Astroturfing, China-Style

Google English: [Review / disassemble] [Review] HKC Q79 explore with one hand sense of freedom – HKC Q79 (QUEST) Unpacking Comment

I had marveled at other forums posts like that. Today, with this post, it dawned on me these posts are astroturfing.

This one is so damn blatant. No regular user would do a stylish background like this for an unboxing post:

That is so obviously staged. And the rest of the photos are so damn good, it’s clearly the work of a professional photographer. So the text has to be from a professional copywriter too.

AnTuTu score fraud, advertorial corruption, and now astroturfing. China is a snake pit of underhanded dealings. No wonder their own tablets don’t sell well domestically!

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Sonostar Announces eInk Smartwatch

Curved 320 x 240 1.73″ eInk touchscreen display with backlight, Bluetooth connection to iOS and Android apps, claims to be on sale now for US$199 — even though there seems to be no way to click through to buy.

I don’t understand the hype for these things. And if this is $199 for a 320 x 240 eInk display, what will be the price of Apple’s rumored iWatch?

The Sonostar site for those interested.

Another Book Publishing Mafia Member Falls

Penguin pays $75 million to settle US eBook price-fixing case ahead of Apple’s June trial

The Attorney General also confirmed the settlement earlier today, noting that the investigations and resulting litigation has recovered in the region of $164 million so far.

Boldfaced emphasis added be me.

One hundred and sixty-four million dollars.

I wonder if that even wipes out the collusive profits they made?

Apple thinks it’s invincible.

But it will fall next.

Why?