“This partnership is an extension of Sina’s pursuit to provide the best quality content and services to high-end Internet users in China by co- operating with industry leaders in vertical areas,” said Charles Chao, president and CEO of Sina. “E-House not only brings to the partnership an expansive database of localized real estate data, a must-have for anyone considering a real estate transaction in China, but also lends valuable industry insights and a nationwide network of real estate developers that will be instrumental in building the largest real estate portal in China.”

Sina is spinning off its real estate channel and home decoration channel and contributing the related online advertising business into the new company, while E-House is providing exclusive license of its proprietary CRIC database to the new company and will develop certain online products and related fee-based services for the new company. Sina is the majority shareholder of the new company, though neither side has stated the exact composition of those shares.

Xin Zhou, CEO of E-House, said, “Our joint venture with Sina represents an important step to realize the commercial potentials of the database and will allow millions of real estate consumers in China easy and immediate access to valuable information. Partnering with an Internet leader like Sina is clearly a winning choice, as Sina can provide an existing, strong footprint in China’s real estate industry as well as unmatched brand recognition, huge portal traffic and high-end user base.”

Source : Chinatechnews

This is the first time that Google has come into China’s online music market. Google will offer online trial listening and downloading of music provided by top100.cn, an online music website established by basketball star Yao Ming, Yao’s agent Zhang Mingji and music professional Cheng Ge.

Google is also said to provide songs of over a dozen music companies and it will also try to win some income from the service through advertising.

Music search is one of the most successful businesses for Baidu.com which has accounted for 60% of the market share in China. Google has been seeking cooperation with local companies on the related service to make a breakthrough in the field.

Source : Chinatechnews

Baidu announced its intentions to enter the Japanese search market in December 2006 and began server testing in Japan in March 2007.

‘Japan is one of the world’s most connected societies, and we have already seen positive reception from local users using our beta website,’ said Masuda Jun, vice president of Baidu’s Japanese subsidiary, in a press statement. ‘Following the formal launch of our Japan site, we expect to see even greater user reception to the four different Japanese language services we will offer, including web search, image search, video search and blog search services.’

Source : Chinatechnews

VODone Telemedia, VODone’s local partner, will provide Tencent official video clips and other content such as articles, photos and promotion materials relating to the show for broadcasting on the Internet. Tencent agreed to set up the Water Margin theme webpage, posting different types of information including the synopsis of the TV series.

According to the terms of the agreement with Baidu, the Chinese search engine will launch a theme webpage to document all relevant news and events about the show and the TV series.

‘We are proud to be joining hands with different media to produce this casting polling show and TV series and we believe the potential business impact to the company is tremendous,’ said an official at VODone in a press release. ‘Through these events, on top of being able to derive substantial sponsorship revenue as well as generate direct revenue from polling via internet and mobile phones, the much enhanced brand profile will increase web traffic and page view and in turn, help our core internet advertising business.’

Source : Chinatechnews

‘We are all completely shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic news,’ said Robin Li, Baidu’s chairman and CEO, in a prepared statement. ‘Shawn’s leadership and vision helped transform Baidu into a leading US public company, and his presence will be greatly missed. Shawn was not only a tremendous leader within our company, but also a wonderful friend to us all. We extend our deepest sympathy and most sincere condolences to Shawn’s family.’

The company says Wang’s duties will be assumed on an interim basis by the senior management team, including the senior finance personnel, until a successor is appointed.

Wang joined Baidu as its chief financial officer in September 2004, helping lead the company through its successful initial public offering on NASDAQ in August 2005.

Source : Chinatechnews

With the development of Chinese innovations and the increasing of the country’s economic power, the number of patent application has also increased. According to the statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office, by November 2007, the total number of patent applications received was almost 4 million, including invention patents, practical new patents and exterior design patents.

As the most popular Chinese search engine in the world, Baidu reportedly receives millions of searches from nations around the world and this new patent search service will assist researchers outside of China to check on issues in the Middle Kingdom.

Through this cooperation, netizens can receive patent information through Baidu quickly and conveniently. It is not only convenient for netizens to search for patent technology and relative laws, but also gives unprecedented support to increase Chinese enterprises’ competitive strength.

Source : Chinatechnews

Baidu’s spokesperson says that the main topics that Baidu and Intel are working on right now is how to make preparations for the application environment of next generation Internet search. In addition, after adopting a new server and solution, Baidu will be able to save 35 million kilowatts of electricity in the coming year, which means a savings of up to 20000 tons of coal, 140 million liters of water, and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 35000 tons.

The lab’s engineer team will consist of members from both Baidu and Intel and more information should be available in the coming weeks.

Source : Chinatechnews

The new beta search engine features an upgraded function of the webpage search, image search, blog search and desktop dictionary in the original beta, and it is expected to be one of the core businesses of Netease.com and provide better search experience for Chinese Internet users.

Following the launch of the new beta, Netease.com has also adjusted the homepage of its website and made the search button more prominent on the page so as to facilitate users’ use of the service. In the meantime, it has also released the test beta of two brand new products of news search and ‘You Dao Read’, an online RSS reader.

Netease launched the test beta of You Dao at the end of 2006. At present, the search engine has such services as webpage search, blog search, image search, desktop dictionary and a downloadable browser toolbar.

Source : Chinatechnews

The Chinese version of the Firefox browser had actually been embedded Baidu’s search engine in the past, but the establishment of the formal partnership between the parties this time will make the existing cooperation clearer and enable Foxfire users to use Baidu’s search service more conveniently.

Mozilla Online’s cooperation with other Internet companies like Google and Yahoo! seems to bring good benefits to Internet users as it provides a convenient way to choose and use these various search engines. By combining the advantages of Firefox with that of Baidu’s Chinese search engine technology, they will thus provide better service for Chinese users.

Source : Chinatechnews

A Baidu search for a brand name that subscribes to Baidu’s Brand-Link will generate a wide range of brand-related specific content, including news reports, promotional announcements, product information and marketing campaigns. Baidu expects this product to generate increasing traffic and enhance brand recognition for its online marketing customers.

“Baidu’s new Brand-Link demonstrates that an innovative search engine can become an increasingly important channel for showcasing brand images,” said Haoyu Shen, Baidu’s VP of Business Operations. “Baidu’s cutting-edge technology and focus on understanding our users allow us to develop the most efficient and relevant advertising products for our expanding base of brand advertisers. We believe that our innovative integration of search and brand advertising will provide an effective marketing means for our customers.”

The company has not provided a specific date on when this service will be available.

Source : Chinatechnews