There is an interesting dialogue emerging in much of China's state-run media this week about the difference between 'free speech' and 'harmful rumours'.

People's Daily has recently released an article entitled "Freedom of Speech does not protect rumors." Unsurprisingly, for a news source often considered to be a government mouthpiece, they are attempting to reinforce the need for China's latest crack downs.

The article says, "how could freedom of speech be defended, if we turn our back on slander? Can we tolerate fake [or] inferior products with the aim of promoting the free market?"

This is the prevailing attitude that is being displayed towards allegedly damaging 'rumours', and these news sites are being used to justify the significant actions being taken by Chinese authorities at the moment.

Liu Zhengrong, a senior official in the State Internet Information Office,told China Daily that the Internet cannot police itself. He said that Web users weren't necessarily able to distinguish truth from fiction, "requiring government departments and website companies to take measures."

At first there were rumours being spread about a potential coup in Beijing, and as a direct result 42 Web sites were shut down, and an additional 210,000 messages have been deleted since mid-March. Beijing police have also arrested 1065 suspects.

Commenting functions on Sina and Tencent Weibo were also shut down for 4 days, a stark warning that authorities can intervene whenever they want.

Political scandals

So why has China suddenly become such a hostile environment for web users? Well, to start with, authorities are currently managing the scandal surrounding ousted communist party politician Bo Xilai.

Xilai, the former Chongqing party chief, was officially stripped of his party positions on Tuesday. He and his wife, Gu Kailai, are being investigated over the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. This is serious news in China, and they are struggling to contain the sudden overload of online commentary.

Ministry of Tofu provided the following analogy to describe the magnitude of this scandal. "It would be like a California governor, a presidential candidate, gets sacked after his police chief, who helped him fight a glorious war on organized crimes in the state, divulged to Chinese diplomats his dirty laundry and a murder masterminded by his wife in exchange for protection."

Chinese netizens jumped on the news, a confirmation of rumours that had been stirring for months, and were quickly stymied.

When the news item broke on Tuesday evening, it received over 50,000 reposts within the first 15 minutes. The story didn't reach CCTV's evening news, but it thrived online. Searches for both Bo Xilai and his wife's name were quickly blocked on Sina Weibo, and mass censorship of comments began.

"Tonight, Sina's little secretaries are probably so busy they're spitting blood," one Weibo user commented, "who allowed rabble like us to possess nuclear-level weapons like a mouse and keyboard?"

Controlling a scandal in a social network society

Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly what Chinese authorities are afraid of. This is the first major scandal to rock China's leadership since social media becameprevalent, and suddenly there is a new audience seeking the truth.

At this point, the crack down over online rumours is a vague and uncertain fight. The lines between free-speech and rumours are extremely unclear, but what does the Chinese government expect when so called 'rumours' turn out to be true?

The scandal around Bo Xilai has not only raised questions about corruption within the government, but on the growing need for transparency.

Attacking the Great Firewall

In many ways, it seems like now is the perfect time for a group like Anonymous to take on China's Great Firewall, when so many in China would rally to their side.

However, as much as few would disagree that the battle against censorship is inherently correct, would a calculated strike on the Great Firewall at this point be the right move?

A blackout of large portions of the Internet yesterday morning in China have many speculating about the potential for a 'kill switch', to limit any outside access. At this point the actual cause of the blackout, which rendered many Chinese and foreign websites inaccessible for a few hours, is unknown.

Telecom companies have denied issues with their network, or damage from the significant Earthquake in Indonesia.

Although there is absolutely no concrete evidence that the blackout was the result of any sort of 'kill switch' test, it does raise the possibility that such a thing exists.

Authorities in China are trying to reign in their control over the online community at the moment, that much is apparent, and high profile groups like Anonymous getting involved might have them on alert.

Anonymous already succeeded in hacking hundreds of Chinese government, business and other general websitesso far, so their presence must be registering in China. As ZDNet's Emil Protalinski commented, "if they manage to pull off the feat for even a few minutes, it will be an accomplishment of epic proportions."

This is true. It could also be long enough to cause a serious backlash from authorities, at a time when they fear nothing more than the online community undermining them with 'harmful rumours'.

[Updated: April 15th @ 6:50 am, This post has been altered for clarification regarding Anonymous hacks of Chinese websites.]

Image source: Francisco Diez/Flickr.com,

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The issue was not isolated to China. Web users in Hong Kong and Japan also reported issues with accessing Chinese sites. A number of explanations immediately came to light, with the most viable cause being the 8.7 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia on Wednesday, that might have damaged undersea cables.

However, reports from China's major telecommunication companies -- China Telecom and Unicom -- suggest that this was not the case. China Telecom confirmed that the earthquake had not interfered with the underwater cables in any way.

Both companies also shot down theories that the outage could have been caused by some sort of blip in the system, with Telecom insisting that there was no issue with their network. As all Chinese Internet traffic passes through the two networks' infrastructure to get overseas, this had seemed like a likely culprit.

With the mystery of what happened becoming murkier, many have been speculating as to what could have caused the blackout.

It was arguably far too quick to be a response to Anonymous'war rally against China's Great Firewall, which even they admitted will take time to crack.

Others have suggested that the temporary outage might have been a test run of an emergency 'kill switch', in case extreme measures need to be taken in the ongoing crackdown of the Chinese Internet.

According to Tech in Asia, VPNs that had previously allowed Internet users to get around the Great Firewall were down, but that smaller VPN providers seemed to be unscathed. This could suggest a deliberate targeting of such services, but at the moment, we can only speculate.

