most cases, they justify the monitoring as domestic security reasons.

I think people, particularly governments, need to stop forcing their own principals onto other countries. Instead they should learn how to work with the local culture and improve the respective lives of their citizens.

read more | digg story

Technology Dependence

Yesterday, a major earthquake in Southwestern Taiwan caused sever damage to the fiber optics communication cables on the sea bed.

This interruption prevented me from accessing my emails and the backend applications for my online stores which are stored on the server located in the United States.

Fortunately, for part of the day yesterday I was able to access my backend applications and email server via an European proxy server. I managed to set up auto replies for two of my main email addresses. Informing my potential and existing customers the problem.

Unfortunately, this proxy server was turned off latter in the day, may be due to overload of traffic. I was unable to change the message on my website to inform potential customers of the situation.

This incident exposed our dependence on technologies. While it also emphasize the important of technologies in our daily lives. Without these technologies I will not be able to operate these online stores for the past 2+ years. Without these technologies I will not be able to manage and process orders from 4 different online stores.

We should not be questioning the level of dependence we have with technologies. As technologies are already part of our daily lives and will continue to be in the near and foreseeable future. Instead we should be questioning the people who manage our technologies and whether they are placing the same importance on these technologies as we do. Most importantly having the foresight to protect the access to these technologies in events like this.