Yahoo! News – The working conditions at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn are notorious here in the U.S., but do Chinese youth have a different opinion of the embattled electronics giant? Possibly: Foxconn is hiring, and Chinese youth are literally lining up around the block to …

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Chinese youth clamor to join Foxconn’s iPhone 5 assembly line
(Yahoo! News)

Yahoo! News – Would you buy a $1,600 Android tablet that doesn’t have any special features compared to other slates half its price? A relatively unknown Chinese manufacturer seems to think people would, and released a tablet called the RedPad — a Honeycomb device specifically …

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RedPad: Android tablet for Chinese politicians that costs twice as much as the iPad
(Yahoo! News)

Yahoo! News – From the time Chinese company In Icons announced its alarmingly realistic Steve Jobs doll, we knew it was a lawsuit waiting to happen. The inevitable threats of legal action claiming violation against a law called Right of Publicity began a few days later. …

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Creepy Steve Jobs action figure gets canceled after all
(Yahoo! News)

Reuters – Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail.

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Alibaba hires U.S. lobbying firm as it eyes Yahoo
(Reuters)

On his second startup out of his incubator  Founder’s Den , serial entrepreneur Jason Johnson is launching the first app out of his new utility app startup BlueSprig . An app for app lovers — and those suffering from app fatigue — AirCover is a security service for both iOS and Android that basically aims to replace another eight apps on your phone. Johnson and Founders Den co-founders Zack Bogue , Micheal Levit and Facebook co-founder Jonathan Abrams have a rule that once a Den team gets larger than six it has to leave Founder’s Den, so the majority of Johnson’s BlueSprig team is run out of Chendong China by Johnson’s partner Hugo Dong. And because of the China connection, Accel-IDG China has put in $10 million into the startup, because it “leverages the best resources of China and Silicon Valley.” (Picture of the Chinese team hard at work, below.) Available in the Android market today, BlueSprig’s AirCover covers a variety of mobile optimizing functionalities provided by standalone apps like ‘Find My Friends,’ ‘Lookout’ and ‘Find my iPhone.’ The ‘Mobile Security’ function protects your phone from malware and spyware. ‘Family Safety,’ like ‘Find My Friends,’ allows you to track family members when you enter in a pin. Like Apple’s iCloud, ‘Cloud Backup’ lets you backup contacts and photos. AirCover’s ‘Device Found’ feature, functions similarly to Find My Phone and allows you to track your phone if lost or stolen. ‘System Tuneup ‘allows you to shut off and wipe apps all at once for better battery performance and on that note ‘Battery Performance’ gives you granular stats on battery life (phone nerds rejoice!) — like how much battery you have left if you want to talk your phone on 3G versus use the Internet on 3G. “I wanted to create a mobile utility app that every device should have,” Johnson tells me, touting BlueSprig’s first venture, “If there’s one app you should have on your phone it’s ours.” In addition to AirCover’s launch, BlueSprig is also releasing system utility tools for the PC JetBoost and JetClean. When asked about future product plans, Johnson said, “I don’t want to overpromise and under deliver. I’d rather just deliver.” AirCover is available for free with a 2GB storage limit, and Johnson plans on monetizng the app by offering a freemium version with more storage among other things. An iOS app (with a little less functionality because of iOS constraints) is also in the works. Johnson hopes to also have the app on Windows Phone 7 soon after that. Click to view slideshow.

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With A Crisp $10M In His Pockets, ‘Founder’s Den’ Founder Launches Security App ‘AirCover’

Matrix Partners and WI Harper Group , a Chinese VC, this morning announced that they’ve pumped $12.5 million into SNS Plus , an international publisher and distributor of games with a focus on the Asian market. As of June 2011, the company has published more than 60 games on Facebook, and more than 15 games on other platforms such as Zingme, iOS, Friendster and more. SNS Plus, which was founded in 2009, boasts offices in China, Taiwan, and Thailand. Its specialty, the company says, is “bridging mainland game studios to overseas markets”. Related: Matrix Partners Closes $650M Funds To Invest More In China, India

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WI Harper Group, Matrix Partners Invest $12.5 Million In Social Games Maker SNS Plus

Memo to Chinese startups: You made for a late night of deliberations. We typically pick five finalists. There were a few companies that were clear picks, captivating everyone– from the judges to the staff to people we talked to in the hallways. Then there was another group that each had passionate advocates on staff, making for some tough decisions. Ultimately, the staff got down to six we liked and couldn’t agree on which one to eliminate. So in the spirit of rule breaking, we decided to pick six finalists. Here they are in alphabetical order: Anquanbao 8 Securities Moglue Order With Me TouchPal Contacts United Styles These companies will duke it out in front of our finalist judges just before lunch. You won’t want to miss the drama!

