In China One in Five Consumers Want a Mac as Their Next PC - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

"China accounted for 16 percent of Apple’s fourth-quarter sales, or about $4.5 billion, making it the company’s second-largest market after the U.S.. So it should come as no surprise to hear that Apple products are particularly well regarded in the country. But to find that positive sentiment for the Mac has elevated it above all comers there is a bit of an eye-opener.

According to Morgan Stanley’s new China PC Survey, 21 percent of consumers considering the purchase of a new PC would like it to be a Mac. That’s more than said the same of Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Sony, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. It’s also significantly more than the Mac’s current market share in the country, which hovers around about 5 percent."
In China One in Five Consumers Want a Mac as Their Next PC - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

Crowds had been lining up for more than 24 hours outside Hong Kong’s flagship Apple store. Below, video of that enormous queue.

China's wasteland of toxic consumer electronics revealed

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Thomas Ricker of engadget writes "Any self-respecting gadget hound knows that China is responsible for packing millions of shipping containers with the consumer electronics we crave. What you may not know is what we ship in return: our waste for recycling. Of growing concern is e-waste, resulting from the deluge of PCs, cellphones, televisions and crapgadgets we churn through at an accelerating clip each year. While domestic recycling programs are good-intentioned, often the most toxic of our e-waste is shipped illegally back to China and boiled down for its precious metals under some of the most crude conditions you can imagine. When faced with the choice of familial poverty or the slow accumulation of poison in their bloodstream (for $8 per day), it's not hard to imagine what many rural Chinese people will choose. So while we give Greenpeace's self-congratulatory promotions and oft-subjective "Guide to Greener Electronics" company ratings the occasional hard time, their attempts to raise e-waste awareness are commendable. Now go ahead, check the video from 60 Minutes' intrepid reporters after the break and let the guilt wash over you."

Click here for the full article and additional disturbing videos

Apple's new 3G iPhone is selling like hot cakes!

The process all started July 10 when you could obtain iPhone Software v2.0 early. I did and I must admit I spent a fair amount of time trying out some of the new features like the Apple iPhone Application Store. However it appears that when everyone started to update their phones firmware from 1.x to 2.x Apples servers were overloaded (iPocalypse) because unlike updates in the past this update requires you to reactivate your iPhone. Even InformationWeek called the new software upgrade really sweet!

I have to say one of my favorite new Applications in the America online instant messenger (a.k.a AIM chat). Because I must admit I am not a fan of SMS texting at all.

Apple fans have been flocking to Apple stores all over the world snapping up the new 3G iPhones. The New York Apple store had over 150 people lined up this morning as early as 5:00 AM.  Buyers have been storming stores in Asia and queues forming in European cities. In New Zealand people queued in freezing temperatures for around 60 hours to be the world's first to buy the iPhone at a minute past midnight on Friday. "Guards in kevlar vests and helmets brandished shotguns and stood guard over 500 devices on sale in Hong Kong, a city that has seen its share of unruly crowds at major product launches." "Softbank Corp, which sells the iPhone in Japan, said over 1,500 people lined up outside its flagship Tokyo store. " 

There is good news from the business front as well because O2 said there's been a lot of interest in the iPhone now that it supports Microsoft Exchange. Yet there are always the iPhone haters and Windows fan boys with us who would complain about any success that Apple might have. The hackers have been rather busy so there are already reports that the iPhone OS 2.0 has been unlocked!

.Mac has also transitioned to MobileMe but not without serious downtime and many users were fuming mad at having the service unusable for over 12 hours.

Updated: Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend" ["'iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. 'It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.'"