EU chief attends China summit

On the eve of the 16th EU China summit, we were caught up with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to find out if the Eurozone is really on the path to recovery and how he hopes to strengthen relations between Europe and China.

"The EU China summits have become increasingly important over the years as a way of not only understanding, but encouraging what has become one of the world’s biggest trade relationships. What are you hoping to achieve at this year’s gathering?" Said Jack Barton.

"I think this summit is very important. It is the first summit where we meet the new leadership even if for instance I have met Premier Li several times before he was premier of China and it is the tenth anniversary of our comprehensive strategic partnership. This summit will be important also because of the general topic Green Growth in a Safer World’. But I see apart from that general topic six important issues we should address in Beijing. First of all to look on the past ten decades to see what will be our relationship and to have this vision in strategic terms. Second to launch the terms of an ambitious investment agreement, thirdly to launch this innovation dialogue , then it is important that we focus on energy security, then what is important as well is the exchange between researchers and students we also now have in the budget the possibility of more exchanges between China and Europe and last but not least what we can do in the international forum, for instance the G20 or the United Nations, for instance at the G20 there is a very good cooperation between the EU and China." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

"You mentioned investment. In the short to medium term is that one area that China and the EU should focus more constructively on because right now it certainly lags well behind trade?" Said Jack Barton.

"Yes it is true there is a huge potential in investment, but if there is progress we believe an ambitious agreement on investment, and agreement that can cover both investment protection and market access can be a very important contribution in this deepening relationship, that is what we are looking at the ambitious agreement and we launched negotiations." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

"We almost saw a trade war at the start of this year. Tension have eased enormously since then but does more need to be done to create perhaps a trade hotline or some sort of mechanism that can help avoid serious trade disputes before they reach boiling point?" Said Jack Barton.

"When the relationship is so intense as it is today and trade volume so high it’s only natural that here and there some problems can come. What I think is important is that when the problems come or we see the problems coming is that we have a mechanism of discussing issues in a cooperative manner giving the first priority our overall strategic partnership as we have done in recent cases and the fact that we were able through negotiations, through the spirit of compromise to solve some of these issues that are natural to happen sometimes is in fact creating a very good precedent for the future." Said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

Source: CCTV

The Guardian Editorial 27th November 2013. Japan and China: collision course

Is it Europe before the first world war or the second? Analysts disagree, but all see the escalation of military threats between the two industrial giants China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea with growing alarm. The latest crisis was caused by China's decision to extend its "air defence identification zone" (ADIZ) over a group of uninhabited islands which Japan calls the Senkakus and China knows as the Diaoyutai. Several overflights later, not least by a pair of US B-52 bombers, and nothing much has changed, except that a hairtrigger that originally was to be measured in hours and governed by the speed of boats, has now become a matter of seconds.

Few can say what prompted the latest Chinese move. This is a time when the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, is attempting to drive major economic reform and the announcement may be a sop to the military, when its voice in the national debate could be weakening. It is hard to avoid the conclusion, though, that the declaration was a way of testing the waters for a reaction – which they duly got. The state-run China Daily accused Japan and the US of overreacting, saying that if the world's sole superpower needed multiple ADIZs to fend off perceived threats, China should be allowed theirs. Besides, they claimed the measure was not targeted at any particular country.

This is not how it is seen in Japan, which has witnessed a growing number of confrontations, or "incidents", over islands in which Beijing showed little interest for much of the last decade. For Japan, the dispute over the islands is part of a major naval push to extend China's maritime influence beyond the first island chain of the Pacific. China claims the status quo was changed by Japan's decision to nationalise the islands. What they don't want to admit is that this was done to stop the islands being used by Japanese nationalists on madcap flag waving stunts.

The land to which the islands are closest is neither Japan nor China, but Taiwan – with which Tokyo has few problems. Last year Taiwan showed the way out of these disputes by signing an agreement with Tokyo which sidestepped the issue of sovereignty and divided the fisheries to mutual benefit. This model, first applied in the North Sea, is the only rational way out of these disputes – although it is not one that Britain is particularly keen on applying to the Falklands. China and Japan agreed in 2008 to co-operate on the joint development of the East China Sea. Further talks have never been pursued and, to date, not even a hotline exists between the two powers to avert another incident in the sea or in the air. It is time for people in China and Japan to turn down the volume of simplistic nationalist rhetoric and to pursue pragmatic dialogue.

Is Shinzo Abe's 'new nationalism' a throwback to Japanese imperialism?

