october 21, 2005 [...] Reporters Without Borders today called on the Chinese authorities to stop blocking accessing to the website of the independent online encyclopedia Wikipedia, whose popularity has been growing steadily in China.

...This latest online censorship paradoxically comes at a moment when China is openly raising the issue of democracy by publishing its first white paper entitled “The construction of political democracy in China” on 19 October.

The authorities are censoring Wikipedia in the same way that they censor thousands of websites with information that strays from the official Chinese propaganda on certain issues as Tibet and human rights in China.

Internet users trying to visit the Wikipedia site since 18 October get an error message referring to temporary connection problems for unknown reasons. [...]

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15374

by david plotz, october 19, 2005 [...] The Chopstick Theory is how Hwang Woo-suk, the world's greatest cloner, accounts for his nation's stem-cell success....
The Chopstick Theory of Scientific Supremacy goes like this: Koreans eat with narrow, metal chopsticks. Nabbing grains of rice with slippery, steel sticks requires a surgeon's dexterity. That's why Koreans have mastered extraordinarily precise «micromanipulation» of eggs and embryos required for stem-cell and cloning research.
...Last year, Hwang and his colleagues were first to clone human embryos and first to extract stem cells from them. [...]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2128361/?nav=ais

october 15, 2005 [...] It's all been a bit of a disaster on the blog front - but here's the first blog entry since landing in Phuket, Thailand, two weeks ago. I have travelled here with Matthew Eaves on a project jointly supported by the British Council, Ultralab and Apple. The aim has been to work with children from Pattani on a digital creativity project with the intention of bring together communities of children as part of the Connecting Futures outreach work that has been very successful.
...Two workshops had been arranged during the two weeks we had been invited and used the well-respected SummerSchool format where the participants gained new skills with using digital video cameras and iMovie software.
...Even though we already know lots about children making movies (our research in digital creativity work using the SummerSchool format stretches back over the past 6 years) there were still several surprises.
...What was exceptional here wasn't just the comments the pupils made, but their confidence to speak in front of the camera. [...]

http://www.jonathansblog.net/digital_creativity_roadshow_thailand

This small gallery of Chinese space program posters (part of a much larger and amazing collection of Chinese propaganda art) is utterly charming. Like Iz Reloaded, I like this image of a little girl in an open-top space coupe with her kitten and puppy space crew, all in bubble-helmets.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/10/14/chinese_space_progra.html

September 29, 2005 [...] While it may be years (possibly never, although I think it'll happen) before you can purchase a legitimate copy of OS X for your regular x86 PC, pirates in Bangkok have sped up the process, selling what they call a «retail» version of OSx86. According to Hardmac: «Pirates of course took advantage of the osx86project.com community discoveries, in order to sell versions they dare to call 'Retail Edition', for 6 Euro.»... We find it appalling that someone would try to make a quick buck from someone else's (Apple's) work. And, for the record, we neither support nor endorse any of their activities, nor any illegal use of OS X for that matter. These pirates have used hackers' …cracks from elsewhere, not «discoveries» from this site. [...]

http://osx86project.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=2

By Reuben Staines, september 21, 2005 [...] Defense and communications technicians will team up to develop a mobile combat robot to fight alongside human soldiers on the battlefield, the government said Wednesday. Officials heading the project said they have requested 33.4 billion won ($32.4 million) in funding between 2006 and 2011 to develop the horse-like robot for deployment. According to design blueprints released during a meeting of science-related ministers, the robot will have six or eight extendable legs with wheels allowing it to move like an insect over uneven terrain....
...In addition to the combat robot project, the two defense and communications ministries will work together to design small, easily deployable sensors that will be linked up in a electronic detection and control network.... [...]

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200509/kt2005092118400211960.htm

september 2, 2005 [...] "Anti-Japan War Online" is being sponsored by the Communist Youth League, the power base of president Hu Jintao, in order to foster greater patriotism among the fast-growing internet game community....

...To distinguish the two sides, developers said they had made the appearance of Japanese soldiers more ugly, but they have scaled down the battle scenes so that the fighting is not excessively bloodthirsty.

...The party, which is essentially the government, has sponsored a racist, anti-Japanese videogame designed by people who “hate Japan”, with the likely result that it will inculcate among players the feeling that Japanese are inhuman monsters to be mown down. [...]

http://imagethief.com/china/archive/2005/09/02/4467.aspx

by chris buckley, august 4, 2005 [...] New regulations proposed by the Chinese government would keep additional foreign satellite broadcasters from entering the market and would strengthen restrictions on foreign television programs, books, newspapers and theater performances, all in an effort to tighten control over the country's culture.
They spell out what parts of China's government are responsible for overseeing what parts of the media and entertainment industry, and they promise to make it more difficult for foreign companies to bring in books, the Internet and video games, and performing acts at a time when many multinationals are turning to China for growth.
...Co-productions between Chinese and foreign film and television makers will face stricter censorship, and foreign publications will be able to be sold only through government-controlled agencies, with strict punishment of unregulated sales.
...In early July, China issued a ban on Chinese broadcasters and foreign investors jointly operating television channels, and earlier this year the government froze Chinese-foreign co-production of TV programs. [...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/business/worldbusiness/04media.html?ex=1280808000&en=b82196b7088af4a6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

by david whitehouse, july 27, 2005 [...] Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet - a «female» android named Repliee Q1Expo.
She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.... Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm

The 2005 Expo previewed what the future might be: An «actroid» greeting robot walks, gestures and provides information in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English [...]

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/world_expo/7.html