Chinese Counterfeiters Release First Android Tablet, article.
Priced at $150, the Android tablet is haphazardly labeled “MINI iPadⅡ8 Inch Android1.6 Ebook Tablet PC UMPC MID Netbook.” According to the product description, it features an 8-inch touchscreen, Ethernet and Wi-FI connectivity, a USB port, 88MB of built-in storage (expandable to 16GB with a TF card) and an 800-MHz VIA processor.
Holy knock-off, Batman, that is cheap at the price!!
Like the article says, China has a huge business in cheap knock-offs. Of everything. Also fine art. My friend, professional sculpturist Victor Issa, who did the Domai figurine, is at his wits end, because the Chinese make copies of his sculptures but use inferior materilals and dirt-cheap labor, and can sell them at a third of his prices.
9 comments:
Yes, the Chinese. Those bumbling, Pentax around their necks, look-alike droids that we showed around in our manufacturing facilities, steel mills, and technology facilities are ONLY ONLY ONLY able to copy.
They neither have a mind of their own, nor do they possess the mental capacity to actually create anything.
Well, they're good at standing in rice fields; I'll give them that.
Contribution to global intellect and society: zero. Call me racist. But it's the truth. Proven time and time again.
Well, it's been said that they invented gun powder. And paper.
They shoot Pentax!?!?!?
But back to the knock-off: Even a cheap Chinese knock-off iPad comes with a USB port.
Just sayin'...
"inferior materilals" ?
Hey Mr.Writer, get your spell-checker...
Have you seen the cars they manufacture, particularly at the high end of the range? 'knock-off' Rollers, no less! :-)
Yep, you're definitely racist.
Well, it's been said that they invented gun powder. And paper.
Yep. And lots of other things. Strangely, they never managed glass.
Most of them are just not fully in touch with reality. I've seen it here in the West, as well as over there in China. So they invented gun powder and paper? The Germans invented everything else though.
"They neither have a mind of their own, nor do they possess the mental capacity to actually create anything."
You tell 'em!
BTW, remind me: from whom did they steal the compass, wheelbarrow, stirrup, paper and paper currency, ink, printing, porcelain, gunpowder, fireworks and cannonballs, landmines, decimal fractions, negative numbers, spaghetti, belt drive, chain drive, toothbrush, chromium, crossbow, dominoes, fishing reel, Cardan suspension, vaccination, kite, matchstick, pinhole camera, playing cards, puppet theater, raised-relief map, restaurant menu, aerodynamic wing, rotary fan, rudder, seismometer, tea, and most importantly, TOILET PAPER?
There's an episode in the series Ranma 1/2 titled "Copycat Ken". This guy shows up one day, and he manages to beat every character in the cast, by challenging them one after another, because he's able to at once take their appearancee and beat them using their own trademark fighting techniques. Imitation. Ranma eventually defeats him with a technique that requires not only skill, but fighting spirit, in which our gender-shifting hot-head is without equal. Ranma then calls Ken a sorry loser with no technique of his own. Deeply offended, Ken replies that perfect imitation IS his technique, and demonstrates something which is fully his and orriginal: changing into the appearance of other people, in a heartbeat, and "I can keep this going non-stop for HOURS!".
Mimetism is one of Nature's most fascinating wonders. The "models", if upset, must adapt, instead of simply criticizing.
Lebanon's best quality copied PlayStation2 videogames (alas, today this console is officially defunct) came from Malaysia. They were practically BETTER than the originals: work just the same, and top quality disc appearance, but without these endless insufferable anti-piracy warnings (which only serve to infuriate the honest buyers, how stupid is that?).
BTW, "genuine" videogames are sold here at Virgin's between 2 and 4 times what they would cost in the West. Talk about greed killing the golden egg goose! ):-P
Samely, prices of toys (worldwide) seem to have soared, about 50% in the last coouple of years. Any wonder why knock-offs, sometimes of very good quality, are so successful here? They're WITHIN REACH of the general population!!!
I've got kids at home, who tend to ruin all their toys, whatever their origins. The boy's Franklin the Turtle action figure lost an arm to loan sharks, who also busted both knees to his little sister as a "message". These were top-quality originals! For the Power Rangers, I chose to buy them cheap chinese knock-offs. The end result is the same, they don't last noticeably shorter, and I weep less at the wasted cash....
You do the math:
- Original Power Ranger figure: $19
- Batch of five knock-offs: $8
That's more than 10 times cheaper... and they're ALL manufactured in China!!! I don't thing the slant-eyed dudes are entirely to blame for that discrepancy.
Nowadays, "Made in China" is no more a sure synonym of "cheap worthless junk". (Junk: pun intended! :-) Same as Japanese electronics!
Not to advocate stealing people's ideas or claim it's fully okay, but there's a role for everyone in Nature, including saprophytes, necrophages and coprophages (which ARE very useful, in fact vital). Very often, everybody bears a part of responsibility. Don't you think your mere Western wealth is a hurtful taunt to those who remain poor because of the same System that MADE you rich? The U.S.A.: 5% of the global human population, 25% of the resources consumption. Are you SURE, as an American, that you're spotless in the big picture? That Bin Laden's accusations of arrogance, albeit badly biased and psycho, are COMPLETELY unfounded?
Nowadays, the Chinese are part of "the problem" on BOTH sides. How many toys are NOT contracted to be made in China?
It's a global problem. Needs more than naive responses and solutions. I wouldn't wager on ONE billionaire in existence being an honest person.
China was a former colony. Today an official superpower. Who would blame them for wanting to preserve that much improved status? Former British colony U.S.A.? Or the previous, now very prosperous, colonial powers?... Exploitation is and always was the surest way to wealth. In Ancient Rome (Greece?), an otherwise very caring and humanitarian philosopher defended slavery, on the logical grounds that the whole System was BULT on unretributed mass-labour.
Uhm... "but things are different today"! Right? :-|
Just some random thoughts to inspire perspective.
If global politics were less of a merciless fight to the death, economy would be less of a lawless jungle. Within the same country, if somebody sells copies of an artwork that YOU made, it is most easy to give them the Man, swiftly and hard. It would be the same internationally, *IF* all countries COOPERATED instead of shooting in each other's legs and gleefully kicking everybody else's shins.
Just one example: Lebanon is a forever subscriber to anarchy and corruption, because every political current is backed by some foreign power or another, ensuring that law, peace and harmony remain completely utopic. Our tiny country's measly problems? They're directly linked to globalization.
And unfortunately, so are (fellow countryman in origin?) Victor Issa's lovely sculptures.
If the beetle's limping, the elephant has something to do with it. Better take notice then: in the Legendary Graveyard, they'll be cleaning your bones, Tantor.
My suggestion to Issa: try to have someone locate the factory in China, and offer them a legitimate contract! "You work for me, use better materials, your workers get better pay, your sales volume benefits from my legitimate reputation, everybody's a winner." Might even affect Vic's production costs enough to dramatically boost his sales! (Let's be honest, his works are not that much within the general public's reach. Awesome, but very expensive.)
Chine is here to last. Can't ignore it. But you and I *can* try the Path of Harmony.
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