The deepening confrontation between Japan and its giant neighbour, China, over a disputed island chain, which this week sucked in US military forces flying B-52 bombers, holds no terrors for Kenji Fujii, captain of the crack Japanese destroyer JS Murasame.

As a battleship-grey drizzle sweeps across Yokosuka harbour, home port to the Japan maritime self-defence force and the US Seventh Fleet, Fujii stands four-square on his helicopter deck, a totemic red Japanese sun-ray ensign flapping at the flagstaff behind him. His stance exudes quiet purposefulness.

The Murasame, armed with advanced missiles, torpedoes, a 76mm rapid-fire turret cannon and a vicious-looking Phalanx close-in-weapons-system (CIWS) Gatling gun, is on the frontline of Japan's escalating standoff with China and its contentious bid to stand up for itself and become a power in the world once again. And Fujii clearly relishes his role in the drama.

Asked whether he will be taking his ship south, to the hotly disputed waters off the Senkaku islands in the East China sea (which China calls the Diaoyu and claims as its own), Fujii smiles and bows. His executive officer, acting as translator, explains that "for security and operational reasons" the captain cannot comment. The situation there is just too sensitive.

The name Murasame means "passing shower". But Japan's decision last year to in effect nationalise some of the privately owned Senkakus - officials prefer to call it a transfer of property rights - triggered a prolonged storm of protest from China, which has been sending ships to challenge the Japanese coastguard ever since.

Source: theguardian

Japan, U.S. conduct joint naval drills near Okinawa

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Thursday it has conducted joint drills with the U.S. Navy in the Western Pacific near Okinawa Prefecture's main island.

The operation-oriented drills were held between Nov. 16 and Thursday with some 15 destroyers and 50 planes from the MSDF taking part, at a time when China's military presence in the East China Sea is growing.

Source:  Jiji Press

Japan to consider stripping Tibor supervision from banks

An advisory panel set up by Japan's financial regulator will consider stripping oversight for setting Tibor, the yen benchmark interest rate, from the banking group now responsible for its administration, said people with knowledge of the potential supervisory overhaul.

The move would bring oversight of the Tokyo interbank offered rate closer into line with that of Libor, following sweeping reforms of the London benchmark triggered by revelations that major banks had manipulated it to profit from related trades or to misrepresent borrowing costs.

Some in financial markets had raised questions as to whether Tibor had also been manipulated since the rates quoted in Tokyo for 3-month borrowing and those quoted for Libor diverged from 2009 after a decade of moving in near lockstep.

But an investigation by the Japan Bankers Association, which has oversight of Tibor, found no evidence that Tibor benchmarks had been manipulated.

Japan's Financial Services Agency, the country's main financial watchdog, announced this week that it had convened a 12-member advisory panel to study Tibor and other financial indicators. The panel, which is headed by Keio University economics professor Kazuhito Ikeo, will meet for the first time on Thursday and aims to complete its review by March.

One of the proposals the advisory panel will study is whether to shift responsibility for oversight of Tibor from the Japan Bankers Association to the FSA, or another independent body, according to people with knowledge of the preparations.

Source: Reuters

Court voids poll in western Japan constituency on vote disparity

The Hiroshima High Court ruled Thursday that the outcome of a western Japan constituency in July's House of Councillors election should be invalidated due to an unconstitutional disparity in the weight of votes.

The decision by the court's Okayama branch is the first ruling among 14 similar lawsuits filed with high courts across Japan by groups of lawyers, who have argued the disparity up to 4.77-fold in the July 21 upper house election is against the equal-protection clause under the Constitution, thus the election should be invalid.The Supreme Court ruled in October last year that the maximum fivefold disparity in the weight of votes in the 2010 upper house election was "in a state of unconstitutionality."

Source:  NewsOnJapan

Forty percent of Yamato offices violate delivery rules

Japan's Yamato Transport Co. said Thursday that some 40 pct of its parcel delivery footholds have violated handling rules for chilled and frozen parcels.

The major parcel delivery company's in-house investigation found that at least one rule violation was done at a total of 1,522 offices nationwide. Of them, staff at 253 offices were continually breaching the rules, the company said.

To clarify the management team's responsibility, a total 15 top officials were punished, with the president's salaries cut by 10 pct for six months。

Source: NewsOnJapan

Laox opens large duty-free shop in Ginza,Japan.

Electronics retailer Laox has opened a large duty-free store in an upscale shopping district in Tokyo amid a rise in the number of visitors to Japan.
The store in Ginza opened its doors on Thursday. It has a floor space of 880 square meters.
Shoppers can choose from a wide range of electronics and other products popular with tourists.

