“A genuine concern for the Chinese government, which now fears that the QQ is deflating the official yuan. “QQ” is the virtual currency created by Tencent, China’s largest instant messaging platform based in Shenzen.”

“It is undeniable that economic forces are pulling the two countries closer together, but even stronger forces of geo-politics will ensure that they remain at arms length from one another.”

“Whereas CCTV host urges Starbucks to get out of the Forbidden City, Luqiu Luwei, Phoenix TV reporter, asks in her blog: how did Starbucks enter the Forbidden City? “

“eRiceCooker, by Annina Rüst, tracks Internet news about genetically modified rice. Whenever there is a new report about GM rice, a quarter cup of rice is dispensed into the cooker. When there’s enough rice for a meal, water is added automatically to the rice and the cooker is switched on.”

“The Communist Party has further tightened its grip on the mainland’s increasingly bold media by imposing a pre-censorship rule on coverage of politically sensitive topics, according to sources.”

“For interesting photos of scenes unique to Japan, do a search for “only in Japan” on Google Image Search. Here’s a sampling o what you’ll find on the top few pages”

“The Heritage Foundation/WSJ 2007 Index of Economic Freedom is out. You’ll see familiar faces on the rankings - both at the top (Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia) and at the bottom (North Korea, Cuba, Libya)”

“Rachel DeWoskin (pictured), author of Foreign Babes of Beijing, wrote an article for The Times of London about mistresses or er nai in China. It’s a few months old already but worth a read.”

“A Zhen, a Shenzhen-based netizen, became an immediate cyber sensation and the target of censure when she posted an array of threads serializing her life as a mistress (also known as ‘ernai’ in Chinese) on bbs.yeeyoo.com, a website for making friends in southern China’s boomtow.”

Just a week after the Apple iPhone was unveiled, Sony Ericcson releases its own killer app — “The DoCoMo mobile ’smelly phone’ is the SO703i from Sony Ericsson, which uses scented sheets that produce an aroma when the device is opened.”