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Disrupt Beijing Finalists: So Good We Had to Pick Six

To kick off Day Two of TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, our own Sarah Lacy interviewed Lei Jun — one of the most successful entrepreneurs in China, whose resume includes cofounding Joyo.com (sold to Amazon in 2004), sitting on the board of Kingsoft, and chairing the board of massively popular mobile web browser UCWeb (he’s also made numerous investments in successful Chinese startups). Most recently, Jun is the founder of Xiaomi Tech, a startup with a very ambitious goal: it wants to take on the likes of Apple in the mobile phone industry, by producing a high quality phone that’s sold at prices significantly below the competition. You’ll find a video of the interview above, and here are some of the highlights: Asked about the fact that his new company includes many former employees of tech giants, Jun recounted a joke — he said that if he could merge Microsoft, Google, and Motorola, he’d be able to take on Apple. So he went after employees from each of them as he builds a new mobile phone company. Lacy then asked about the difficulty involved with launching a new phone, which isn’t something many (if any) startups in the US would attempt. Jun pointed out that the Chinese mobile phone market is more open that the US market — unlike the United States, where the phone you use is largely dictated by the carriers, in the Chinese market the phone manufacturer doesn’t need to maintain good relationships with carriers, as consumers can buy and use what they want. Jun also discussed the long-term strategy for Xiaomi: they’re going to sell their hardware at around cost, then make money through the software, which gets updated every week. The phone sells for 1999 RMB, which is not cheap, but is less expensive than competitors — it’s around $240 in the US. The company has faced unforseen challenges in managing the supply chain (recent floods impacted some suppliers), but Jun says he’s confident they’ll push through them. Asked whether Jun thought Chinese consumers would favor his phone over, say, Apple, Jun said that he thinks that there will be some sway, but that it won’t be a crucial factor. He points out that half of the OS’s users are international. Asked about his success as an investor, Jun outlined his strategy. Five years ago, he identified three key areas to invest in: mobile internet, ecommerce, and community/social networks. Those twenty or so investments have proven to do quite well: Jun says that the companies now have over $1 billion cash combined. Finally, to conclude the interview, Lacy asked Jun about his key advice to entrepreneurs. His answer? “Do what you want to do. Do what you like to do.”

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Xiaomi’s Lei Jun Shares How His Company Will Take On Apple

Between bridging the translation gap, the lack of and then abundance of morning coffee, collective Internet struggles and the many many hacks using  TianJi’s  (“the LinkedIn of China”) API, the TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing Hackathon just happened, and it was nothing short of amazing. Around 300 hackers signed on to spend 24 hours together, and 100 actually braved a night full of spotty connectivity and vegetable noodles in order to present their hacks at 11:00 am Beijing time. Each team was given a minute to show their stuff in front of the multi-lingual audience and judges. The judges included TechCrunch Mobile’s Greg Kumparak, ICanHazCheeseburger’s Ben Huh , Zynga’s Andy Tain, TenCent’s Peter Zhong , Sonos’ Carter Agar, Google’s Ming Yang and DigiChina’s Bill Bishop , who parsed the 46 hacks to the best of their ability, and culled six of the best. In addition to everlasting fame and glory, winners will have the opportunity to present onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt proper. Meet first TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing Hackathon winners, below (links to come when the hacks go live). Grand Prize WeDiary –  A chronological visual diary for your blog. Firecracker –  A mobile game that simulates playing with firecrackers. TouchMusic – A slick looking smartphone app that functions as a theramin. HackMaster – A game that teaches people how to code Javascript, with a love story. Shareware – Shareware realizes you’re browsing from China, and loads Chinese share buttons instead of Facebook and Twitter, solving a huge problem. Pomo – Mobile-based app that tracks your working time — graphs what time is productive versus not productive. Crunchbase TECHCRUNCH Company: TechCrunch Website: techcrunch.com Launch Date: November 6, 2005 TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005 by Michael Arrington, is a network of technology-oriented blogs and other web properties. Learn more

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Introducing The First TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing Hackathon Winners

Reuters – Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba.

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Yahoo CEO Bartz fired over the phone, rocky run ends
(Reuters)