Among the latest home appliances on offer are rice cookers and air filtration devices.

Traditional Japanese products, such as Nanbu Tekki ironware and Kiyomizu Yaki ceramics, are also available.

Source: NewsOnJapan

U.S. affirms support for Japan in islands dispute with China

The United States pledged support for ally Japan on Wednesday in a growing dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea and senior U.S. administration officials accused Beijing of behavior that had unsettled its neighbors.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured his Japanese counterpart in a phone call that the two nations' defense pact covered the small islands where China established a new airspace defense zone last week and commended Tokyo "for exercising appropriate restraint," a Pentagon spokesman said.China's declaration raised the stakes in a territorial standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the area, which includes the tiny uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
The United States defied China's demand that airplanes flying near the islands identify themselves to Chinese authorities, flying two unarmed B-52 bombers over the islands on Tuesday without informing Beijing.
It was a sharp reminder to China that the United States still maintains a large military presence in the region despite concerns among U.S. allies that President Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia" strategy has borne little fruit.

Source:NewsOnJapan

Japan's October industrial output up 0.5 pct

Japan's industrial output rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in October from the previous month for the second straight monthly growth, according to the government on Friday.

The index of output at factories and mines stood at 98.8 against the base of 100 for 2010, said Japan's economy ministry in a preliminary report.

The index of industrial shipments increased by 1.8 percent to 98.6, while that of investors dropped 0.5 percent to 107.8.

Source: Xinhua

Xi underlines morality during Confucius site visits

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for morality to be developed across society, building on what is useful in traditional moral standards and discarding what is unhealthy.

Xi made the remarks on a just-concluded five-day tour of east China's Shandong Province during which he visited Qufu City, which lies near the birthplace of ancient philosopher Confucius, or Kong Zi. His teachings centered on peace and social harmony.

Xi visited the Confucius mansion, the residence of descendants of Confucius, and the Confucius Research Institute as part of a tour which ended on Thursday.

The development and prosperity of Chinese culture is one of the preconditions for China's great rejuvenation. The moral standards passed on by forefathers should be inherited, adapting ancient forms for present-day use and weeding through the old to bring out the new, he said.

The president called for morality to be promoted among the people, cultivating moral judgement and sense of responsibility, and enhancing their abilities to practice morality.

People should be led to pursue lives where moral standards are valued, respected and abided by, he urged.

"Our nation will be full of hope as long as the Chinese pursuit of a beautiful and lofty moral realm continues from generation to generation," according to Xi.
Source: Xinhua

WSJ: China's Credit Levels Echo U.S. Crisis

  According to an article published on the Wall Street Journal,"investors have made billions betting against economies in which debt is rising and home prices are soaring. They have had particular success targeting the banks that fund these booms".

Right now, their target is China. Some compare China to the U.S. in 2007. Others cite Japan before the 1989 real-estate bust. China bulls acknowledge the risks but say the government has the money and expertise to defuse the problems.

"In the Western case, the official response was denial or complete ignorance," says Mr. Magnus a senior independent economic adviser to Swiss bank UBS AG. In China, where the central government controls the economy and policy makers witnessed the U.S. bust, Beijing "will be able to respond in ways we [in the West] weren't capable of. But it doesn't mean it won't be painless," he says.

China's corporate and household credit has risen quickly, from around 120% of gross domestic product in 2008 to more than 170% today, according to Bank for International Settlements data, which does not include debts owed by financial companies.

The U.S. in its credit boom rose from 143% in 2001 to 177% in 2008. Japan had a similar run up in the decade before 1989. Economists say quick jumps in debt—rather than absolute levels—are the determinants of future crises.

One key area of concern is China's banks. As in the U.S., much of their loan growth in recent years has been off-balance-sheet. In China's case, it has been wealth-management products and other devices that allowed banks to keep lending even despite regulators' efforts to slow things down.

Much of this shadow-banking growth is being monitored by regulators. "The shadow-banking thing has been both known and blessed for a time," says Jaspal Bindra, Asia chief executive for U.K.-based, emerging-markets-focused bank Standard Chartered. "Then I think they decided that people have taken it to a point where it's been abused."

In June, a credit crunch hit China's banking system, reviving fears that the kind of credit market paralysis that hit the U.S. in 2008 and 2009 could wreak havoc on the financial system. The squeeze was engineered by the central bank to rein in what it saw as out-of-control credit growth driven by the country's shadow-banking system. While the credit squeeze caused turmoil, it eased once the central bank let the cash flow again. It was also a sign regulators are aware of the problems in the system.

