| China extends ban on animation
Sarft has also increased the daily broadcast ratio to 7:3 for Chinese-made cartoons and foreign product, part of a campaign to "provide a favorable environment for the innovation of China's cartoon industry." Previous restrictions on the denizens of Bikini Bottom and other foreign animated laffers had expanded the output of local content and continuously improved the quality of works, it said. The number of minutes of domestic toons grew 23% last year. As well as following a tight quota system for foreign movies, China introduces regular blackout periods of foreign pics to help boost the domestic industry. Most of the titles are still available in pirate DVD shops, however. Sarft also called for more funding from local broadcasters to buy local product. Last week, China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) called for a ban on ghosts and monsters, or any other skeins that were there "for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror," although it said that hugely popular titles such as "Harry Potter" would not be included in this ban, following an online outpouring of grief.
Defender of the deep
According to legendary underwater photographer and conservationist Bernie Hanby, British Columbia needs a beneficent dictator to prevent further species loss ...Read the full article This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment? Post a comment Skip to the latest comment .
Archive for: February, 2008
Digital Cameras Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives New Ricoh R8 sports wide 7.5x zoom lens in a compact body. Posted in: Digital Cameras [Updated: February 21, 2008 @ 5:28 am] I'm a big fan of extra-wide point-and-shoot cameras so I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at the new Ricoh R8, announced yesterday. Like its predecessor the R7 (which wasn't released in the U.S.), the R8 sports a fairly wide f/3.3-5.2 28mm-200mm-equivalent 7.5x zoom lens. Ricoh only recently re-entered the U.S. camera market with last year's launch of the GR Digital II and won't be shipping the R50 (another wide compact announced yesterday, with a 5x zoom) in the U.S. The R8 utilizes a 10-megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CCD with a CCD Shift Vibration Correction function (read CCD-shift image stabilization).
T-Mobile 2008 Roadmap Calls for 3G, Android
T-Mobile is planning to finally launch their 3G network in the United States some time this summer, finally offering customers a speedier way to get their mobile data. They're a little late to party, seeing how Sprint is already working on some 4G connectivity, but it's good to see T-Mo moving in the right direction. The 3G network for T-Mobile was originally supposed to launch in 2008, but they underwent a series of serious delays that have pushed the deployment to Summer 2008. CEO Hamid Akhavan is confident, though, that the upcoming deployment will bring about a network that is quite "robust". The initial launch will be for major metropolitan areas only, of course, but that's how you build the "best 3G network in the country." In possibly bigger news, T-Mobile also plans on having a Google Android-based handset among their fold by the end of this year.
The Slow Traveller
A trustworthy face is often better than a second-hand opinion on the page. So when we arrived in Antigua, the picturesque former capital of Guatemala, we were happy to take a room in Estella's Guesthouse. We try to support local businesses, and our room was spick, span and even had cute family photos on the shelf. So we paid upfront and nested in for our four-night stay in town. Antigua is dominated by the dark shadows of monstrous volcanoes. The scars of the earthquakes that accompanied previous eruptions are also evident in the shells of shattered churches. So no visit is complete without scaling one of the volcanic peaks for a glimpse of the blood of the Earth, up close and personal. In the village at the base of Mount Pacaya we were met by a mob of kids selling walking sticks.
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