• Politics
• Entertainment
• Business
• Tech

China's Web users top 250m on back of disasters, Olympics

July 25 12:05:01 PM, Yahoo News

AFP - China's online population, already the world's largest, has swelled to 253 million, an official report said, driven by news events such as natural disasters and the Beijing Olympics.

The number of Internet surfers in China grew by 56 percent in the year to the end of June, the government-linked China Internet Network Information Centre said in its latest half-yearly report posted on its website Thursday.

Online music, news and instant messaging were the most popular applications, it said.

Readers of online news hit 206 million in the first half of this year, compared with 155 million in the second half of 2007, said the report.

"A series of significant news incidents that took place (meant) more netizens looked for related information on the Internet," it said.

Natural disasters such as snow storms during the Lunar New Year holiday and the earthquake that hit Sichuan province in May were huge news events online, along with news of the Olympics that start on August 8.

People younger than 30 accounted for 69 percent of total Internet users, the report found, adding that 29 percent of users accessed the Internet with mobile phones, reflecting the rapid growth of cellphone subscribers to 601 million at the end of June.

The report said that with 19 percent of the 1.3 billion population accessing the Internet, China lagged the global average of 21 percent.

While the fast-growing online population has made the Internet a new forum for Chinese to express opinions in a manner rarely seen on the strictly government-controlled traditional media, the communist government does attempt to keep tight controls on how it is used.

President Hu Jintao called last year for efforts to "purify" the Internet, and in March the authorities introduced a licensing system in the online video service sector in the latest example of tightened government control.

Related articles

• Verizon staff did not listen to Obama voicemails
  Reuters - The contents of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's voicemail messages and emails were not breached by the Verizon employees who gained unauthorized access to his cell phone account, an Obama…
• Verizon staff had unauthorized access to Obama's cell
  Reuters - Verizon Wireless said Thursday some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.
• Fewer Than 1% Arrested From TSA's "Behavior Detection"
  An anonymous reader writes "Fewer than 1% of airline passengers singled out at airports using the much vaunted 'suspicious behavior detection' techniques are arrested, Transportation Security Administration…
• Google's virtual world Lively to die next month
  AP - Lively, a virtual reality service from Google Inc., is dying.
• Google picks Austria village for new European server farm
  AFP - Google has bought a 75 hectare (185 acre) property in the north of Austria to erect a new European server farm within two years, the US Internet search engine giant said Thursday.
• Certification credited with boosting online confidence
  CNET - Extended certificate validation for Web sites has boosted online confidence in 2008, according to a statement released Thursday by the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA).
• Emerging markets to drive mobile growth: British watchdog
  AFP - The top emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China will drive mobile services growth in the coming years, a new report by Britain's telecoms regulator Ofcom said Thursday.
• Sun receives complaint about Java vetting process
  InfoWorld - Sun Microsystems has heard from a company concerned about the vetting process of Java and open source, a Sun official said on Wednesday.
• A future without programming
  InfoWorld - A few years ago, self-proclaimed nondeveloper Kevin Smith worked for a software company that tried to build a project tracking tool using Microsoft .Net. Some 15 developers spent a year with…
• Virgin Media sees mobile broadband as complementary
  Reuters - British cable operator Virgin Media said it did not believe mobile broadband had mass appeal in the short term, but it entered the market to offer the service in its high-end mobile, broadband…
• Towards a World Wide Grid?
  Roland Piquepaille writes "In recent months, the concept of 'cloud computing' was all the buzz. European researchers think about another name, the World Wide Grid, which could run on top of the Internet.…
• When Agile Projects Go Bad
  blackbearnh writes "CIO Magazine has an article up looking at some of the ways that Agile projects can fail, or Agile can be misapplied in organizations. Some of the issues raised may not be new, but folks…
• Guns N' Roses album to debut on MySpace
  CNET - Updated at 8:55 p.m. PST to reflect that NPR Music had the streaming debut of Paul McCartney's album.
• U.S. woman posed as teen online, teased girl: attorney
  Reuters - A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday in a trial that is being closely watched…
• Review: New BlackBerrys cool but can't beat iPhone
  AP - With the recent releases of three new BlackBerrys across three different wireless providers, Research In Motion Ltd. has fired back at Apple Inc. in the Great Smart Phone Skirmish of 2008.
• Physicist Admits Sending Space-Related Military Secrets To China
  piemcfly writes "Chinese-born physicist Shu Quan-Sheng Monday pleaded guilty before a US court to violating the Arms Export Control Act by illegally exporting American military space know-how to China.…
• Review: New BlackBerrys cool but can't beat iPhone
  AP - With the recent releases of three new BlackBerrys across three different wireless providers, Research In Motion Ltd. has fired back at Apple Inc. in the Great Smart Phone Skirmish of 2008.
• Microsoft lets Zune music subscribers keep tunes
  AP - Microsoft Corp. is giving an early holiday gift to people who pay for all-you-can-listen access to the Zune digital music store: 10 songs to keep each month, included in the $14.99 monthly subscription…
• Interviewing Experienced IT People?
  thricenightly writes "After more than 20 years in IT I've learned that the most valuable people in a team are frequently the old timers. Young pups straight out of college might (think they) know all the…
• New Xbox Experience Launched To Battle Sony's Offering
  NewsFactor - Microsoft launched its New Xbox Experience on Wednesday, expanding the existing service to compete with Sony in turning the video-game console into an entertainment hub.
• China's Baidu.com fights to rescue reputation
  AP - Baidu.com has been the star of China's Internet world. But now the search engine dubbed "China's Google" is scrambling to rescue its reputation after state TV accused it of letting unlicensed suppliers…
• Microsoft, Novell eye Moonlight beta, system management
  InfoWorld - Marking the two-year anniversary of their controversial interoperability agreement, Microsoft and Novell this week are announcing upcoming availability of both the beta version of Moonlight,…
• Microsoft's 'New Xbox Experience' Goes Live
  PC Magazine - Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a revamped Xbox gaming console that includes streaming HD movies from Netflix, a revamped dashboard, and movie and game purchases via Xbox.com.
• `Fake Steve Jobs' stops blogging as the 'Real Dan'
  AP - It was bad enough when Dan Lyons stopped sharing his musings about the technology scene in a hilarious satire of what Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs would be like as a blogger.