Finnish Customs wants to turn back the tide on Temu
"Chinese shopping platforms fuel a culture of disposable consumption and pose a serious threat to the future of responsibly operating businesses," Elo said in a statement. "It's completely unsustainable — not only for the environment and the climate, but also for workers' rights and consumer safety."
One of the surprising things when I first arrived here in Finland was the prevalence of second hand stores.
It is totally normal for people to buy second hand stuff. That does not align with what Temu and Shein and other brands like these mean to do in this world.
Once inside, customers are further surprised by a vast mirror covering the floor, which doubles the visual effect of this store created for the third millennium. Architect Li Xiang, founder of the X+Living design firm in Shanghai, visitors the impression of entering a rocket, whose speed is represented by the spiral staircase that takes them on a world-spanning trip. As at Hangzhou, Li Xiang divided the Shenzhen store into four distinct sections: a “concept” zone, a “forum,” a more conventional area aimed at children, and finally a conference room for events.
These spaces can be more than stores/libraries. They can be communal spaces.
We need more such spaces!
DeepSeek Writes Less-Secure Code For Groups China Disfavors - Slashdot
DeepSeek did not flat-out refuse to work for any region or cause except for the Islamic State and Falun Gong, which it rejected 61 percent and 45 percent of the time, respectively. Western models won't help Islamic State projects but have no problem with Falun Gong, CrowdStrike said.
It feels critical for each political entity to control both the data and models trained on that data.
China Is Sending Its World-Beating Auto Industry Into a Tailspin - Slashdot
Years of subsidies and other government policies have aimed to make China a global automotive power and the world's electric-vehicle leader. Domestic automakers have achieved those goals and more -- and that's the problem.
A fresh start
Why China Builds Faster Than the Rest of the World by Zeyi Yang
Wang’s argument is based on looking at the professional backgrounds of each country’s elite class. In Washington, most politicians are trained as lawyers, but in Beijing, senior leaders are more often educated in civil or defense engineering. Wang theorizes that the academic subjects political leaders study during their formative years later profoundly shapes their respective governance styles. Lawyers tend to emphasize compliance and patience. Engineers prefer to move fast, build big, and only later contend with the costs.
They made a similar argument in Abundance: How We Build a Better Future.
Record Solar Growth Keeps China's CO2 Falling in First Half of 2025 - Slashdot
The CO2 output of the nation's power sector -- its dominant source of emissions -- fell by 3% in the first half of the year, as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand. The new analysis for Carbon Brief shows that record solar capacity additions are putting China's CO2 emissions on track to fall across 2025 as a whole. Other key findings include: The growth in clean power generation, some 270 terawatt hours (TWh) excluding hydro, significantly outpaced demand growth of 170TWh in the first half of the year. Solar capacity additions set new records due to a rush before a June policy change, with 212 gigawatts (GW) added in the first half of the year.
I had read in a book recently that all developed economies go through a period where they have high pollution and then they come out to a place where things are better.
This gave me hope for India. We are in a growing phase of our economy. We will come out the other side, with a better economy and a better environment.
Chinese ‘Virtual Human’ Salespeople Are Outperforming Their Real Human Counterparts by Jason Koebler
So far, the technology is being used on ecommerce platforms, not social media, meaning the bots are acting “as a sales representative, the same way you’d have a salesperson in a physical store,” he says. “And then you still need influencers advertising outside of the store to bring people to the store.”