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Tencent's flagship product, QQ Messenger (with a cute penguin logo), is the first introduction to the internet for most Chinese teens. It claims a whopping 523 million active users. Tencent then cross-promotes its other online offerings: QQ Show, QQ Game, QQ Music, QQ Pets, and its social network, Qzone.  

 

Dwelling commencements sky-rocketed a further 15%q/q in 4Q, after bouncing a revised 11%q/q in 3Q (J.P. Morgan +5%). The rise in commencements was led by 'other' residential building (up 19%q/q), although new private sector houses were also very strong (up 13%). The majority of development was concentrated in the Eastern states, with starts increasing by 17% in New South Wales, 16% in Victoria, and 13% in Queensland.  

Electronic Arts delves further into the world of social and online gaming, with a demo last week of the new "Need For Speed World," set to launch this summer. The fact that EA is developing its prized top-selling racing franchise as a mass-multiplayer-online game is another big step for the company here. Last November, EA purchased social game-maker Playfish for about $400 million.

This is one of our first free-to-play games   -John Doyle

 

Officially announced in December last year, the fashionable Samsung Diva S7070 and S5150 have been launched in China, where they should be available starting "early spring" – which is about now. The Diva S7070 is actually called Samsung Diva S7070C in China and it's a touchscreen phone with features that include: 2.8 inch QVGA display, TouchWiz UI, accelerometer, stereo FM radio, and a 3.2MP camera with autofocus and "beauty shot". The Samsung Diva S5150 is a clamshell with a hidden external display,  

They are the online equivalent of crime fiction's cleaners - internet erasers who use their connections to purge mainland cyberspace of negative references to troubled companies. Industry insiders say demand for their services peaks around March 15 - World Consumer Rights Day - each year, with companies keen to cover up substandard products or poor service exposed by the mainland media. Set up as internet public relations firms but operating outside the law, they can make big money.  

 

 

In recent months we have seen several indications of lacklustre growth in Euroland and the news that GDP hardly grew in the last quarter of 2009 was pretty terrifying. If Euroland slides back into a double dip at the current juncture not much can be done. The gas pedal is already at full speed with the loosest monetary and fiscal policy ever.