Another difference: America's bubble originated in home mortgages. China's house-buying frenzy has been financed mostly with cash. The big debt growth has been to developers, companies and local governments, some of whom have implicit backing from the state.

In Japan, "no systemic financial crisis occurred, but financial stress was hidden," writes Haibin Zhu, J.P. Morgan's chief China economist. Banks refinanced loans even though there was little prospect the beleaguered corporate borrowers would pay them off in the end. This led to "zombie companies and zombie banks" and little new investment in the economy.

He worries that without reforming the banking and corporate sector, China could put off a restructuring of debts needed to cleanse the economy. "The consequences could be more severe for China," he says. "China is not as wealthy as Japan was and so would not be able to sustain as much stress."

China. Designer: moon rover uses cutting-edge technology

China's third lunar probe, the Chang'E Three is set to launch in early December.

In recent years, China has made considerable progress in its space program. In June, three Chinese astronauts spent 15 days in orbit. And this time the country will send a rover to the moon.

A monumental project like the Chang'E Three requires time, money, and people. Han Bin, the Deputy Chief Designer of China's first lunar Rover, says the moon rover marks another breakthrough for China's space exploration.

Noting can hide Jia Yang's pride.

He's the deputy Chief designer of China's first lunar rover, named the "Jade Rabbit". He's been working on it for some ten years.

The moon rover is China's most advanced robot with complete automatic navigation and operation. For Jia Yang, China's third lunar probe is a great leap forward in space exploration.

"China started four decades late in the lunar project, yet the rover design is not a simple copy of advanced nations. It combines an integration of modern technologies of electronics, machinery, and thermal control," Jia says.

The dream of flying to the moon has deep roots in Chinese culture. According to legend, the fairy Chang'E drank a magic potion that gave her the ability to fly there. The dream has already come true for US and Russian astronauts. But it might take China at least another decade.

China has a moon rock at the Beijing Planetarium, a gift from former US President Jimmy Carter. The Chang'E lunar project is also aimed at bringing back materials from the moon in the future.

"China's lunar project will help accumulate experience and technology, which will be crucial for future projects. Making a soft landing and moon rover is a practical step for the long journey of China's space exploration," Jia says.

This is just a mini model of the rover. If all goes well, Jia Yang and the world will see the real rover on the moon, from the pictures taken and sent back from the Lander.

Jia Yang's dream is to see the "Jade Rabbit" running on the moon. He also believes the country will go beyond the moon, to Mars and other celestial bodies.

This mission shows China's resolve to bridge the gap with other space going nations. The Chang’e-3 is just one more example of the country's increasing technological capabilities. For scientists, like Jia Yang, the next part of the space dream could be clear, sending astronauts to the moon.