Admittedly, it does seem as though such a 'kill switch' would be extreme and far-fetched. However, the absence of clearer explanations lends the theory some credibility. China's Ministy of Industry and Information Technology has been silent over the blackout, and so have much of the state-run media.

China Daily, People's Daily and Xinhua, some of China's major news publications are continuing to cover the growing 'rumours' issue, but not the blackout.

It could be relatively insignificant, but as Wall Street Journal's Josh Chin points out, "the episode did illustrate just how jumpy China watchers and China Internet users have become in recent days."

Image source:Kai Hendry/Flickr.com.

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The Internet Society of China released a paper today entitled 'Written Proposal on Resisting Internet Rumors', that details methods to clamp down on online rumours amongst other perceived issues.

The paper urges Internet companies to take "effective measures" to prevent online rumours by "seriously obeying the country's laws and regulations as well as self-disciplinary rules."

These outlines seem to be particularly focused towards China's microblogging services. Recently Sina Weibo and Tencent had to suspend their commenting function for 4 days, in a move many saw as authorities punishing the two sites for allegedly spreading rumours of a coup.

According to the Xinhua report, Beijing police have arrested 1,065 suspects and deleted over 208,000 online messages they considered "harmful" since February. 16 other websites have also been shut down over "rumours".

There is certainly a tightening of restrictions on free speechin Chinaat the moment.

Recently real name regulations have been passed, forcing users on microblogging services to be held accountable for their posts. This has apparently not been enough to deterunwanted rumours and gossip.

Steven Millward, of Tech in Asia, draws a comparison between this increased crackdown and the "war on terror".

"A war on rumors is now underway, characterized by greater surveillance of ordinary folks as if everyone is somehow guilty," he says. Reading the Internet Society of China's paper, it is hard to disagree that the points seem to address a vague, expansive issue.

There are eight points in total, most of which focus on the ideas of regulation and responsibility. Several of them urge companies to focus on "self-regulation", "strengthen internal control mechanisms" and work on "corporate social responsibility". These terms suggest tighter reigns on websites.

Microblogs like Sina Weibo already have a great deal of regulation and moderation on comments, but with such a huge base of users, they cannot be expected to police them entirely.

It is a debate that returns every time sweeping legislation is put forward to 'clean up' the Internet. Websites and Internet companies based on user content are blamed for what they display. They are expected to monitor it, even when doing so disrupts free speech.

In my opinion, it seems as though suggestions like these fail to address the real issues.Placing focus on companies, and punishing them as they did with the Weibo black out, is counter-productive.

In the end, an individual is responsible for what they post, and it seems that Chinese authorities are not comfortable that real name regulations will be enough to control that.

A large flurry of arrests and crack downs on microblogscould be seen as a warning or scare tactic, reminding Chinese web users to censor themselves.

China is notorious for its online censorship, and perhaps attacks on government websites by Anonymous recently will be adding to those concerns.

The paper does at least push for Internet firms to protect their users. It suggests strengthening the interaction between moderators and forums, as well as "guiding" them to civilised conduct.

That could be construed in a more sinister way, but attempting to increase conversation between authorities and net users is positive.

The Internet Society of China identifies itself as a "nationwide, non-profit social organization to promote the healthy development of China Internet and serve for social and economic development." It also claims to be an independent organisation, with approval of the Ministry of Information Industry and the Ministry of Civil affairs.

Image source: Kai Hendry/Flickr.com.

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It does mean that you are able to pull off extra marital affairs, though.

A recent news report revealed that many who are stepping out on their other half are being discovered by tracing their Pasmos.

Until recently the card logged three months of travel and purchase information for customers to check.

However Pasmo had to shut down this service. They discovered that investigators were using the information on these cards to expose affairs.

The cards were easy to trace. All the information needed was the customer's name, birth date and phone number -- details that could be readily available to a spouse, or even posted on Facebook or Twitter.

The only detail that might be a little harder to find would be the card number.

However, anyone with enough reason to suspect their partner is cheating would probably be able to justify snooping around to find the number.

Unfortunately Pasmo can not stop people spying on their other halves. It is still possible for them to take the card to any station and print out its travel history at a ticket machine.If a customer wants to check their travel history or prove the card has been stolen, it is necessary to have this function in some form.

At this point it is not clear if this same problem exists with other brands of travel cards.

A similar issue occurred in the U.K., with the Oyster travel card, as early as 2006. Only 3 years after it was released there were already concerns about its use as a tracking tool. Police were using it to track down criminals, and spouses were using it to track down cheaters.

At the moment it is still possible to check travel history with the Oyster card. However, this is the first time it has been an issue in Japan. The Pasmo was originally released in 2007, and it has taken 5 years for concerns to be raised about tracing.

However, the invasion of privacy might not end there. What is to stop companies demanding a print out of travel history to prove, for example, that an employee who called in sick actuallytraveledto the doctor?

With the current debate over employers requesting Facebook logins, it is surprising that similar issues have not occurredwith travel cards like these. Japan is a very trusting nation, so it's possible that most employees simply do not lie. This might be why this issue took so long to build.

As for those who want to continue their affair undiscovered, the solution seems to be relatively simple. Not to advocateinfidelity, but it seemsthat downgrading your tech might be the way forward. Instead of flashing your Pasmo or Suica, just buy a ticket!

Then, it is as simple as throwing it away, and the evidence is gone.

Image source: Fredrik Olson/Flickr.com.

