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US charges two Chinese hackers with trying to steal COVID-19 research
Today, the US Justice Department charged two Chinese hackers with targeting US COVID-19 research.
China reportedly spread COVID-19 misinformation
A report by The New York Times claims Chinese operatives helped spread false COVID-19 information via text and social media across the US.
Tencent adds age-based playtime limits to ‘League of Legends’ in China
In the face of pressure from the Chinese government, Tencent and Riot Games have added age-based time limits to League of Legends in China, Polygon reports. Minors now get booted from the game after two hours of play, and the companies use China's national ID numbers -- which are used to make accounts -- to verify ages. Supposedly, the new rules are an attempt to curb gaming addiction.
US government warns China may have access to drone data
Today, the Department of Homeland Security issued an alert warning that Chinese-made drones may be sending flight information back to their manufacturers, who could share it with third parties. According to CNN, the alert warns companies and organizations that the US government has "strong concerns about any technology product that takes American data into the territory of an authoritarian state that permits its intelligence services to have unfettered access to that data."
Xiaomi Mi 9 hands-on: Speedy, stylish and a great camera, too
Xiaomi officially pulled back the curtain on its new Mi 9 in China a few hours ago, but a flashy presentation only ever tells you so much. Sure, the top-level stuff seems solid enough: there's a Snapdragon 855 with either 6GB or 12GB of RAM inside, plus a bright and beautiful 6.39-inch AMOLED display running at 2340x1080, all wrapped up in a lovely, curved glass body. But what's it like to actually use? Well, we got the chance to (very briefly) go hands-on with the company's new flagship, and it already seems like the kind of phone I wish would make its way stateside.
US government accuses Chinese hackers of stealing jet engine IP
The Justice Department has charged ten Chinese nationals -- two of which are intelligence officers -- of hacking into and stealing intellectual property from a pair of unnamed US and French companies between January 2015 to at least May of 2015. The hackers were after a type of turbofan (portmanteau of turbine and fan), a large commercial airline engine, to either circumvent its own development costs or avoid having to buy it. According to the complaint by the Department of Justice, a Chinese aerospace manufacturer was simultaneously working on making a comparable engine. The hack afflicted unnamed aerospace companies located in Arizona, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Microsoft says its AI can translate Chinese as well as a human
Run Chinese text through a translation website and the results tend to be messy, to put it mildly. You might get the gist of what's being said, but the sheer differences between languages usually lead to mangled sentences without any trace of fluency or subtlety. Microsoft might have just conquered that problem, however: it has developed an AI said to translate Chinese to English with the same quality as a human. You can even try it yourself. The trick, Microsoft said, was to change how it trained AI.
Gboard for Android now supports Chinese and Korean
Google announced today that Gboard for Android is getting a handful of new languages including Korean and both traditional and simplified Chinese. The company said that those have been the most requested languages for Android -- they're already on Gboard for iOS -- and they join 20 others that are rolling out to Gboard for Android now.
Duolingo adds Mandarin course to its language library
Online language learning company Duolingo has finally added a Mandarin course to its offerings. With more than one billion speakers, Mandarin is the most popular language on the planet, but it's also on one of the hardest to learn, which is why the course will prove a little beefier than its European language counterparts. English speakers will learn the language's characters as well as the four tones of Mandarin, with lessons structured by themes such as greetings, food, health and sports.
New rules for Chinese App Store mean mandatory identity tracking
Chinese App Store users and developers will soon have to submit to upcoming Chinese regulations that dictates both app stores and providers must maintain a record of user activity for 60 days.
Google Translate now works in apps on any Android phone
If you hate having to paste foreign language text into Google Translate just to understand it, your worries are over. Google has updated Translate for Android to introduce Tap to Translate, an expansion of the translation-anywhere feature it introduced on Marshmallow last fall. Anyone running Android 4.2 or later can now decipher unfamiliar text on the spot simply by copying it -- helpful if you frequently run into messages or social posts that aren't in familiar tongues.
Year of the Goat: 11 Chinese smartphone brands to watch
2014 had been a wonderful year for the ever-competitive Chinese smartphone market. We saw the birth of new brands, the record of world's thinnest phone broken three times, and a couple of companies entering India with great reception (although not without some struggle). So with MWC following right after Chinese New Year, what better way to celebrate both than to look at the top Chinese smartphone brands? Granted, not all of these companies will be on the show floor next week (not Xiaomi or Oppo, for instance), but there's no stopping us from saying "ni hao" to them, anyway.
