china

Google has experienced a precipitous drop in traffic from China, which a Web-monitoring group attributed to the search engine being "blocked" by the government.

Data provided by Google's Transparency Report shows a sharp drop off in traffic -- to roughly half the normal amount -- to Google's Web sites as of early this morning California time.

GreatFire.org, which performs real-time monitoring, suggested that the drop meant the Chinese government is "one step closer to fully separating the Chinanet from the Internet."

It wasn't immediately clear whether the block was intended to be … Read more

China Telecom, that country's third-largest carrier, will start offering the iPhone 5 soon.

Apple's iPhone 5 is currently not available in China, but has been rumored to be coming to China Telecom for some time. According to the Wall Street Journal, which interviewed China Telecom chairman Wang Xiaochu today, the carrier will start selling Apple's handset in late November or early December.

China Telecom's competitor, China Unicom, announced in September that it too would be selling the iPhone 5. That company said that it would make the handset available around the end of the year. According … Read more

Apple dropped off the top five smartphone vendors in China in the third quarter, edged out by local low-cost smartphone player Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific, which made its debut at third place.

Citing research from Canalys, a Computerworld article yesterday reported that Apple had dropped out of its fifth placing to sixth during the third quarter. Apple's shipment share in the Chinese smartphone market dropped to 8 percent, from 9 percent in the previous quarter.

Samsung remained the top smartphone vendor in China with 14 percent share in terms of shipment, while Lenovo held on to second with 13 … Read more

A nonprofit organization criticized the Fair Labor Association's review of Apple's largest supplier in China, saying consumer demand for the iPhone 5 has unraveled any potential improvements in working conditions at the Chinese factories.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an economic policy think tank focused on the needs of low- and middle-income workers, criticized the Fair Labor Association in a briefing paper published today, saying its "rosy" determination that a "genuine transformation is under way" in Foxconn's factories are "unfounded."

CNET has contacted the FLA, Apple, and Foxconn for comment and … Read more

China poses the largest threat in cyberspace, with its hackers increasingly targeting U.S military computers and defense contractors, according to a draft of a Congressional report obtained by Bloomberg.

The report, produced by the U.S.- China Economic and Security Review Commission, found that China's persistence and its advances in hacking activities over the past year poses an increasing threat to information systems and users.

The risks include attempts to blind or disrupt U.S. intelligence and communications satellites, weapons targeting systems, and navigation computers, Bloomberg reported, citing an anonymous U.S. intelligence official.

While the attacks … Read more

Huawei, the embattled Chinese telecom equipment company, is reaching out to a security researcher in Germany for a little help.

The company's global security chief, John Suffolk, told Reuters in an interview published today that Huawei has dispatched engineers to Germany to meet with Felix "FX" Lindner and go over the security flaws he has found in a host of its products.

According to Reuters, which spoke with Lindner earlier this month, Huawei products ranging from a cheap home router to major telecom equipment appear to be vulnerable to hacking. Lindner stopped short of saying a backdoor … Read more

Siri may have run afoul of Chinese law over the past few months, forcing Apple to rein her in.

Some users have apparently asked Apple's voice-activated assistant where they could find prostitutes in China, according to the government-run Xinhua News Agency. And Siri has been directing them to supposed nearby locations. Prostitution, however, is illegal in China.

The novelty of Siri's responses prompted China's version of Twitter, Sina Weibo, to light up with comments and jokes. According to the BBC, one user wrote that finding an escort is easier than finding a Chinese restaurant.

"When I … Read more

A number of hurdles must be overcome for Apple to be able to sell the iPhone 5 in China. Today, one of those barriers has been conquered and it's looking more likely that Chinese users will soon be able to get their hands on the device.

A Chinese regulatory agency named State Radio Management announced that two models of the iPhone 5 -- the A1429 and the A1442 -- have been approved to run on China's mobile networks, according to Chinese blog Sina Tech. Reportedly, the A1429 supports China Unicom's 3G network and China Mobile's 2G … Read more

Apple will open another retail store in China on Saturday.

The company announced on its China Web site today that it will open a new store in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen on Saturday. The store will be open for business at 9 a.m. on Saturday to celebrate its grand opening. From then on, the store will open at 10 a.m. each day.

The Shenzhen location is the latest in a string of Apple stores to come to China. Earlier this month, Apple touted a new Beijing store in the Wangfujing district. At that event, Apple senior vice … Read more