Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by strace

Secret surrogacy deals in Japan

strace — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 14:48:07 +0800

Secret surrogacy in Japan gives senior Chinese officials' relatives an escape ticket

Part 1: http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/201606...00m/0na/022000c
Part 2: http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/201606...00m/0na/024000c

excerpt from article part 1

QUOTE

Relatives of senior Chinese Communist Party officials have taken advantage of underground surrogacy businesses based in Tokyo to have children with Japanese citizenship to secure a way to protect their assets and escape China in the event such drastic moves become necessary, they have told the Mainichi Shimbun.

In the world of Tokyo's underground surrogacy business, based in Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho district, the child's biological parents are the Chinese couple who request surrogacy. In the official Japanese koseki family registry, however, the Chinese surrogate mother in Japan who gives birth to the child is listed as the child's mother, while a third-party Japanese man -- named by a broker -- is listed as the child's father. With one Japanese parent, the child is able to hold Japanese citizenship.

Having a family member who has Japanese citizenship means it is possible for that member's Chinese family to safely transfer their assets to Japan, and easier for the Chinese family members to buy and sell real estate as well as establish companies in Japan. It also facilitates the transfer of people and assets to a third country, such as the United States.

Interesting way to hedge political risk in China?

Malaysia's New Central Bank Governor

strace — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 15:07:16 +0800

Malaysia Names Muhammad Ibrahim as New Central Bank Governor

Malaysia named central bank deputy governor Muhammad Ibrahim as successor to Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz when she steps down at the end of the month after 16 years at the helm.
Muhammad has been appointed for a five-year term that starts May 1, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement on Wednesday.

sos: BBG

Only 25Mbps and up will qualify as broadband

strace — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:11:27 +0800

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler today is proposing to raise the definition of broadband from 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream to 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up.

As part of the Annual Broadband Progress Report mandated by Congress, the Federal Communications Commission has to determine whether broadband “is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” The FCC’s latest report, circulated by Wheeler in draft form to fellow commissioners, “finds that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, especially in rural areas, on Tribal lands, and in US Territories,” according to a fact sheet the FCC provided to Ars.

The FCC also gets to define what speeds qualify as broadband, or “advanced telecommunications capability,” as it’s called in policy documents. The FCC last updated that definition in 2010, raising it from 200Kbps to the current 4/1 standard. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 said that advanced telecommunications capability must “enable users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology.” Wheeler’s proposed annual report says the 4/1 definition adopted in 2010 “is inadequate for evaluating whether broadband capable of supporting today’s high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video is being deployed to all Americans in a timely way.” (Despite the annual requirement, this would be the first such report since 2012.)

Wheeler previously considered raising the standard to 10Mbps downstream, but left the door open for a definition of 25Mbps. In a related proceeding, the FCC ruled last month that ISPs receiving Universal Service funds to build rural broadband networks must provide at least 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. AT&T and Verizon had objected to the 10Mbps requirement, claiming that 4Mbps is good enough for Americans.

The proposed 25/3 definition of broadband doesn’t actually require ISPs to adopt that speed. But using the 25/3 definition for broadband will affect how the FCC reports on whether ISPs are offering Americans service that’s fast enough. Despite the 25/3 standard not being a requirement for government-funded projects, about four dozen rural broadband experiments funded by the FCC will offer at least 25/3, a senior FCC official told Ars.

More: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/fc...ing-to-deliver/

so this means unifi downgrade to dailup status, streamyx to telegram status?

Spongebob squarepants the movie

strace — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 23:10:55 +0800

[YOUTUBE]XwTf3xiBG28[/YOUTUBE]

Interstellar trailer #3

strace — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:28:30 +0800

Click this shit and key in the code below:
07201969

then click play on the video in the official or the vid below
[video]http://downloads.paramount.com/kaltura/content/r71v1/entry/data/354/854/0_buycdmn8_0_ygksx8j3_2.mp4[/video]
because they are being an ass for no external linking & most youtube links taken down instantly

World's largest e-sports stadium coming to Macau

strace — Mon, 19 May 2014 14:07:52 +0800

There are already legendary islands off China’s southern coast where the millions travel to play games of chance. Soon an additional island will host throngs of gamers turning out to watch others play Xbox, complete with a 15,000-seat arena.