Droni e supercannoni, l’arsenale della Cina

Giovedì ha volato per la prima volta un drone con motore a getto e tecnologia stealth made in China. Si chiama Lijian: Spada affilata. Verrà usato in operazioni antiterrorismo, ricognizione, combattimento, dice la stampa cinese. La tecnologia stealth (furtiva o invisibile) permette di sfuggire ai radar.
Un apparecchio senza pilota che secondo gli esperti occidentali somiglia nel disegno alle ali a forma di pipistrello dell’RQ-170 Sentinel, prodotto dalla Lockheed Martin e impiegato dagli americani fin dal 2007. La tecnologia bellica cinese è all’inseguimento. Ma si è avvicinata: l’Esercito popolare di liberazione ha già sviluppato piccoli droni per uso tattico e corto raggio e altri apparecchi senza pilota che somigliano in modo impressionante agli americani Reaper e Predator, usati nella caccia ai terroristi di Al Qaeda dal Medio Oriente al Pakistan e all’Afghanistan.
Anche i cinesi sono in grado di armare i loro droni: recentemente un alto ufficiale dell’ufficio antidroga ha detto al Quotidiano del Popolo che l’uso di un drone è stato preso in considerazione per eliminare un trafficante birmano che si nascondeva nella foresta di Myanmar ed era ricercato per l’uccisione di 13 marinai di un peschereccio cinese. Il narcotrafficante fu poi arrestato e giustiziato dopo un processo.
Un altro impiego dei droni è la ricognizione aerea e Pechino potrebbe inviarli anche a pattugliare la zona delle isole Diaoyu/Senkaku, controllate dal Giappone. Tokyo, che chiama le isole Senkaku, minaccia di aprire il fuoco sugli apparecchi che violano lo spazio aereo. Pechino, che le chiama Diaoyu, replica che l’abbattimento di un velivolo, anche senza pilota come un drone, «sarebbe un atto di guerra».
L’intelligence occidentale ha appena scoperto un altro progetto cinese. Le foto di un satellite mostrano due super-cannoni con canne lunghe 24 e 33 metri nel poligono di Baotou, nel deserto della Mongolia. L’interesse degli analisti militari occidentali era stato destato dalle grandi piazzuole in cemento individuate nel 2011: di fronte erano stati collocati dei bersagli. In seguito ci sono stati montati i due supercannoni. Nome in codice Xianfeng: Pioniere.
La Cina ha lavorato a pezzi d’artiglieria di grande calibro e lunga gittata dagli anni Settanta. Poi apparentemente abbandonò il progetto. Per riprenderlo negli anni Novanta, contemporaneamente all’Iraq di Saddam Hussein. E i due Paesi, secondo l’intelligence, avevano in comune anche l’ingegnere: Gerald Bull.
Il supercannone iracheno di Bull, chiamato Progetto Babilonia, era lungo 45 metri e teoricamente avrebbe potuto fare un fuoco di sbarramento sui satelliti.
Secondo gli analisti di Jane’s Defence, non è probabile che i cinesi pensino ai satelliti come bersaglio del loro Pioniere: hanno missili balistici per questo. Potrebbe trattarsi di un supercannone ferroviario, sul tipo della Grande Berta dei tedeschi. O di un congegno per sperimentare nuovi proiettili d’artiglieria.
Questa ricerca militare estrema si inserisce nella corsa al riarmo cinese, nel confronto con il Giappone per le Diaoyu/Senkaku, e con la Settima Flotta americana per le rotte del Mar della Cina. Per sconsigliare la US Navy dall’avvicinarsi troppo, l’Esercito popolare di liberazione ha anche provato un nuovo missile ammazza-portaerei: si chiama Dongfeng: Vento dell’Est. Duemila chilometri di gittata. Lo hanno provato nel deserto del Gobi su un bersaglio disegnato nella sabbia che simulava la sagoma di una portaerei americana. Con successo, come provano i grandi fori nella sabbia all’interno della sagoma.
Corriere della Sera

TC Cribs: Inside SoundCloud, The Berlin-Based Startup Fueled By Music

Berlin is buzzing with entrepreneurial energy at the moment, and SoundCloud is one of the companies that has emerged as an anchor to the city's growing tech startup scene. 

SoundCloud has grown significantly since its debut in 2007, and now its service boasts more than 250 million active listeners around the world. Its staff has grown quite a bit too, as you'll see by the density at its current headquarters (the company, which has satellite offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Bulgaria, is set to move to a new larger Berlin office next year.) For now, though, the close quarters make for an exciting collaborative vibe - and being that most SoundCloud staffers are music buffs or musicians themselves, there's a lot of creativity in the air in addition to the tech.

Source: techcrunch

Immobili, torna di moda la nuda proprietà Annunci di vendita su del 22% in 3anni

Un tempo era una formula di vendita a cui pochi pensavano, magari per godersi in serenità gli anni della pensione. Oggi invece la nuda proprietà è una realtà importante nel mercato immobiliare, arrivata nel 2013 a rappresentare nelle grandi città lo 0,7% dell’offerta totale: una crescita che arriva fino al 21,9% in 36 mesi. Secondo l’analisi svolta dall’ Ufficio Studi di Immobiliare.It Torino è il capoluogo in cui questo fenomeno è aumentato maggiormente, ma l’incremento è a doppia cifra in tutte le città prese a campione. «Senza alcun dubbio la crisi di liquidità è una delle ragioni principali di questo fenomeno - spiega Carlo Giordano, amministratore delegato di Immobiliare.It - e la prova è che l’offerta di nuda proprietà, vale a dire la vendita dell’immobile disgiunta dalla possibilità di usufrutto dello stesso, è presente anche al di fuori delle grandi città, in modo equivalente rispetto all’offerta di vendita». Scorrendo i numeri dell’indagine si evidenzia come, dal 2010 ad oggi, l’offerta sia aumentata del 20,3% a Roma, del 18,7% a Milano, del 17,4% a Firenze e del 15,5% a Genova. Solo a Napoli la percentuale supera appena il 10% attestandosi all’ 11,1% ed evidenziando come nel meridione, dove la casa ha una centralità maggiore nella vita degli individui, la vendita in nuda proprietà sia ancora un tabù difficile da far tramontare.