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State-run news site Xinhua reported that the five, including a surgeon and other medical staff, received around 220,000 yuan ($35,000) for the transplant. They have been charged with intentional injury. Several other suspects are still under investigation.

The teenager, only identified by the surname 'Wang', received 22,000 yuan ($3,500) for his kidney.

Apple products are pricey,certainly, and Wang came from Anhui province which is considered one of China's poorest. iPhones cost around 3,988 yuan ($633) and an iPad costs about 2,988 yuan ($474). For a seventeen-year-old from a modest background, they were out of reach.

He got a poor deal.

Whilst he may have been able to afford the new products, it has cost him his longterm health. Wang is now suffering from kidney failure and increasing health problems.

The trading of human organs has been banned in China since 2007.

However, statistics from the health ministry show that around 1.5 million people in China are waiting for transplants, whilst only 10,000 are performed in a year.As a result, there is a fairlysizablemarket for illegal organ transplants.

Wang found hisopportunity in an online chatroom, when a broker offered to pay him for his kidney.

As desperate as Wang must have been to own the new devices, his guilt eventually overcame him, and he confessed to his mother how he had afforded them.

It is a sad story for everyone involved, including those prosecuted. As the Xinhua report details,"defendant He Wei, who was penniless and frustrated over gambling debts, sought to make enormous earnings through illegal kidney trading."

To think that only 6 years ago this would have been a legal way to clear his debts, and for Wang to fund his gadgets, is unsettling.

Moreover, the transitory nature of the products involved make this case even more tragic. Whilst Wang might have sold his kidney in 2011 and received the latest model, the new iPad is on its way to China soon. The iPhone 4S was also released at the start of this year.

The truth is that new gadgets, and new generations of Apple products specifically, will overtake his purchases very quickly. At only seventeen it might seem like a fair trade, but as Wang grows older this mistake will become even more painful.

Wang expressed regret when this story first broke in April, 2011. It is hard to image how he must be feeling now that his health is showing the real cost of his actions.

There have been rumours of other cases like this that might never be proven true, but what is clear is that some people really do think a phone is worth a valuable kidney. Considering how many people in China are left waiting for transplants, it seems bleak that Wang himself might be added to that list in the future.

Image credit:Flickr.

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This year, Prada's Spring 2012 menswear collection will be modeled by characters from Square Enix's recently released Final Fantasy XIII-2, in a series of specially produced images for the magazine.

Even the game's female lead Lightning is included in the shoot, albeit dressed in male clothing.

The 12-page spread goes on sale next week, but a few of the images have been released already, and the result is somewhat surreal.

The images combine real photos and digital renders: Human-looking bodies are paired with some admittedly realistic, but still computer-generated faces.

For fans of the series, seeing these familiar characters looking so dressed down is just as strange.

Final Fantasy, and in particular character designer Tetsuya Nomura, is renowned for an extravagant style which often draws from popular Japanese culture and street fashion trends.

This is not the first time that the Final Fantasy series has collided with real fashion. Japanese clothing brand ROEN has designed outfits for the cast of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which has not yet been released.

The clothes, however, are already available to buy from ROEN's official website for those eager to impersonate the video game characters.

These sorts of cross collaborations and the use of real world integration are becoming more widespread, but using video games to sell clothes is quite innovative.

Not only would you be able to grab attention with popular characters, but digital models can be as perfect as they need to be without any need for touch ups.

The Final Fantasy series has dabbled with the concept of blending reality and fiction before. When Square Enix released their first feature film, 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within', they originally intended for the 'star' to become a digital actress.

The computer generated actress was created to be photo realistic, and the company hoped that she would go on to star in other animated features. The character was even featured in Maxim sporting a bikini, but the film was a commercial failure, so the project never took off.

Image source: SQUARE ENIX LTD/wsj.com.

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The company is aiming to raise funds of about 527 million yuan ($83.6 million). These funds will be used to upgrade technology, expand mobile coverage and develop its editorial team.

The company plans to sell 69.1 million shares through the IPO, accordingtoReuters, and it will set the IPO price range on the 17th of this month. Final prices will be announced on April 20th.

The restructuring of People's Daily comes as China's state-owned news sources are attempting improve their chances against competitors. The online portal, www.people.com.cn, has attracted a lot of readers online since it launched 10 years ago. Unfortunately it still strugglesto keep up with other competing news sources like Sina or Sohu.com.

With so many other, more popular online news sources, it seems to be becoming clear that state owned websites need to expand in order to maintain a level of dominance over the media.

People's Daily is well known for being a government mouthpiece, providing an outlet for authorities to release propaganda. The companyreceivedapproval from authorities at the end of last month, but rumours of an IPO have been circulating since January.

Caijing reports that People's Daily may begin seeking investors as early as the 6th of April, following the conclusion of this year's Tomb Sweeping Festival.

Fellow Chinese news agency, Xinhua, was expected to launch a 1 billion yuan ($157.8 million) IPO at some point after reports emergedlast December. Although no official timing has been given yet, after People's Daily it is expected that Xinhua will follow suit before the end of the year.

People's Daily has several high profile shareholders, including state-owned telecommunicationcompanies China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom and China Telecom Corp Ltd.

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Japanese publishing company Tokyo Shoseki is producing textbooks that support AR apps on smartphones, bringing characters to life for students to listen to.

The textbooks, part of an English course called New Horizon, are intended for adults looking to study English at a high school level again.

By using a smartphone students can interact with the textbook in a different way.

