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The high-tech war on Tibetan communication
Each year, March 10th in Tibet brings more police onto the streets, closer online censorship of terms like "Free Tibet" and "Dalai Lama" and a spate of cyberattacks. "Every March 10th, almost all major Tibetan organizations in Dharamsala are targeted with Distributed Denial of Service and other cyber attacks," said Tenzin Dalha, a researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute, part of the Central Tibetan Administration. Four years ago, that happened to the Voice of Tibet (VOT), a nonprofit media outlet run out of the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, bringing its website down for several days. The reason for the crackdown is that the date commemorates March 10th, 1959. On that day, rumors spread in the Tibetan capital Lhasa about the impending arrest of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, by the Chinese, who had invaded the territory in 1950. Tibetans rallied to support their spiritual leader and the mass protests led to a violent crackdown. The Dalai Lama and his entourage escaped to India, where he and the Tibetan government-in-exile remain. When VOT started in 1996, it was one of the few channels of communication between Tibetans and their government-in-exile across the border, as all newspapers, television and other print materials were heavily censored. Using shortwave radio, it transmitted its news service across the border into Chinese-occupied Tibet, both in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese.
China's WeChat messenger tests its own version of instant apps
WeChat might not mean much here in the US, but in Asia, the messaging app boasts some 800 million users. Its next step toward dominance is "small programs" that act like apps within the chat service, according The Information. These perform singular tasks, but won't require a download. "People would be able to scan a QR code via the WeChat app on their phone to use loyalty points at a favorite coffeeshop or transfer money without leaving WeChat or downloading a separate piece of software," the report says.
Tencent to debut live-streaming WeChat drone at end of month
Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns League of Legends, Supercell Games and WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China, announced on Friday that it will release a consumer quadcopter by the end of October.
China bans news sites from using social media as a source
The Cyberspace Administration of China put national news outlets on notice this weekend, warning them not to base reports on social media sources without strict verification of the facts. The statement came less than a week after the appointment of a new head of the regulatory body, and cites various, apparently bogus stories published off the back of chatter on popular services like Weibo and WeChat. "It is forbidden to use hearsay to create news or use conjecture and imagination to distort the facts," a translation of the warning reads.
Tencent's kids smartwatch is both cute and connected
While there are already a handful of connected wearables for kids in the market, here's one with a more complete set of features. Courtesy of Chinese tech giant Tencent, this QQ Watch comes with a 1.12-inch 128 x 128 OLED screen, IP65 ruggedness, an SOS call button and its very own 2G radio. More importantly, though, the tracking functionality uses GPS, WiFi and cellular triangulation simultaneously for higher accuracy. There's even a 0.3-megapixel camera on board, and since the watch can be hooked up to WeChat, lost kids can send photos to their parents as an extra clue for locating them. Battery life? It's good for up to five days, apparently, after which you can charge up the watch with its magnetic connector. There's no word on the pricing just yet, but a company rep said it'll be "very affordable," and it'll launch in China in October, followed by global rollout before end of the year.
China's cracking down on naughty content being shared on WeChat
Life for China's porn aficionados is about to get a little tougher -- a recent Reuters report points out that the country is cracking down on all the naughty content that's being shared on WeChat. It's not just photos and videos that'll be targeted either. The country's Cyberspace Administration has said text, like tales of "one-night stands, wife-swapping, sexual abuse and other harmful information" will be subject to the same sort of scrutiny, as will typed-up ads for sexual performance enhancers and STD treatments. Getting pegged for your first offense means violators will have their accounts shut down for a week, but rack up four such infractions and voila -- they'll be banned from WeChat for good. Or, you know, until they find a way to register a new account.
Beyond Facebook: What you need to know about texting apps
If you live in the United States, you might've been surprised when Facebook purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion -- or, in other words, thing-you'd-think-you'd-have-heard-of money. Facebook identified what those of us in the US with texting plans and Apple Messages haven't noticed: There are whole ecosystems of social networking and instant messaging separate from those we customarily use. There are a number of advantages services like Line and WhatsApp have over basic texting: They're cross-platform and international, allowing people to talk to other users in other countries, on other devices and other networks, with no extra cost. Of course, for individual users, there's only one thing that distinguishes one service from others: the presence of their friends.
China's Alibaba bets $215 million on chat app Tango
Facebook has made it a pretty darn good time to be a messaging app maker -- just ask Tango. It's received $280 million in funding including $215 million from Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, which is looking to bolster its forces against competitor Tencent. That gives it a minority interest in the video chat app, which has 70 million active users and 200 million in total. Tango has also stretched out recently with a social platform SDK for other apps that makes it easier for users to invite friends, for instance. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba could go public as soon as next month and its investment means Tango could be worth as much as $2 billion. We'll write a witty conclusion in a second, but first we're going to go learn some coding. Update: Reuters has corrected its article to underscore that Alibaba led a $280 million investment round, but only bet $215 million of its own cash. We've updated our post to reflect that.
100 million smartphone owners in China getting free VoIP through messaging app Weixin
If you're in China and use a free chat app called Weixin on Android or iOS, you're about to get no-charge VoIP as well thanks to an imminent update. The company is set to join the likes of Skype, Viber and Korea's Kakao Talk in providing free cellphone calls to the nation and ought to make a huge splash given the massive 100 million user install base. The Tencent-owned service is also adding Bluetooth support, a matching VoIP web service and a complete redesign of its site, according to TechNode. There's no release date yet or word on whether the English version WeChat will get it, but if so, it might make those pricey cellphone calls to friends and family overseas a lot freer.