The arena will be the centerpiece of a $2.8 billion gaming theme park. A Hong Kong-based developer, Lai Fung Group (1125:HK), has just announced plans to build the video game complex. A handful of dedicated facilities for video game competitions have begun to emerge, part of a trend that marks a sort of coming of age for “e-sports.”

The project is one of the fanciful proposals that has money pouring into Hengqin Island, which sits in the Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Macau’s booming casino wonderland and its 30 million annual visitors. For the last five years or so, China has been planning to develop Hengqin as a sort of Macau-spillover zone connected by bridge to both the gambling hub and Hong Kong. The idea is beginning to bear fruit. Chinese news reports this week pegged the overall value of projects being recommended by the local government at about $22 billion.

The idea for the V-Zone, as the wider project is called, was conceived about a year ago, when Lai Fung approached AEA Consulting, a New York-based arts and culture firm. The developer had already purchased a plot on the island and was looking for an up-and-coming industry to build an attraction around. “We started with a blank sheet of paper, and we were looking for what would be the fastest-growing field in the world,” says Chew Fook Aun, Lai Fung’s chairman. AEA suggested several potential targets, including music and cars. “The trends were with video gaming,” says Chew.

Indeed. Over 500 million people in China play video games, and about 145 million of them play more than an hour daily, according to Eedar, a market research firm. In addition to playing games, an increasing number of people like to watch. Gaming videos are some of the most popular content on YouTube (GOOG), a trend that Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) acknowledged by building streaming capabilities into their new consoles.

Live gaming competitions such as those to be be staged at the new arena on Hengqin periodically fill arenas and draw huge online audiences. A League of Legends competition last November attracted 32 million viewers, and a Call of Duty tournament last month included a $1 million prize purse.

What the competitive-gaming industry hasn’t had is a Madison Square Garden of its own, says Mike Sepso, president of Major League Gaming, a company that runs leagues and broadcasts competitions online. Lai Fung contacted MLG last year to ask if it would run the Hengqin arena and offering to fund it completely. There was no chance Sepso would turn that down.

The two companies are currently trying to determine how a video game arena differs from, says, a basketball arena. While traditional sports facilities generally have a field surrounded by seats, for example, it probably makes more sense to design a gaming arena like a Broadway theater, with a stage for the players and large screens above their heads. “When you’re watching the Knicks, you’re actually watching them lose on the court, not on a screen,” says Sepso, whose conversational strategy relies heavily on New York sports metaphors. “In the e-sports world, you’re watching the players, you’re getting that emotion. But when the game starts, the action is really on the screen.”

While the new arena will be the center of the development, it would make up only one part of a wider gaming-themed park to be built on a one-kilometer square site. Lai Fung hopes to attract tourists as well as gaming companies, who would build offices in the area.

The first phase of development, which includes the arena, is expected to cost $480 million and is slated for completion in 2017. China’s real estate industry isn’t without white elephants, so some caution seems prudent. But Hengqin hopes to tie its fortunes to those of Macau, which has been largely immune to China’s economic woes.

For his part, Sepso believes the chances for success can’t be any worse than they would be at home. “They build a lot faster in China than we do in Brooklyn,” he says of the borough that recently built a new home for an NBA team. “It won’t take anywhere near as long as Barclays did.”

Source

Geez I'm leaving /k/

strace — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 23:00:17 +0800

hungry.
brb, off for supper

League of Legends leads Dota 2

strace — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:12:41 +0800

Yesterday Riot Games released impressive statistics around player activity for League of Legends, including 27 million daily players, 67 million players per month, and 7.5 million players concurrently during peak hours. A new report by Chinese gaming site 17173 of more than 50 percent of China's gaming cafe's shows just how popular the game is in the country.