Diablo III to begin technical testing in China shortly
If you're a gamer in China waiting for Diablo III, you have undoubtedly been waiting for a very long time. Given the game's subject matter and the strict censorship policies of the government, it's not a surprise that it's taken a while to get moving. At long last there is a light at the end of the tunnel, however, as distributor Netease has announced that the censorship issues are finally resolved and the game is free to begin technical testing. The testing phase will begin after the lunar new year is celebrated later this month. While the exact nature of graphical changes has not been disclosed, Netease stresses that the game will still be cool to look at, which could mean... almost anything, really. Still, at this point most of the players who have long waited for the game will just be happy to see it finally available within China.
Age of Wushu previews new school abilities after server merge
The fifth inner skills for each of the eight schools are arriving in the next Age of Wushu update, and if you're a player, you'd probably like to know what they do, wouldn't you? I mean, one of them might instantly kill everything in a seven-meter radius, and the other might summon a moderate quantity of breadsticks and marinara sauce. That seems unlikely, though, as the preview of these new abilities mentions neither sort of talent. They do include attack buffs, HP drains, and major defensive buffs, though, so that's good. You'll be able to show these skills off to a wider range of players after the game's server merges from yesterday. The Golden Kirin and White Tiger servers have been merged into the Blue Dragon server; players whose names will need to change should receive name changing scrolls within the next few days. If you weren't able to log in yesterday and aren't sure about how the merge went down, you can double-check the quick guide to the process.
Age of Wushu: Transcendence coming on January 14th
Is one of your new year's resolutions to become a martial arts master? Then you'll want to take advantage of the unveiled teachings of Age of Wushu: Transcendence when the patch lands on January 14th. The content update will unlock the fifth level of inner skill and make high-level manuals available, transforming players into formidable fighters. Players can use these new abilities to tackle the three additional forbidden instances coming to the game: Hell King's Dungeon, the Jinling Incident, and the Qiandeng Crisis.
Age of Wulin officially releases in Europe alongside a major update
It's a big day for Age of Wulin, as the martial arts sandbox is both officially releasing in Europe and pushing out a new content patch. The update, Chapter 3: Wisdom is a Journey, marks the end of open beta for EU's counterpart to Age of Wushu. Wisdom is a Journey includes a new internal skill, a higher skill cap, team activities, titles for divorced characters, and PvP tournaments. For those who crave the game's open world PvP setting, there is now the option to become a "Jianghu treasure assassin" and kill all rivals who are out for the same glorious rewards. You can read up on the patch notes for Chapter 3 as well as get an overview of the update's features on the official site.
ArcheAge launching in China in July 2015
If you want to relive the experience of ArcheAge's launch again or just love seeing the game come out in new regions, you'll want to keep your eyes on the game's Chinese version. Tencent Games recently announced that the game will launch in China in July of 2015, complete with some exclusive content to entice players who may have already heard of the game. Players in the Chinese version can look forward to what appear to be panda-styled gliders, special pets, some new costumes, new ship designs, and traditional Chinese house designs. No word has been released on business models, although it's almost a given that the game will be free-to-play as it is almost everywhere else in the world. Let's hope for a smooth launch for Chinese ArcheAge fans free of bugs and game-breaking exploits.
Server move delays Age of Wulin Chapter 3 until December 2nd
European Age of Wulin players may be disappointed to hear that the release of Chapter 3 will be delayed a week until December 2nd -- until they hear the reason why, that is. Webzen has announced that the Golden Dynasty game server will be moving from Ireland to Frankfurt, Germany, on November 25th. The move is to address the issues of server stability that players have long noted, and aims to provide enhanced server security, stability, ping, and server security. Because the server move had to be pushed back a week, the studio also moved the launch of the next chapter in order to ensure better connectivity and stability during the launch period. Webzen invites players to share their thoughts on the server move on the official forums.
Snail Games sued by former director of development on Age of Wushu
Breaking up is hard to do, especially when you're dealing with an international corporation and it's less a matter of "breaking up" and more a matter of "being terminated, then filing a lawsuit." David Runyan, former director of game development at Snail Games USA during Age of Wushu's development, is suing the company's founder and CEO Shi Hai on the grounds of unfair termination and racist practices during his year with the company. Runyan claims that Shi Hai made frequent and capricious change to the staff of Snail Games USA, spoke in racist terms about the Americans he was working with, and then ultimately fired Runyan due to a medically approved period when he was working from his home. Snail Games has yet to make any comment in response to the lawsuit. Offers to settle this matter via an honorable duel in Age of Wushu were apparently not entertained.
Age of Wulin to finally release in Europe
Age of Wulin, aka "the European version of Age of Wushu," is preparing to leave the kiddie pool of open beta for the adult swim of an official launch. Webzen announced that Age of Wulin will be officially launching in EU on November 25th. This launch will coincide with a major game update, Chapter 3: Wisdom is a Journey. In the update, characters will get additional class skills and a level increase for several current skills. Players will also be invited to tackle current dungeons on a harder mode and fight in two new PvP tournaments. [Source: Webzen press release]
