Remember last month when Baidu was hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army?

Well, Domain Name Wire explains the hi-tech coding techniques used to perpertrate the crime:

Here’s how Baidu alleges the hacker got access to one of the world’s most popular web sites domain name account in under an hour:

1. Hacker starts online chat session with Register.com representative, claiming to be an agent of Baidu.

2. Register.com representative asks hacker to provide verification information. Hacker provides invalid information, but Register.com goes ahead and e-mails a security code to the email address it has on file for Baidu anyway.

3. The hacker doesn’t have access to that e-mail address, so he/she relays a bogus security code to the Register.com representative via chat. Baidu claims the representative didn’t bother to compare the code to the actual one.

4. Hacker asks Register.com representative to change email address on file to antiwahabi2008@gmail.com, and representative does.

5. Hacker now uses “forgot password” link at Register.com to request the username and password to the account. Hacker can then log in and change the name servers.

Baidu is currently suing Register.com but they could have simply avoided this whole debacle by paying a few extra  dollars a year for increased domain security. After all they do rely on their website being available for their core business. But it’s easier to blame it on the idiocy of a Register.com tech support guy.

If you are one of these lucky 1500 ladies mentioned in the story, TFF would love to hear from you….

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http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90872/6839840.html

Nowadays, there is a popular saying among Japanese girls that goes “What we want is Chinese food and men, not French lovers or American houses.” This means Japanese girls have lost their interest in French and American men. In Japan, men from China are becoming more popular with Japanese girls. More than 1,500 Japanese girls married with Chinese men last year, an increase of 30 percent, which is the highest in history. A representative from Japan’s China information research institute told the reporter that the quick development of China’s economy and Chinese people getting richer are the most important reasons for Japanese girls changing their appetites. Also because Japan has more women than men and Japanese men compared to Chinese men are generally less capable when it comes to being both a considerate family man and a breadwinner. Today’s Japanese men feel much more inferior compared with men from China because they found what they are lacking is not little. By People’s Daily Online

The Guardian reports on a Chinese clothing company that has angered Iranians by creating a line of jeans bearing the Islamic expression “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful”.

A Chinese clothing manufacturer probably thought it was on to a winner by exporting jeans bearing the Islamic expression “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful” to Iran. But an otherwise sound marketing ploy was undone by one embarrassing flaw: the phrase (Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim in Arabic), which graces each of the Qur’an’s 114 chapters, was prominently displayed on the pockets of the jeans’ backsides, something likely to be seen as disrespectful by devout Muslims.

The Guardian is quoting Asriran.com who is accusing China of “attacking Iranian Muslim sacred symbols in the most offensive manner”. Also, the importers of the Jeans have been arrested.

Now Wuhan’s chengguan are taking it a step further and deputizing a foreigner to put help save Wuhan from utter chaos by forcing shopkeepers to move boxes of bottled water off the sidewalk:

Let’s hope that the makers of this launcher don’t team up with this guy.

Megan Ko of Pacific Epoch on some fascinating CS-related news:

Reason to build a theme park on the site of the 5.12 earthquake: “This place used to be a plain field … no one really died on this spot.” That wisdom direct from the general manager of construction colossus Baoshan Group, the company that chose to “build” a 6.6 hectare Counter Strike-like battlefield within Sichuan’s quake zone. China Daily reported the news yesterday in an article that’s just plain weird. . .

“It was the perfect setting for a sprawling battlefield – open spaces to run around, ruins to duck behind, and guns to eliminate the enemy. Only, the war had to be fun, a game, the guns innocent, and the enemies your friends.”

Ko mentions some online opposition to the park. I can see how some people are going to be sensitive about anything of this nature being built so soon after the earthquake. But this idea seems like a no-brainer, given the popularity of CS in China. A CS theme park makes perfect sense, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see multiple parks in a few years.

The Cat has even gone one step further and took the time to translate it, as follows:

Make haste to Somalia, cruise the Gulf of Aden
With lofty sentiments, the Chinese navy heads for the deep blue
Braving wind and waves, the warship’s flag flutters, The Chinese navy, a bright sword to harmonize the ocean.

