IOC gives go-ahead for blogs at Beijing
437940
The International Olympic Committee on  Friday gave the green light to allow blogging at the Olympics  for the first time, issuing guidelines for this August's  Beijing Games.
402433
China is debating whether to relax control of the Internet during the Olympics, allowing access to banned websites such as the BBC, a spokeswoman for the organising committee said Tuesday.
40740
Beijing chief organizer Liu Qi will   back the freedom of media to report "unimpeded" around China   during the 2008 Olympics, Britain's Olympic Minister Tessa   Jowell said on Tuesday.
151130
'Today, the great and handsome government...' Despite scant internet access outside major metropolitan centres, blogging in China is enjoying a boom to match its manufacturing industry.â¦
554437
Foreign media will be free to travel   around China and enjoy uncensored access to the Internet during   the 2008 Beijing Olympics, organizers said on Wednesday.
396607
The eyes of the world are looking towards Beijing for the Olympic Games that will be held here fewer than 11 months from now. But for real China watchers, an event next month will draw much greater attention and have a much greater impact on the country than 16 days of athletics.
711493
Corporate blogging guidelines come down to respect and responsibility.
489694
AUSTRALIA&#39;s Olympic athletes will train and compete regularly in Beijing over the next three years after an historic co-operation agreement was signed today by the Australian and Chinese Olympic Committees.
203369
Starting from this morning, the day after the closing ceremonies of the Athens Olympics, the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics begins.
357963
Olympic Games host Beijing has hit back  at a report on Forbes Magazine's Web site that rated its  airport the second worst in the world in terms of delayed  flights.
256518
(InfoWorld) - When Beijing won the right to host theÂ 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officials promised to use it as a showcase for new technology and China's economic development. But the reality is that while the games will display the world's top athletic talent, it will be using old, mature technologies. A lot of new technologies, and even some mature ones, have already beenÂ cut from the roster. Microsoft Windows Vista, for example, won't be the OS used on any of the PCs responsible for vital functions at the Olympics; its predecessor Windows XP will. WLAN (wireless LAN) didn't make the grade either. All networking for the games will be done by wireline. Officials have even prepared a mobile Web site for the Olympics based on WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), instead of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or 3G (third generation). The site is designed to provide up-to-the-minute scoring information, and it's already online. "We're only using proven technologies at the games," said Hou Xinyi, deputy director of the technology department at the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which has taken the acronym, BOCOG. If China's 3G system is up and running by the end of this year, the official Web site for mobile users will be more useful to people, he added. So far,Â China hasn't said when it will start issuing 3G licenses. The nice thing about WAP is its reliability and usability. Most wireless networks can be used with it, including CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), and most OSes allow people to read information from WAP sites. It's just not as fast as 3G, not by a long shot. But while the technology may be lacking, attendees to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be treated to some spectacular design work. Not only are some of the stadiums being built for the games unique -- and unusual for Beijing -- the torch to be used in the round-the-world relay is also easy on the eyes. And it was developed by a PC vendor, China's own Lenovo Group. Lenovo won the design contest for the 2008 Olympic torch. The company's PC designers came up with a 72 centimeter tall, 985 gram aluminum torch in the shape of an ancient Chinese scroll. The torch is two colors, split in half in the same manner as the Yin-Yang symbol, said Y.J. Yao, a vice president at Lenovo and head of the design teams. The upper half of the torch is silver with cloud designs outlined in red, while the lower half is red, covered by a special paint with a rubbery feel, a no-slip safeguard so runners won't drop it if they're sweating during their 400-meter portion of the global torch run. Originally, the company thought about using a dragon design on the top of the torch, but "the dragon is a symbol for the emperor, not for everyone, so we can't accept the dragon," Yao said. The cloud is for everyone, and represents the coming together of heaven and earth, he added. The name of the torch is the Cloud of Promise. The form of the torch -- the scroll design -- denotes paper, a useful item and a Chinese invention, Yao said. The color was chosen via a survey. "We asked, what color is China? Over 99 percent of respondents said red," Yao said. The color represents fire and warmth, friendliness and luck. People who like pictures of the torch might be interested in buying one of the laptop PCs Lenovo designed using the torch colors and styles. The company plans to auction off 2008 of them online and donate the proceeds to charity. EbayÂ is helping with the auction, but it won't be an eBay URL (uniform resource locator), said Yao. "We have a passion for the Olympic Games," Yao said. "You know, when it's happening in your city, you have a passion for this." The other top Olympic-related design work has gone into the new National Stadium, referred to by many as the Bird's Nest due to its unorthodox construction. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games will take place in the stadium. The exterior of the 91,000 seat stadium resembles a bird's nest, a steel exoskeleton wrapped around the outside of the site. The design is bold, and striking. It's hard to tell how it's going over with local Beijing residents, though. Many complain that there's nothing Chinese about it and one of the best comments this reporter heard on a recent trip to the city was "I guess it will take some getting used to." Beside the Bird's Nest is the National Aquatics Center, where all swimming and water sports events will take place. Based on the geometry of water bubbles and crystals, the center was nicknamed the Water Cube because of the design of its light blue and white outer membrane. The Cloud of Promise, Bird's Nest and Water Cube are all attempts at innovative design. Unfortunately, the technology used at the games won't be quite so bold. Â
650779
The International Olympic Committee gives the green light to blogging by athletes at the Beijing games.
125979
1st Ld: China eases off proposal for real-name registration of bloggers    BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government looks set to back down from its long-held intention to impose strict real-name registration for the country's 20 million bloggers after outcries from the industry.
433613
Yahoo China and MSN China confirmed Friday they had signed a code of conduct for their blogging operations that committed them to protecting the interests of the Chinese state.
163927
International Olympic Committee (IOC)  president Jacques Rogge has praised Athens Games organizers for  setting new standards for 2008 hosts Beijing.
384299
VANCOUVER, British Columbia  - Organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver hope to have a deal with the International Olympic Committee on sharing broadcast revenues by the end of February, officials said on Tuesday.
585893
BEIJING : As the Olympic flame leaves Athens, the eyes of the sporting world are turning towards Beijing. When China hosts the games for the first time in 2008, it will cap an extraordinary 30-year journey