Data collected over a span from July 2013 to November 2013 shows that Tencent's League of Legends is the most played game in cafe's in China, averaging 680,000 daily concurrent players, and nearly 81 million players over the course of four months. Dota 2 saw 50,000 daily concurrent players and 6.8 million players over the same time span.

Chinese-based developer NetEase's MOBA Heroes of the Three Kingdoms is currently between League of Legends and Dota 2 in the rankings. The data reveals that Heroes of Three Kingdoms is actually played for longer periods of time than League of Legends and Dota 2 with 138 minutes per playtime. Dota 2 exceeds here with 98 minutes of playtime per session, while League of Legends lags behind with under an hour of playtime.

League of Legends hit a peak concurrent count of 1.8 million for the September Carnival skin giveaway on September 19th. Other peaks include 1.67 million on the last day of summer, and 1.7 million on October 1st, a national holiday in China.

The 17173 report says that although Dota 2's head-start was slowed by Dota 2's open beta only beginning this past fall, the game has had a large increase in interest from esports activities and representation at events such as The International 3.

potato sauce: http://www.ongamers.com/articles/league-of...stics/1100-759/

LoL at Staples Centre with Wes Borland

strace — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 15:09:22 +0800

For the Season 3 Worlds Final Opening Ceremony

Hybrid Worlds - composed by Riot Games Christian Linke & Wes Borland
Guitarist - West Borland (Limp Bizkit)
Keyboards - The Crystal Method
Electric Cello - Tina Guo
Drummer - Joe Letz (Combichrist)

[YOUTUBE]pO5P7-LxzTE[/YOUTUBE]

Click click cookies

strace — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:58:34 +0800

http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/ while listening to this track http://bgmstore.net/view/2Cx9U

DEM FEELS

strace — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 00:22:46 +0800

[YOUTUBE]7s22HX18wDY[/YOUTUBE]

Korea's greatest e-sports scene is live now!

strace — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 17:09:16 +0800

live stream: http://www.twitch.tv/ongamenet

OGN Champions Finals with 20k ppl at an outdoor stadium and its raining over there now

DotA2 fans no where to be seen in korea
2 Telecommunication giants against each other in LoL
SKT T1 vs KT Rolster Bullets

obligatory intro video
[YOUTUBE]cMXXsbgSRSk[/YOUTUBE]

Colour matching game

strace — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 13:34:13 +0800

http://color.method.ac

I got 8.8 total score on first try, could have get better score because was little confused my controls starting from the complementary

Hue 8
Saturation 9
Complementary 9
Analogous 10
Triadic 8
Tetradic 9

http://imgur.com/hDWWuKs

Show me your results

found this gem while searching for k-indie music

strace — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:22:00 +0800

[YOUTUBE]DXxY_sX3rJ0[/YOUTUBE]

[KPOP]Girl's Day - Love Sim Game

strace — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:29:50 +0800

Commencing Girl's Day dump....

[youtubewide]SsdB0JPYzVQ[/youtubewide]

In b4 'in b4...'

All endings in spoiler

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Cheaper, low power consumption PS3 in production

strace — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:49:07 +0800

QUOTE

El Segundo (CA) – Sony’s PS3 trails its rivals in shipments and remains a financial disaster for the company, as market experts believe that Sony will never be able to entirely recoup an estimated $2.5 – $3.0 billion in losses the system has accumulated so far. But Sony is making progress, according to iSuppli, and is moving the console closer to a breakeven point.

Game console manufacturers typically accept losses in hardware sales, but take in huge profits by selling games and other content. That was the case when the PS2 came to market, when the Xbox 360 became available and it was no different with the PS3. The PS3, however, took that business model to a whole new level: The console, thanks to its Cell processor, expensive XDR memory, a pricey GPU and a Blu-ray drive, may have carried a production cost of nearly twice its retail price initially. Described as a supercomputer for the TV, the PS3 was a financial gamble from the very beginning.