Although this style of textbook doesn't support the same kind of interactivity a tablet-exclusive textbook might, it has the advantage of being perfectly functional without any extra expenses. If you do not own an iPhone, or your iPhone has run out of battery, you will still be able to do your homework.

Students can download the app for free, although at the moment it is only available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S.

Once the New Horizon app is downloaded, students only have to hover the camera over the correct section of the page to launch a conversation.

Over the last few years the concept of a digital classroom has been coming into focus, with many talking about how tablets should become ubiquitous in classrooms worldwide. As a learning tool, tablets could be undeniably useful, capable of doing things that ordinary textbooks simply can not.

For its many positives, the practical reality of such a movement would be costly and fraught with several other obstacles. Suggesting an iPad for every student is one thing, but what about those who can't afford it? An iPad is certainly less durable than a paper textbook, and students are not likely to be careful with a tablet supplied by the school.

The debate peaked when Apple claimed it would "reinvent the textbook", announcing aniBooks 2 and rolling out iPad-specific textbooks, in addition to publishing software iBooks Author. After this announcement, many began to assess thepracticalityof an iClassroom, and found more than a few problems.

Could funding support the costs? Students can amass huge expenses on textbooks, something they can make back by selling their books on to the next generation. For schools a series of textbooks can be used in rotation for years. Although the prices Apple suggested were reasonable, the product can not be resold.

This would not be a problem for Augmented Reality textbooks, where the textbook itself could stay in rotation in schools or business classes, and the app can be updated at will where necessary.

As the app is free, students would only need to delete it when they had finished, and pass the textbook along without worrying about costs.

Changing an entirecurriculum, an educational system, and retraining teachers is not something that could happen overnight. Companies like Apple innovating in educational technology is a step in the right direction, but there are any number of intermediate gadgets that could help ease the transition.

Augmented Reality textbooks have been discussed as apossibilityfor a few years now, and now they are becoming a reality for students. Although this series is aimed at adult learners, who are usually backed by businesses to work on their English skills, it is not exclusive to them.

In my experience, getting students to stop messing around with their smartphones is hard enough. At least with textbooks like these, you might be able to trick them into learning when they get their iPhones out instead.

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Despite previous reports suggesting thatZuckerberg was in China on vacation, it looks as though he has skipped over to Japan for a surprise visit.

Zuckerberg is confirmed to have met with Japan's prime minister Yoshihiko Noda earlier in the day.

Noda was reportedly"starstruck"by Zuckerberg's visit, having seen 'The Social Network'.

Noda also thankedZuckerberg for the contribution Facebook made towards the recovery effort following the tsunami and earthquake last March.

It is still not clear exactly whatZuckerberg's visit to Japan will entail, but it is already appearing more business orientated then his holiday in China.

To add fuel to the speculation, Softbank's chief executive, one of Japan's mobile networks, has just joined Facebook.

Masayoshi Son is known for being an avid user of Twitter, but today opened a Facebook account with the status: "I am to start Facebook from now on."

This leads to the obvious speculation that Son may have met withZuckerberg, but we'll have wait and see.

What we do know for sure is that he presented a speech at Mobile Hack Tokyo this evening.

Facebook's Mobile Hack Tokyo event, taking place inRoppongi hills, is an event for developers as part of a daylong course on mobile application development. It appears as if it is intended, in part, to discover talent. The day ends with an awards ceremony for the best mobile social apps.

By the looks of the event's schedule, it consisted of a series of lectures and discussions over various platforms. It kicked off at 10 am with a "Crash Course 101" for beginners, teaching them how to use Facebook Mobile Platform.There was also Q&A session with theFacebook team.

The event was already fully booked, but I wonder how many visitors were expecting a lecture from the founder ofFacebook himself?

Image source: Twitpic via Asiajin.com.

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The details of Cook's visit until this point have been mostly vague, with an Apple spokeswoman claiming that he was there to meet with "government officials". This has led to a fair share of speculation as to what exactly he might be doing there.

Cook is the first Apple chief to visit China, and the company has more than a few troubles in the country to get on top of.

Despite Mike Daisey's harrowing Foxconn report forThis American Life being retracted recently, issues on Apple's production line are still very much a focus for the company.

Apple has since revealed that Cook hasvisited a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou during the week.

Whilst the more cynical might scoff at such a visit, it is an important gesture. It is hard to say what Foxconn workers might make of a visit from the top, but it certainly displays a sense of understanding.

Cook, and Apple, are very aware that its production process is under scrutiny.

Foxconn is a tricky issue to tackle head on without a clear understanding of the situation on the ground in China. Whilst Daisey's report might have been partially fictitious -- it says a lot about our knowledge that we could easily believe it as fact.

Xinhua, a state run news source, has now confirmed that Cook also met with China's Vice Premier, Li Keqiang.

The details are sparse over what the pair actually discussed, but they seem to have made some sort of agreement over strengthening intellectual property rights, and continued foreign investment in China.

"To be more open to the outside is a condition for China to transform its economic development, expand domestic demands and conduct technological innovation," Li said.Cook apparently agreed that would Apple would "strengthen comprehensive cooperation with the Chinese side and conduct business in a law-abiding and honest manner."

Unfortunately, this report is still rather vague, and any of the finer details that Cook discussed with Li have been kept under wraps for now. However, what can be gleaned from this news it what it could imply.

The emphasis on intellectual property rights could be strongly connected to Apple's other major problem in China, the ongoing trademark issue with locally based Proview. Both companies are still awaiting a verdict on Apple's appeal from a court in Shenzen.

