ChineseNewYear
Latest
'Overwatch' rings in the Lunar New Year with capture the flag
Shortly after the hit hero shooter Overwatch launched last May, fans were treated to a slew of new character models themed for the upcoming 2016 Brazil Summer Olympics. That was just the beginning of Blizzard's extra content train, as they released more for Halloween and Christmas. Last week, they teased new stuff to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, which all goes live today. Players will be excited for the new skins, but the real win is the addition of a long-awaited capture the flag mode to the game.
Watch 540 dancing robots celebrate Chinese New Year
Ten robot cheerleaders isn't enough when it comes to celebrating Chinese New Year. To kick off the year of the monkey, Chinese broadcaster CCTV's TV special included 540 dancing robots, with a fleet of drones to top it all off with a layer of glitter. The robots thrust, do handstands, and dance in that ever-so-robotic way (in unison), but it's the sheer scale that makes it must-see. Watch the spectacle below.
Apple suppliers had a very tough February
February is usually not a great month for the companies that supply Apple with its iOS and Mac device parts (Chinese New Year usually falls right in that month, and production in China always take a big downturn as people celebrate there). But this particular past February was especially bad, according to reports: Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White says that the suppliers for Apple that he tracks saw their sales data fall 31 percent over the past month, as compared to the usual 8 percent drop in past years. That makes for the worst February on record for Apple's suppliers, which may or may not soon have an impact on Apple. Now, with Apple's suppliers showing low sales data, that could mean more opportunity for Apple to step in with its big pile of cash and make sure that it has more components than ever to build new devices with, so it's not entirely clear that this will be a bad thing for the company from Cupertino. But of course Apple depends on these suppliers, and if they suffer increased economic pressure for any reason, Apple could experience consequences for its own business.
Apple's Chinese New Year sale begins Jan 25
Apple has announced its annual "Red Friday" Chinese New Year sale. The sale will take place this Friday, January 25th from 12:01AM to 11:59PM SGT. The sale is valid at Apple's online store in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan. The Asian market -- and China in particular -- is of increasing importance to Apple and its Red Friday sale, which originated last year, is a sign of that. There are no details yet as to what deals will be had, but last year the deals included 8 percent off iPads and 10 percent off iPod touches, plus a HK$770 discount on MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and iMacs. The term "Red Friday" is derived from the term "Black Friday," which originated in the United States and is the Friday after Thanksgiving when holiday sales have traditionally kicked off. Chinese New Year -- or the Lunar New Year -- is as big a holiday as Christmas in many parts of Asia. This year Chinese New Year takes place on February 10th. Apple launched a Chinese New Year gift guide earlier this month.
Apple publishes Chinese New Year gift guide
Apple has enjoyed a recent burst of success in China, with the new iPad mini selling out faster than supplies can be replenished, but rather than sitting back and enjoying the regional boom, the company is going on the offensive with a new Chinese New Year Gift Guide. M.I.C. Gadget reports that the new buyers guide is included in Apple's online store in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Not surprisingly, the iPad mini is featured prominently in the guide, along with both first-party accessories like the Smart Cover and third-party wares from the likes of Logitech and Plantronics. Prices are displayed in the appropriate regional currency, and each Apple gadget on the page is accompanied by a bounty of related products. Apple is also promoting free shipping and gift wrapping as part of the holiday guide.
Hong Kong gadget flea market: a blast from the past
If you've seen our Hong Kong feature from awhile back, then you would've already heard about my favorite gadget hangout Sham Shui Po. By chance, my post-flight stroll in said district yesterday coincided with Apliu Street's Chinese New Year flea market, which featured many vintage items like jade figurines, paintings, jewelry, video tapes, vinyl records, etc. Naturally, what really caught my attention were the old gadgets that were literally piled up along the street, and from just HK$30 (US$3.85), you could easily pick up an old classic such as a Sony Clié, an HP iPaq, a WonderSwan Color, an original GameBoy, a MiniDisc player, or even a proper old school laptop or camera. Hell, some guy even had a couple of Nintendo Micro VS Systems (Donkey Kong Hockey and Boxing)! The catch? Well, there was obviously no warranty for these old timers, plus the broken screens or the lack of compatible batteries for some meant that most were more suitable as collectibles. Regardless, we took a $6 gamble with a Sony Clié PEG-NR70 Palm PDA with docking station and boom! It works! Well, except for the battery that only lasts for an hour, but I'll figure something out. %Gallery-115754%
Chinese Apple Stores plan special New Year events
While India's Krishna Kalyan ate an iPhone 4 cake to celebrate the New Year, Apple's four retail stores in China have something else in mind to celebrate the Chinese New Year. According to ifoAppleStore, Apple has emailed an invitation to their customers in China to visit the retail stores between January 26 and February 13 for select events such as workshops, One to One training and shopping specials on Apple and third-party products. Apple currently has stores both in Beijing and Shanghai, but we here at TUAW are partial to the first one to land in Shanghai back in July of last year. With the four stores already under its belt and a growing online presence in China, it seems that Apple heard Lenovo loud and clear when it was declared that Apple hadn't stepped up efforts in the Far East.
China sent 23 billion text messages during Chinese New Year
23 billion text messages in one week, with 13 billion from the first two days alone. Pretty mind-boggling, isn't it? And this 10 percent growth in the number of gung-hey-fat-choi messages is the work of just 747 million phone users in China -- imagine what would've happened if all 1.3 billion people in the country had a phone during Chinese New Year. Throughout the same period, China also produced 1.33 billion MMS messages -- a staggering 40 percent increase from last year -- while China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom operated 127.6 percent, 19.5 percent and 15.7 percent more voice calls respectively. Looks like someone's bagged themselves some extra red pockets here. Now, any guesses for next year's figures?