LA TIPOLOGIA - La tipologia di immobile venduto in nuda proprietà si trova, solitamente, in stabili di tipo economico e in zone semi centrali o di prima periferia, e il valore della proprietà ceduta oscilla tra i 142.000 di Napoli e i 228.000 euro di Roma; la diminuzione generale dei valori di mercato ha avuto un effetto anche su queste vendite, rendendo più esiguo, rispetto al passato, per l’acquirente il vantaggio rispetto all’acquisto di un immobile equivalente in vendita con formula classica. Gli sconti, comunque, rimangono importanti e se chi compra una nuda proprietà a Milano risparmia circa il 24% del prezzo di mercato, chi fa lo stesso acquisto a Napoli riesce a spendere quasi il 35% in meno. Si trovano nel mezzo i risparmi di Roma (24,7%), Genova (25,6%), Torino (26,6%) e Firenze (31,1%). In un confronto con il 2010 la domanda, che essendo guidata principalmente da un’ottica ottica di investimento si concentra pressoché esclusivamente (97%) nelle grandi città, è rimasta stabile, a causa del bilanciamento fra l’aumento dell’offerta, e quindi dell’opportunità di acquisto, e la ridotta intenzione all’investimento in Italia. Infine una curiosità: se esiste un mercato dove la nuda proprietà gode ottima salute è quello delle Costa Azzurra. In questa area, dove l’investimento ha già dimostrato la propria redditività, le vendite con la formula della nuda proprietà rappresentano il 3,5% del totale e, a parità di offerta, la domanda è aumentata dell’11% in tre anni.

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IBM Thanksgiving Day U.S. Sales Data Shows 22% Of Online Transactions Made On Mobile, With Average Order $132

It's Thanksgiving, and IBM, is once again tracking how U.S. consumers are taking to the web to kick off holiday season shopping. Early indications are that this year once again shows growth, but less than in 2012. Overall, Thanksgiving online sales are up 9% over last year. On the same day in 2012, they were up by over 14%. The average value of an online order is down slightly, too. IBM tells me it is $132.13 so far for today; in 2012, it was $132.57.

IBM says its numbers come from tracking millions of transactions from 800 retailers online in real time.

IBM's results indicate that newer platforms like mobile are getting ever more popular: mobile accounted for over 35% of all online traffic, up almost 30% compared to 2012.

Source: techcrunch

From 1BN To 2BN Users: Mobile Messaging Apps To Get “Mass Adoption” In 2014, Says Ovum

If you thought the hype around mobile messaging apps had reached some pretty crazy heights already - what with SnapChat apparently snubbing cash acquisition offers of $3bn and even $4bn, from Facebook and Google respectively - expect even more craziness next year. A lot more, as usage of over-the-top messaging services reaches an “inflection point”, as analyst Ovum puts it in a new report .

Ovum says it expects the number of messages to be “transacted” on social messaging apps like WhatsApp and Line to grow from 27.5 trillion in 2013 to 71.5 trillion by the end of 2014. So that's more than 2.5x in messaging volumes. If one such service, SnapChat grows at a similar rate it could mean its users are receiving more than a billion Snaps daily by the end of next year, up from the 400 million daily they're currently getting. Which (maybe) makes a $3 billion cash offer for an ephemeral messaging app seem a little less crazy. Or not.

The drivers for “social messaging”, as Ovum terms these mobile-first platforms, include the growth of affordable smartphones and access to mobile broadband (in emerging markets), plus large-scale marketing campaigns (Japan's Line does high profile TV advertising campaigns in its priority markets, for instance).

All of which will lead to the “mass adoption” of social messaging services next year, it predicts.

So if you thought the user numbers being bandied around by the likes of WhatsApp (which now hasmorethan350M monthly active users); WeChat (more than  270M MAUs); and Line (300M registered users ) were already pretty impressive, think again. There's still apparently room for growth - a lot of room for a lot more growth, according to Ovum.

The analyst notes that the “cumulative strength of the social messaging industry” has long since crossed the billion-user mark - and it's predicting that, given the current speed of adoption, “we can expect it to cross the 2-billion mark by the end of 2014″.

“Even though social messaging players have been around since 2011, only in 2014 will they become a force to be reckoned with,” the report adds.