Chinese warriors, valiant men with iron wills,
Intrepid journey, 600 years after Zheng He.
Heroic sailors, forge bravely ahead,
Bearing heavy responsibility, the motherland will see our triumphant return.

Play it loud, dont play it low. Blow your speakers!

MUL Adds: Borrowing media relations tactics from the U.S. in Iraq, they even embedded a reporter with the ship!

Israel’s Calcalist (Hebrew only) reports on quite a little scandal at the Israeli embassy in Beijing. According to the newspaper, the consul in the newly opened Israeli consulate in Shenzhen is under heavy criticism for choosing to live in…

Beijing!

According to the article, the newly appointed consul has been living in the nation’s capital for the last three months and has been commuting to work on a weekly basis. Not only that, according to the article his weekly travel expenses amount to USD 2,000 which is approximately RMB 14,000, and which also seems to me just a little too much…

Frankly, I don’t understand why he didn’t just stay in Tel Aviv. Not only is  the weather much nicer but return flights to Hong Kong only cost around USD 1,000 or so…

Fortunately I am not the only one that thinks that there is something wrong with this picture and an official complaint has been filed  with the Israeli State Comptroller.

What is it with Israeli politicians and their love for air travel?

The register is reporting that China is about to take measures to clamp down on lip-synching:

China’s ministry of culture has announced a clampdown on miming professional musos, marking an end to lip-synching and fake guitar strumming…

…the new regs will not affect amateur performers such as Lin Miaoke, who famously mimed Ode to the Motherland at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The ministry’s Sun Qiuxia said it would first “consult with the public over the next few weeks, before agreeing final details of new rules on commercial performances”.

Nator, in case you were worried, the new regulations will not apply to Air guitar, so we are definitely still on for next Friday!

As reported by Ars Technica:

Those who are using pirated versions of Windows—particularly those in China—are getting riled up over Microsoft’s latest tactic to “encourage” them to purchase legit copies. The software giant recently began issuing an update that changes users’ desktop backgrounds to a black wallpaper with a reminder to switch to a legal copy of Windows as part of the Windows Office Genuine Advantage program. Now, Chinese users in particular are getting up in arms over the tactic, saying that Microsoft is violating their rights and isn’t thinking of its users.

How dare they!

It’s worth pointing out that the update wasn’t just issued in China—it was released to XP users across the globe who have opted to allow Internet updates from Microsoft. However, Microsoft says that there has been little outcry in other parts of the world, with Chinese users apparently alone in their angst. And angsty they are. “Why is Microsoft automatically connected with my computer? The computer is mine!” one commenter wrote on Sina.com

So let me get this straight. Users are upset because their stolen unpaid for copy of Windows is reminding them that their copy is not legit, because they downloaded the latest Microsoft Genuine Advantage update, which is completely voluntary. I am confused. Why didn’t they listen to the guy at Hailong that told them to turn off the automatic updates.

A few other sections in the article caught my attention:

Still, upsetting what could potentially be Microsoft’s largest software market could turn out to be a bad move…

it could add to Microsoft’s troubles in monetizing a huge market with a proven appetite for its software.

A proven appetite indeed, but for fake unpaid for software.  Let’s do the math. Let’s say a half of Microsoft in China users now get a black screen on their computer, and of those a quarter decide to switch to another operating system. Microsoft’s net loss would be: 50% x 25% x 0$ = 0$ .

China may decide it’s fed up with Microsoft’s antics and either try and build its own software solution or make a serious investment in other, open source options, practical or not.

Good luck!

China has “successfully” explored this path before: WAPI instead of WiFI, their own version of RFID, TD-SCDMA their own 3G standard. Why would someone pay for such a software solution when they can get free copies of Windows?

But the worst part is that, after the very first time I am actually on Microsoft’s side, they go on and do this:

Microsoft, of course, has already begun to do damage control on Chinese users’ reactions to the blackouts. “We are extremely grateful for our users’ attention. At the same time, we believe there are numerous misunderstandings about the Windows Office Genuine Advantage program,”Microsoft wrote in an open letter to its Chinese users, published on Sina.com