Apple's new iPad was recently cleared for sale by authorities in China, but no date has been set for launch.

Apple is a prominent brand in China, but the issues with Proviewmight dampen their hopes for a successful iPad launch in the country. Whilst the Shenzen court previously sided with Proview over the ownership of the iPad trademark, there is still a chance that Apple's appeal could be successful.

Beijing based intellectual property lawyer, Stan Abrams, suggests that an end to the dispute could be in the making. "Li also called on multinational companies to help China develop the western part of the country," he comments, "If Tim Cook announces a new facility in Chengdu in the near future, I'd say the fix is in and that little trademark problem might go away very soon."

It is certainly very plausible that Apple's troubles with Proview were on the agenda in some extent.

Regardless, Li's statement can be taken as an indication that China is willing to be more cooperative and supportive of western innovation in the country.

This could amount to more flexibility when it comes to trademark issues with western companies, but it could also mean a stronger policing of smugglers and counterfeits that might damage sales.

Equally, it could simply be about expansion, with more Apple stores and a greater focus on China.

If we take this meeting as tackling expansion, as well as potentiallyApple's trademark issues, then Tim Cook's visit is living up to the speculation.

One of Apple's major, outstanding barriers in China is its inability to dominate thesmartphone market there. The key cause of which is arguably that Apple is yet to partner with China's biggest carrier, China Mobile.

If Cook were also in talks with China Mobile during his visit, it would likely be in hopes of brokering a future deal with the carrier. Apple had previously promised an iPhone that would be compatible with its network.

If we hear news of such talks, then this will have been a very successful trip for Apple's chief executive.

Image sources: Bowen Liu/Apple via Bloomberg.com, Rao Aimin/Xinhuanet.com.

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The process is fascinating to watch. It is designed in such a way that one hand is used to enter the correct 'lyrics' with a combination of consonants and vowels to produce the various phonemes. The other hand uses the traditional keys to decide the pitch of each sound simultaneously.

It looks tricky to say the least, and probably takes a few hours to master, but it also makes it possible to perform with the Vocaloid live for the first time. Previously, users had to produce songs using the Vocaloid software, entering each noteseparately in a time consuming process.

Until now any live performances of Vocaloid songs have been pre-recorded, but the absence of a physical singer hasn't stopped successful shows.

Hatsune Miku, Japan's foremost virtual idol, has performed on a number of occasions through projections.As a brand, Miku is on a level with musicians like Lady Gaga or Madonna without even having to exist.

Vocaloid is a synthesised voice programme, designed to produce realistic vocals that can then be used for other projects. Using samples from a real singer, Vocaloid allows just about anyone to produce their own music to share.

In fact sites like Japan's Nico Nico Douga,a video-sharing like website, has forged entire communities around these Vocaloids. Users create videos and songs to share.

Hatsune Miku, ananthropomorphismof the software, has become a Japanese sensation. 'She' advertises Google Chrome, stars in her own manga series, and has her own rhythm game.

There are English versions of the software available. However, the Vocaloid movement has not really gained momentum in the west. In Japan the use of virtual synthesised singers has become acceptable in mainstream music.

"Especially in Japan, Vocaloid is not considered as asubstitutefor human singing," said Yamaha researcher Hediki Kenmochi, "but a kind of new musical instrument."

Certainly the uncanny aspect of the software is a contributing factor in its lack of success in the United States. The prospect of virtually produced vocals dominating the charts is not particularly popular, and would no doubt draw criticism in the same way that auto-tune has.

The technology is not able to trulymimica performance yet, the human voice having too many variables like breathing, whispering or screaming. Aperformerusing Vocaloid wouldn't be able to produce a credible cover of an artist like Bjork or Marilyn Manson, for example.

However the software is constantly being improved upon, and has most recently been used to 'resurrect' the voices of dead musicians. It is now possible to build a library based on a deceased musicians voice, and last year they managed to recreate the voice of Hitoshi Ueki, a Japanese vocalist who died in 2007.

For many the reaction to this type of use is mixed. Whilst it might be able to roughly recreate the voices of the wonderful singers of the past, how many people would actually want to listen to it?

Of course, the legal ramifications of producing a brand new Elvis song or Michael Jackson album using the software would also be tricky.

For living musicians who, for any reason, lose their voice -- this could be a blessing in disguise. Now, with this new keyboard, singers could perform live without ever having to utter a single note.

There is no need to ring the death knell of traditional singing just yet, though. Singers might have considered live performance to be something sacred andirreplaceable, and it is.

In much the same way that listening to the studio version of a song is incomparable to watching it performed live, watching a live performance from a keyboard has none of the personality or stage presence of reality.

This keyboard is a sign that the next step for Yamaha may well be creating a Vocaloid that sounds natural and can be used in real-time. Alternatively, it may be archiving voices of singers we have lost. Either way, it will still be years before we see those results.

The keyboard is, of course, only available in Japanese so far. Equally, the product is not intended to be commercial, but the technology could be picked up by interested parties in the future.

Image source: Hideki Saito/Flickr.

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The special Cherry Blossom Season Edition provides some of the best locations to enjoy the sights, with beautiful pictures from last year's blossoms. The guide looks at several of the big attractions in Japan, providing details on shops and restaurants in each area.

Alongside short blurbs of information at every location, users can freely take a virtual walk around some of Japan's most beautiful temples and parks. The information is available in English, Japanese and Chinese.