Sony is now taking steps to bring down the production cost of the PS3 substantially, especially since Microsoft has been at a breakeven point for some time and the Wii has always been profitable. According to iSuppli, the first version of the PS3 carried an estimated bill of materials of $690.23 (according to a 2007 estimate, which was down from more than $900 estimate in 2006), while the newly revised PS3 is believed to cost Sony $448.73 in materials, manufacturing and box content. This number is still above the console’s $399 retail price, but the new design allows Sony to cut its losses dramatically.

iSuppli said that the revised PS3 design (80 GB) contains about 2820 individual parts, compared to 4048 in the previous-generation model with a 60 GB hard drive. All of the key integrated circuits in the new PS3 have undergone changes and employ more advanced process geometry compared to the previous model, the market research firm said. Key parts, which include Nvidia’s Reality Synthesizer, IBM’s Cell Broadband Engine and Toshiba’s I/O controller are now manufactured in 65 nm, cut the overall power consumption of the PS3 and reduce the number of discrete components in the console.

iSuppli believes that Sony pays $46.46 for the Cell processor (down from $64.40 for the 90 nm model) and $58.01 for the Nvidia GPU, down from $83.17 previously. The market research firm estimates that the PS3 console has a material cost of about $415.74; the controller (with 189 individual parts) may cost $14.84, while manufacturing is estimated at $18.14.

“With its new-generation PS3, Sony has come closer to breaking even, although it probably hasn’t quite reached that mark yet,” said Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst, teardown services, for iSuppli. “With iSuppli’s estimated PS3 cost at $448.73, the product retailing in the United States at around $399 and taking into account other expenses, the PS3 may be able to break even in 2009 with further hardware revisions.”

However, the new number does not take into account marketing cost and the share retailers are taking – which means that Sony will have to make much more progress to make the PS3 a profitable business. In the short term, the only opportunity to achieve profits may be content: And we could be seeing a shift here as well: Just around Christmas, Sony rolled out a new PS3 advertising campaign that does not promote the PS3 as a game console, but as a high-definition streaming-video/Blu-ray console.

[source]

but I don't think PS3 will be cheaper in retail price anytime soon

Moderator's Note:

Continue discussion here - http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/818933/+1440

Thread closed.

Audio conversion from DTS to MP3/AC3 in XViD video

strace — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:47:08 +0800

Audio conversion from DTS to MP3/AC3 inside a XViD video file, anyone knows an easy way to do it? My LCDTV can only see video but cannot play the DTS audio because its not supported so......

land sales referral

strace — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:47:35 +0800

I'm referred by a friend of mine to sale a very large piece of land which cost easily over few hundred millions ringgit. Since I never done this before I would like to know do I need to equip the knowledge of this game's ruleset:-
1) Is there any letters/agreement do I need to get from my friend, my friend's friend, my friend's friend's friend.... and the broker who got the deal?
2) I'm aware that getting commission for client referral in some countries is illegal, is it legal in Malaysia?
3) Does the commission need to get taxed?
4) Anything else that I missed?

Any form of advice is appreciated
thanks

Dynasty Warriors Online

strace — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:44:13 +0800

This is another product of KOEI
[YOUTUBE]mBItUPvqidc[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]_SAbmMeCLhY[/YOUTUBE]
note: I think the 2nd vid is country war match

This MMO game is a 4 vs 4 coop battle, room based with map selection and a few game modes options to choose from, so far you need strategy to position your teams and good offense/defense flow to win a battle, vaguely like dota at high level play. I had just started playing this game few days ago so if you are interested to play with me, you are welcome to find me in 朱雀 server under 孫堅's military influence. IGN: 月如 of 吳

site: http://www.musouonline.com.tw

b2evolution

strace — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:27:35 +0800

Has anyone here have tried this blog software? When compared with WP, b2evo actually has more features. Or is there something in WP that I missed?