Taiwan's government spokesman has drawn fire for posting an image of an iPhone 5 on Facebook, along with an appeal to consume more, with angry members of the public asking why he did not urge people to buy home-grown smartphone HTC instead. Hu Yu-wei, who is also the information minister, on Sunday posted a picture of the latest Apple smartphone and a line reading "Bolster consumption and economy," sparking a wave of criticism. In the face of mounting pressure, Hu later posted on his Facebook page another picture of an HTC cellphone which he said was the one he used himself. The iPhone 5 he originally posted belonged to a friend, he said. AFP
China has the world's largest number of microbloggers, said a report on the country's new-media development. The report, published by the Social Sciences Academic Press annually, quoted the China Internet Network Information Centre, which said that about 274 million Chinese had microblog accounts as of June. The number of microbloggers increased sharply from about 63 million in 2010, said the report issued by a team of social sciences experts headed by Yin Yungong, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Xinhua