After last yearsdevastatingearthquake, visiting Japan has become a less appealing prospect for many tourists. The Fukushima nuclear plant is still not completely under control, and despite only one nuclear reactor remaining online across Japan, many are still dubious about the radiation levels.

Some tourists do not consider Japan safe, which given the predictions of another quake in the near future, is understandable. Despite this, the number of visitors coming to Japan has been steadily improving and this time of year is a big draw for tourism.

Many are gathering for hanami (flower viewing)parties ---a long standing tradition that sees thousands gathering in parks to celebrate the blossoms throughout the day and into the night.

Usually this means lots of food and drink with friends, and a little admiring of flowers. There is even a saying in Japanese, 'hana yori dango', meaning 'dumplings not flowers' as a joke about most of these parties.

As the flowers only last a few weeks, it is imperative to see them whilst they are blossoming, and forecasts are aired on television to help predict when the season will begin.

Google previously provided images of thedevastationof the Tohoku earthquake in Street View, allowing users to see areas from before and after the tsunami.

Image source: Google/ZDNet.

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The device was granted its compulsory certification, which must be given to any product going on sale in China.

There is no determined release date for the new iPad yet, although there have been reports of large numbers of the tablet being smuggled into the country from the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Despite the iPad clearing certification, Apple is still involved in a trademark dispute with Proview in China.

Proview, who originally registered the 'IPAD' trademark in China, won a case against Apple in 2010. The Shenzen court sided with the Chinese company over the ownership of the trademark, but Apple have since appealed the decision.

The final verdict for the Shenzen case is still pending, but if the court decides in Apple's favour then several other legal actions against them could be turned around.

At present, sales of iPad tablets have been affected by the case, with Proview requesting local authorities seize tablets from shelves, and calling for the suspension of sales. If the dispute remains unresolved, or the court sides with Proview once again, it could undermine the launch of the new iPad.

Further approvals will need to be made for the 4G capable model of the new iPad to go on sale.

Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has been spotted in China, and has been speaking to government officials, according to an Apple spokesperson.

Although the details are still not clear as to exactly who Cook has been meeting with, and what those meetings pertain to, many have suggested that Apple is looking to open more dedicated stores in China.

"China is very important to us," said the spokeswoman, "and we look forward to even greater investment and growth there."

Image credit: Flickr.

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According to the man's lawyer, Hiroyuki Tomita, he decided to seek legal action against Google when he discovered that the autocomplete function produced results of criminal acts in association with his name.

The man, whose name is undisclosed, says he has no knowledge of any of the suggested crimes.

However, he believes these defamatory suggestions in Google searches may have cost him his job a few years ago, and has subsequently damaged his search for employment ever since.

When selecting suggested words associated to his name, around 10,000 defamatory items come up.

The case was originally brought to the Tokyo District Court last October, after the man had written to Google requesting that it deleted certain words.Google rejected this request on the grounds that the autocomplete function produced the suggested words mechanically, and could therefore not be an invasion of privacy.

Google's help siteexplains that, "predicted queries are algorithmically determined based on a number of purely algorithmic factors [...] without human intervention."

Google is refusing to suspend the autocomplete function over the case. According to Tomita, Google is saying that its U.S. headquarters will not be regulated by Japanese law, and that the case does not warrant deleting autocomplete suggestions.

"It could lead toirretrievabledamage such as a loss of job or bankruptcy just by showing search results that constitute defamation or a violation of the privacy of an individual person or small and medium sized companies," said Tomita.

The lawyer also said that his client will be taking further legal action if Google continues to refuse to comply with the court order. He added that "it is necessary to establish a measure to enable swift redress of damage in the event of a clear breach."

Image source: ZDNet.

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Their annual review showed that global box officereceiptsfor 2011 came to $32.6 billion. That's a 3 percent increase from 2010.

Chris Dodd, former U.S. senator and now chairman and CEO of the MPAA, was quick to proclaim this as a victory: "The bottom line is clear: people in all countries still go to the movies and a trip to the local cinema remains one of the most affordable entertainment options."

Statistically speaking he is correct. This is a success for the film industry, which every year faces more and more suggestions that traditional cinema is losing its appeal.

There have been many arguments that the 'cinema experience' is on its way out, mostly because of the continued growth of digital cinema, piracy and drastic improvements in how we watch movies in our own homes.

So growth in the global box office is a good thing. It is a sign that people are still willing to spend money in cinemas rather than immediately torrenting new releases or just waiting for the Blu-ray to watch on their huge HD televisions with surround sound.

Frankly, it is easy to see why people would opt out of actually attending the cinema. It avoids all of the pitfalls of the cinema experience: snacks that cost more than your ticket, annoying movie goers withpersistentcoughs, kids, popcorn -- the loudest snack food in the world.

The thing about this growth, however, is that most of it is happening in China. The international box office accounts for $22.4 billion of that $32.6 billion total. China's box office grew by 35 percent last year alone, now standing at an estimated $2 billion.

That makes China the second biggest international market, and it trails just behind Japan, which has a market of $2.3 billion. On top of that, the number of 3D cinema screens in Asia nearly doubled last year.

Although these markets are comparatively small compared to the U.S. and Canada, they are also growing at a much faster rate.

The U.S. and Canadian market, in fact, declined last year. Despite films like 'Avatar', which broke box office records, being released the overall box office revenue was down 4 percent.

This decline was, according to MPAA's statistics, due to an equivalent decline in admissions.

As we have feared, fewer people are going to the cinema. Admissions have generally been trending downwards for about 10 years, and while gimmicks like 3D bring in more people, there is only so far that gimmick can stretch.