Source: techcrunch

Snapchat Gets Its Own Timeline With Snapchat Stories, 24-Hour Photo & Video Tales

A new update for Snapchat that just rolled out adds an option to create Snapchat Stories, a new type of sharing for the temporary social network which allows users to build chains of shared content that can be viewed an unlimited number of times over a 24-hour period. The Stories are shared to all your friends at once, and each piece of content added itself lasts for a full day before disappearing.

This is probably the sort of ‘timeline' equivalent Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel hinted at when he was discussing Snapchat's future .

 It manages to build a more lasting narrative, which provides much better opportunities for brand use in terms of doing things like advertisements, offers and marketing campaigns, too.

To introduce the new Stories feature, Snapchat has also debuted a number of new commercials that advertise the feature, in partnership with bands and musicians. These represent an effort on the part of the company to do more direct marketing, something it hasn't really embraced in the past.

Source: techcrunch

Snapchat: It's a platform where (Kids) can communicate and have fun without any anxiety about the permanence.

Kids are in a petri dish, where their every social post can be scrutinized and used against them. That's why disappearing media startup Snapchat is important, says its investor,Benchmark‘s Bill Gurley. Teens don't want their daily lives permanently recorded. Gurley said at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe in Berlin that Snapchat board member Mitch Lasky's kids tell him they view Facebook like adults view LinkedIn.

It's the lack of this understanding that's led many people to discountSnapchat and deride it as  merely a sexting service. The app lets you send one or a few friends a photo or video that disappears within 10 seconds, making it great for sharing silly shots or a current window into your world.

The kids get it. Founder Evan Spiegel said onstage in September at Disrupt SF that Snapchat now sees 350 million "snaps" (photos and videos) sent every day. That's stunning, especially considering 350 million is the same number of photos Facebook sees uploaded daily.

Gurley went deep to explain why ephemeral messaging is on the rise:

“For kids, the Internet is increasingly becoming a place that you can't share, that you can't have fun, that you can't socialize in the way you want to. I think that's really the essence of Snapchat. It's a platform where they can communicate and have fun without any anxiety about the permanence. You hear about kids not getting jobs because of what's on their Facebook page.”

If you're an adult, you might not want to post your vacation photos to LinkedIn because it could make you look like a slacker. And that's the way some kids feel about sharing photos on Facebook. They'd rather privately share photos that self-destruct so they don't get judged.

Kids want to be kids just like they always have, but now they live in a world of social media. Yes, they can get into trouble by sending inappropriate snaps, like they can get into trouble doing anything on the web. But at least Snapchat affords them a degree of privacy during their formative years when they're expected to make mistakes.

Ephemeral messaging more accurately digitizes many of the ways we interact, like in-person conversation.

Ephemerality Is Here To Stay

This overarching perspective of teens is key to understanding why Snapchat isn't just a feature that Facebook can clone like it tried to with Poke. Its independence and the fact that the whole service is ephemeral is core to its success, and supports Spiegel's decision to refuse acquisition offers from Facebook.

“You Can Beat Global(IT) American Companies,” Says VKontakte Founder Pavel Durov

International startups shouldn't call it quits just because a big American competitor tries to muscle into their homeland, said Pavel Durov on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.

His company, VKontakte, is the top social networking destination in Russia - even bigger than Facebook there. He believes by focusing on “speed, ease of use, and functionality,” you can defeat bloated apps that don't understand how to localize well.

“I think that when you're small, you can be faster,” he said, giving the example of how VKontakte developed its Android app. It was developed by just one guy, who was 17 years old when Durov hired him. That's against a team of hundreds of developers behind Facebook's Android app.

Indeed, even Zuckerberg said, “VKontakte are the international Olympiad computing champions. It's a small team and they did an awesome job of cloning Facebook.” Zuckerberg said VKontakte's home-turf advantages included “less strict content laws” and allowing illegal file downloads.

The Facebook CEO went on, “We have not been able to beat them. We have linear growth there and I'm pretty sure we'll pass them eventually. But it's been almost 10 years and we still have not beat them in Russia.”

Today, Durov said he believes that other European Facebook rivals could have kept up if they didn't lose faith. He said the German rival StudiVZ just sold too early.

Durov said the recent NSA scandals around privacy could give international startups some extra ammunition to fight off American invaders. He argued that the United States' far-reaching surveillance programs could scare people into thinking their data isn't safe with U.S. companies.

Durov explained “These scandals are just another opportunity we have to promote ourselves as a decent alternative.”

