Apple store in Shanghai opens for worldwide domination

The latest extension of Steve Jobs' plans for worldwide domination has opened in Shanghai. The latest international Apple store outside of the United States, the only one aside from a small branch in Beijing within China, has opened for business. 

The New York Times has already heralded this as a sign of greater things to come for Apple's plans within China. 

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Parents can hire a "hall monitor" for the web - be the China of their own home

"Fear can be good for business", reports the New York Times this morning in a story on how some parents are employing the use of subscription-based services that monitor their child's activity online.

In the dangerous wild west of the internet, there are a number of parents that are worried about the effect that some of its content may have on its children.

The article also details how the content filtering system of the service blocks out content based on certain keywords that are included in it - for example 'kill' or 'suicide'.

Of course, this can - and no doubt will - stop people from accessing perfectly innocent content. For example, when somebody doesn't see a post like 'the band killed last night'.

Imagine a day when children cannot lookup "To Kill a Mockingbird" without being red flagged by the China of their own homes. [Some content via NYT] 

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China, you've changed man...you used to be cool

In something of a turning point in Google-China relations since the search giant started redirecting users to its Hong Kong site, Google has decided to stop redirecting its huge Chinese audience to the uncensored Hong Kong website as it seeks to renew the license it holds to operate on the Chinese internet.

For the last three months, reports the New York Times, Google has found a clever way of bypassing the ethical and legal problems it has faced in Mainland China over its Government's internet and media censorship laws - to which the US company objects.

The company says that it has resubmitted an application for renewal of the license it still holds to operate in mainland China, and will be seeking a different approach to Chinese censorship.

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China set to overtake USA in manufacturing

The US remained, by a small margin, the world's largest manufacturer last year. But this year, as the FT has reported, that crown is set to be lost to China - well, as if we didn't see that coming.

Last year, the US created 19.9 per cent of world manufacturing output, compared with 18.6 per cent for China, with the US staying ahead despite a steep fall in factory production due to the global recession.

That the US is still top comes as a surprise, since in 2008 – before the slump of the past two years took hold – IHS predicted it would lose pole position in 2009.

However, a relatively resilient US performance kept China in second place, says IHS, which predicts that faster growth in China will deny the US the top spot next year.

Read the Financial Times article 

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Investigation launched into Apple's 'fear of Asian customers'

The attorney general of New York is reportedly investigating claims that Apple, the technology company that today released the next generation iPhone, is in fear of Asian customers and asking to see their passports.

Among other things, Apple employees are reported as saying that certain customers' English 'sucks' and denying some their right to purchase the company's brand new iPad tablet computing device.

The political blog, Politico, reported that Apple had been suspicious due to the large volume of illegal exports of the iPad to China - and that they were investigating potential international leaks of the product to untapped overseas markets.

Politico reported:

A person who had been informed of Apple's policy said the company — concerned that customers were purchasing multiple iPads for sale abroad — had briefly instituted a questionnaire for use in the course of iPad sales, aimed at blocking those illegal exports. The source said the policy is no longer in place, and [the attorney general's office] signaled that the investigation appears likely to be resolved routinely.


 [Image: A customer in one of Apple's Australian retail stores. Via Getty Images]

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