After all, we can now watch 3D on television, play games on the Nintendo 3DS without the uncomfortable glasses, not to mention the launch of 3D television channels. It is only a matter of time before the innovations in domestic technology squash cinemas 3D obsession flat.

When you look at the numbers for the last five years, the U.S. andCanadian box office has increased, but the growth seems to be starting to plateau. There was no considerable growth between 2009 to 2010, and now it is actually declining.

For now it looks like cinema is being given the breath of life by international markets, particularly Asia and South America. The downfall of the U.S. box office might not come for some years, but downward trends do suggest that it could be on its way.

Disney's big budget blockbuster, 'John Carter from Mars', has already been labelled a box office flop in America. The film was purported to cost $250 million to make and on its opening weekend only pulled in $30.6 million in the U.S.

Outside of America, however, the film was more successful, pulling $70.6 million on its first weekend.

It opened in China with $10.4 million, and another $6.4 in Russia. So far the international revenue for the film has far outweighed its domestic gross, but a successful run abroad could at least prevent Disney from losing face.

Growth in China, and Japan's international dominance are very promising for the global box office. If international revenue can turn a box office flop of the purported magnitude of 'John Carter' into an even break, then perhaps it can help keep the future of cinema healthy.

In the past production companies like Warner Bros. have released films on DVD in China at the same time as they hit cinemas in an attempt to get ahead of potential piracy.

Now it seems like they should be embracing the new, budding cinema industry in Asia.

Instead of spending their budget on heavy advertising in the U.S., perhaps focusing more on the growing Chinese and Japanese audiences might save new releases from crashing and burning.

Image Source: Kenmoo/Flickr.

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The writer, called Sebuyama, set about tracking down three targets in the Shibuya area and chronicled his investigation.

Shibuya is one of Japan's busiest districts. Its famous crossing, the Shibuya sprawl, is said to have over 45,000 people crossing it every 30 minutes. It is one of the most 'checked in' locations in the world.

It is also densely packed, with hundreds of shops and restaurants, making it a prime location for tracking down some avid Twitter users.

First,Sebuyamafiltered results by looking for people tweeting that they were "now in Shibuya." He apparently found around 30 tweets within a minute, and from this list he picked out three victims to hunt down.

Many Japanese Twitter users do not use real pictures of themselves, which helped narrow down his chosen three, but he also looked at physical descriptions used on their Twitter profiles.

Perhaps most frightening, he was able to follow these users from tweets about where they were shopping, pictures of their lunch and comments on purchases. Although he lost the first target because she moved around too much, he was able to track the other two down pretty easily.

Understandably the two Twitter victims were surprised and shocked to have a random stranger find them, identify them by their Twitter user name and even tell them what they had just eaten for lunch.

The experiment serves up an eerie lesson about posting personal information on Twitter, but the column has also spread through Japan's social networks, with many commenting on how "scary" it is.

Sebuyama has achieved his goal with this experiment, proving effectively that we just don't think about the information we're putting online.

He made sure to punctuate the end of his column with photos of himself sitting in a darkened room with his laptop, ominously holding a knife.

The imagery is on the money.

We should be scared at how easy it is to track people down. Not everyone openly shares personal information on Twitter, but even those who don't might also be using Foursquare or Facebook to talk about their daily activities.

It would be interesting to see how well such an experiment would work in other major cities, like London or New York.

I'm not sure whether or not the kind of personal information shared by Japanese users on Twitter is more open than their western counterparts. Either way, I think we'd be surprised by how easy to catch we all are.

Image sources: Sebuyama/Omokoro.jp

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Xi launched in December 2010, and within its first year it had already achieved approximately one millionsubscribers.

In the past three months, however, that figure has doubled.

After NTT Docomo released its first Xi compatible smartphones last November it saw a massive increase in activations. This new figure accounts for smartphones, tablets and other devices using the LTE service.

It apparently hit the milestone on March 18th, meaning that between its first and second million the company'sgrowth rate quadrupled.

The company also announced their intentions to release more Xi ("crossy") compatible devices like tablets and mobile Wi-fi routers, so that number is only set to increase.

A graph released by the company shows off the rapid climb in users, as well as charting the various release dates and launches that fueled it.

NTT Docomo's LTE network apparently has download speeds of up to 75 Mbps, but the high speed LTE services are not yet available for the newly released iPad.

At present Apple is still not partnered with NTT Docomo. Despite ongoing talks between the company no agreement has been made, and the iPhone remains exclusive to Softbank and KDDI.

At the moment its only partner offering the device, Softbank, is yet to launch an LTE network.For Japanese iPad users, this means that their new 4G LTE capable iPads are stuck at a 3G level.

NTT Docomo is by far the largest carrier in Japan, with over 60 million customers as of March 11th this year.

Image source: NTT Docomo/nttdocomo.com.

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The app originally came to China last December for the iPad, when it partnered with two popular Chinese microblogging sites, Sina Weibo and Renren.

Today it was announced that it would be expanding to new formats, as well as adding some new details.

The Chinese addition of the app adds the Cover Stories feature. This enables users to easily access news and updates that are shared on the two microblogging sites, as well asmagazinearticles and content from services like Youku.

The Cover Stories feature also uses information from user interactions to tailor content to them, and provide a "quick shortcut to the days essential posts."

Perhaps most interestingly, they have also chosen to make the Chinese edition of Flipboard available to users around the world, allowing articles and posts from China to reach an international audience.