Source: techcrunch

The Best And Brightest Startups From Around The World Come Out For Our First Disrupt Europe

The first TechCrunch Disrupt Europe is now in the can. The energy was electric. Every seat was filled. Startup Alley was packed. Pavel Durov stopped by for an unscheduled Fireside Chat with TechCrunch Co-Editor Alexia Tsotsis. Benchmark's Bill Gurley explained Snapchat. And one lucky TechCrunch fan even talked Michael Arrington into an impromptu interview and pitch - an event that has never happened before.

Fifteen startups launched on the Disrupt Europe stage. From enterprise data companies to consumer electronics, the mix ably represented the best of Europe's exploding startup scene. But Germany-based Lock8 won it all and will keep the Disrupt Cup here in Berlin.

If nothing else, Disrupt Europe was a great melting pot of entrepreneurial spirit. Startups from more than 80 countries exhibited their products in front of the international crowd. 

Source: techcrunch

ResearchGate: “Forget About Revenue Until The Network Is Valuable Enough To Command It”

ResearchGate's Ijad Madisch's lifelong ambition of winning a Nobel Prize for changing the way scientific research is undertaken piqued the interest of Valley investors several years ago.

Now with more than $35 million in funding from investors like Bill Gates, Benchmark, Founders Fund and Accel, he's running one of Berlin's flagship startups with 3 million scientists using the site.

It wasn't such an obvious journey. Madisch had been working as a medical doctor in Boston several years ago. He asked for permission to go half-time on being a doctor, so that he could spend the other part of his time working on what would become ResearchGate, a LinkedIn-like social network for scientific researchers.

His manager told him it was a “birdshit” idea and that scientists by nature weren't very social.

“I always was convinced that ResearchGate can change the world,” Madisch said. “The World Wide Web was created to exchange knowledge and now you can buy shoes online, but science is still the same.”

Cohler, who sits on the board, brought experience from his days as an early team member at LinkedIn and Facebook.

One of Cohler's early pieces of advice to Madisch was to forget about revenue until the network was valuable enough to command it.

“We need to really create value for the scientists first. If we succeed with this, then we can start worrying about making money,” Madisch said. “You have to be very brave and experienced to give this advice. I wouldn't have gotten it from any East Coast or German VC investor. And it was the best thing we could have done.”

Madisch said the site, which attracts 1.4 million uploads of papers per month and 1,300 data sets uploaded every few days, had led to a few breakthroughs.

Cohler said that Berlin has many of the right ingredients to be a strong startup hub, with a decent pool of technical talent, a low cost of living and a place at the intersection of technology and many other industries and cultures.

Source: Techcrunch

“The purpose of East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, is to safeguard territorial and airspace security.

China’s defense ministry has been addressing the international reaction to the new East China Sea air defense identification zone.

The ministry says the zone does not signify an expansion of China’s territorial air space but rather it helps to improve effective safeguarding of the area.

The Ministry of National Defense held a press conference on Thursday, in the wake of some strong reaction to the zone from outside China.

More exercises in the East China Sea. More training missions for China’s first aircraft carrier — the Liaoning.

And now, in a bid to strengthen control and monitoring of the area, the People’s Liberation Army is shifting its focus from sea to air.

“The purpose of East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, is to safeguard territorial and airspace security. It’s also a necessary measure to effectively exercise China’s right of self defense,” said Yang Yujun, Spokesman of Chinese Defense Ministry.

China announced its new Air Defense Identification Zone on Saturday. But it overlaps with a similar zone operated by Japan for several decades.

And crucially, both zones cover the disputed Diaoyu islands. The army says the key purpose of the zone is purely to identify foreign aircraft.

“The identification zone is not a territorial airspace. It’s an area demarcated outside territorial airspace, and to establish an early warning mechanism and ensure our air security. It does not mean the expansion of territorial air space; it helps to improve the effectiveness of safeguarding China’s territorial airspace,” said Yang.

The ministry says the new zone is designed to identify, monitor, control and react, based on each situation and any potential threat.

But it IS believed that the new zone provides a legal basis for military activities around the Diaoyu Islands.

The situation over the Diaoyu islands worsened when the Mayor of Tokyo wanted to purchase the islands and unilaterally change the status quo a year ago.

The air defense zone is yet another counter measure taken by China to get better control over the territory. The consequence of this new measure is closely watched by all sides, and tension in the East China Sea could continue to rise in the future.

Source: Xinhua

S. Korean vice defense minister meets senior Chinese military officer

 Third bilateral strategic talks between China and South Korea, in Seoul, capital of South Korea. Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, invited by South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung- joo, paid a five-day visit to Seoul and attended the third bilateral strategic talks between the two sides.

Source: Xinhua