Foxconn to build a $1 billion factory in Indonesia – create 1 million jobs

The chinese are offshoring their work to find cheaper labor…   The market leading computer manufacturer Foxconn is planning a new $1 billion facility in Indonesia. The new manufacturing plant will create around 1 million jobs in the region. Foxconn is currently discussing its plans with the Indonesian Ministry of Industry. Foxconn already operates several …

The best sports photos of the week – Tough Mudder, Championship Hurdlers, Chinese Gymnastic schools for kids

   

Forget the BRICs it’s the CIVETS now – the new developing world

The past decade was all about the BRICs, the massive economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which kicked off at the beginning of the new century, boomed and are now slowing like the rest of the developed world. Taking their place is a new group of fast-rising economies promising businesses outsized returns. The next …

Researchers explore Chinese censors – find 13% of posts blocked but not those criticizing government

The 500m people who use the internet in China have long been aware of the presence of the censors who watch their movements online and delete their more inflammatory posts. Now those monitors may have to get used to someone watching over their shoulders. Teams at Harvard and the University of Hong Kong have been …

Communist party in China facing public anger as corruption gets exposed

Even more interesting considering that both this Economist article and the Bloomberg exposé are currently blocked in China.   In recent years China’s leaders have become increasingly concerned that the public’s awareness of the growing wealth gap could lead to social instability. In Beijing, displays of gratuitous overcompensation are a daily reminder that some people, in …

Goodbye, Nora Ephron – Thank you for everything

What a shock to learn of Nora Ephron’s death, at 71 years old. What a loss to laughter–among the many other gifts Nora gave us. I met Nora when I was a secretary at Esquire magazine, not even a year out of college. My then boss, Binky Urban, (now my agent) became one of her closest …

China launches it’s first female ‘taikonaut’ into space

Saturday’s launch of a piloted space capsule known as Shenzhou-9 marks China’s breakthrough into the exclusive club once made up only of the United States and Russia. One of the three astronauts in the capsule is a woman, 33-year-old Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space. Shenzhou-9 was launched at 6:37 p.m (local time) …

World map of social networks

The most dominant social network for each country:     Facebook clearly dominates, but a few countries have other favorites: – VKontakte and Odnoklassniki remain strong in Russian-speaking countries – Tencent’s QZone is still king of the hill in China – Vietnam’s most popular social network is Zing – People in Iran seemingly prefer Cloob over Facebook – Drauglem is the top dog in Latvia   …

The most visited countries in the world

France – 77 million United States – 61 million China – 56 million Spain – 53 million Italy – 43 million United Kingdom – 28 million Turkey – 27 million Germany – 27 million Malaysia – 25 million Mexico – 22 million   Interesting to note that both France and Spain receive more visitors than …