Adding this capability for the iPhonein Chinawill definitely assist Flipboard's expansion, as it is currently the world's largest smartphone market.

Moreover it is also the fastest growing smartphone market, according to statistics from Flurry, who predict that China will account for 24 percent of ioS and Android devices worldwide by the end of this month.

Since the iPhone 4S launched in China at the beginning of the year it has been successful, but Apple has yet to dominate the Chinese smartphone market.

At present it only holds 7.5 percent of the market compared to Samsung, who hold 24.3 percent. However, the iPhone 4S is still only available on two of China's smaller carriers, which may be holding back its share.

Despite these concerns the iPhone is still a desirable brand in China, with over 15 million unofficially activated handsets on China's biggest carrier, China Mobile. The number of users that Flipboard has access to because of this expansion is still substantial.

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Japan has thousands of vending machines, and you've no doubt heard of some of the stranger variations that you would never find anywhere else. Banana dispensers, underwear dispensers and vending machines that scan your face.

At the end of 2010 there was an estimated 5 million vending machines all over Japan, and with companies like Asashi planning to roll out new Wi-Fi hotspot vending machines, that number is only getting bigger.

Within a minute's walk of my apartment, for example, there are 5 vending machines alone. As a result I am in no danger of running out of quick, convenient soft drinks or cans of coffee.

Following thedisastrousTohoku earthquake last March, Japan underwent rolling blackouts and power shortages as it recovered. A year on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and Japan has only 2 of its 54 reactors online. That is only 4.6 percentof full capacity.

With these discussions in the air, Sanden's hand cranked vending machine seems like a logical step towards fixing a real problem in Japan.

The machine takes 70 rotations to power up, and can dispense six or seven bottles before needing to be charged again.

Many have commented that this unfortunately means many customers could get tired out and thirsty just trying to reach their drink, and it would definitely make the machine off putting outside of power shortages.

Sister siteCNET commented: "You'd probably still be thirsty after all that cranking. The only thing to do, however, is keep cranking."

Commuters are not likely to choose the machine over quicker alternatives, which suggests to me that the vending machine's functionality might be limited. Except for those who are serious about energy conservation, the entire idea of a quick effortless drink gets mitigated by having to sweat for it.

In cases of emergencies, however, a hand-crankedvending machine could become essential.

It might seem as though soft drinks and canned coffee would be at the bottom of people's priorities in the event of a natural disaster. However, bear in mind that vending machines are also likely become a convenient source of water and snacks with lengthy expiry dates.

A smashed vending machine is often visual shorthand for the aftermath of a disaster, and it doesn't surprise me that the Japanese would find a way to make that easier and morecivilized.

This machine is obviously designed to be primarily used during blackouts, but also to function as just another machine. You still have to pay for your drinks like any other, and the energy efficiency rarely outweighs convenience.

I'm not suggesting that during energy shortages people shouldn't have to pay for their drinks, but it did make me wonder if the creators aren't missing anopportunityto use the machine as a disaster aid.

If they could get government backing, having a hand cranked machine to dispense bottles of water and high-energy snacks could be a good way ofremotelyassisting people during a blackout.

If during a disaster you are unable to get home, you might well be stranded a long way from any of your emergency supplies. Shops will not necessarily be open to help you, and would be of no use anyway if you were low on cash or had mislaid your belongings.

Concerns that people might exploit these emergency vending machines seem moot in Japan, where most shops don't even have security cameras to stop potential shoplifters.

There is a communal sense of trust that convinces me most people would only use the machines in emergencies, not least because of the effort it would take to crank them up to power.

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Having personally attended the launch of the new iPad in Ginza on Friday, I was impressed by how quickly the crowds had beencleared. I would not describe the launch as being particularly overwhelming, and the system the store had in place seemed to be work efficiently.

There was, however, another factor that could have contributed to an easy launch.

According to ITMedia, there was acrowd of a thousand people in Ginza on Friday, but it was for the opening of a new branch of UNIQLO.

The initial crowd outside the iPad launch was around 450 people. Taking into account that of the seven Apple stores in Japan, there are only two in Tokyo, that number seems reasonable.

It does not factor in the size of crowds at the Shibuya branch, another popular shopping district, or crowds at other sellers such as Bic Camera.

UNIQLO is one of Japan's most successful global brands, with stores located in New York, Paris, and London. The Ginza opening, however, promised to be the world's largest flagship store.

For many Japanese consumers, UNIQLO represents affordable high street fashion in a district full of Gucci, Chanel, and Prada.

Standing at 12 floors, the new store had more than three times the capacity of Apple's Ginza store, but customers were apparently spilling out on to the street. On UNIQLO's website the "check-in" counter for the Ginza store has hit 10,500, and is still rising.

Competitions and other enticements might have contributed to the large crowds, but the result still looks unfortunate for Apple.

This is not to suggest the launch of the newiPad was a failure in Japan.I would add that the crowds outside Apple's Shibuya store were significant. Equally, UNIQLO opened its doors two hours after Apple, which may have contributed to crowd build-up.

Whilst the Ginza branch is considered to be the major Apple store in Tokyo, Shibuya is a very busy commercial district alongside a big commuter station, and did not have any competing store openings on the scale of UNIQLO.

If anything, this was a case of unfortunate timing for the Ginza branch, but it was unavoidable. As the first international store, it couldn't miss out on the launch of iPad's third generation.

According to a recent press release, so far,Apple has sold over 3 million units worldwide.

Image source: Murumachisimo/Flickr.

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