Many may have missed the opening of the Beijing Olympics which saw Li Ning running or flying around the Bird’s Nest to ignite the big cauldron. I don’t seem to find an online site that gives decent viewing pleasure of the grand opening ceremony in Beijing. But a google search of “beijing olympics opening ceremony torrent” yields some pretty good results.

The whole show is in HD even!

The Death of The TV

Wired has offered some options to watch the Beijing Olympics online. Live streaming and P2P streaming are just two of the ways to kill your TV. Hit the link to get some watch-Beijing-2008-online tips.

Watch the Olympics Online

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) has set up an online channel on YouTube to keep you update on the latest of Beijing Olympic Games 2008.

www.youtube.com/beijing2008 is your Olympic Channel.

The IOC will launch an online Channel to broadcast the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in 77 territories* across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including India, Republic of Korea, Nigeria and Indonesia, it was announced today.

From 6 August 2008, the IOC will broadcast a selection of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games clips as Video On Demand (VOD). The IOC鈥檚 Channel will be available on YouTubeTM, geo-blocked within each territory, at: www.youtube.com/beijing2008

The IOC鈥檚 Channel will be accessible in territories where digital VOD rights have not been sold or have been acquired on a non-exclusive basis.

Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the IOC, will produce regularly updated Olympic content. The package will include highlights, news and daily clips of the competitions, available throughout the 17-day period of the Games.

Via NorwalkPlus

RFID or radio-frequency identification technology is used heavily in the Beijing Olympics. From ticketing to security and food managment, RFID plays a big part in keeping everything under control.

The ASK-TongFang wafer-thin chip die and silver-ink printed antenna embedded into the paper tickets are intended to battle counterfeiting, provide speedy check-ins for visitors at venue gates and guard against unauthorized access to specific areas of the Olympics compound.

The 1-kbyte memory chip embedded in the tickets does not carry personal identifiable information, but links to a database. The tickets, manufactured in Miyun, near Beijing, were delivered to the Bank of China in March. “The 13.56-MHz HF chip embedded in the ticket stores a unique serial number to ensure authenticity,” said Thierry Burgess, general manager of ASK in Los Angeles.

Via EETimes

Everyone is getting an iPhone 3G these days but some iPhones such as this De Vere 88-diamond studded 3G Beijing Olympic iPhone will need more than just patience as it will burn a $8224 hole in your pocket. There are other Olympic iPhone versions which come with 28 diamonds ($3376) or 168 diamonds ($15493) to welcome the Beijing 2008.

8 is the lucky number in Chinese-speaking territories and 168 when pronounced in Cantonese means having abundance or making tons of money all the way.

Via SlipperyBrick

Journalists at Beijing International Media Center (BIMC) are having trouble accessing web sites such as Amnesty site, Human Rights Watch, Chinese language sites for BBC, Voice of America and Hong Kong’s Apple Daily.

China routinely blocks access to Web sites it deems inappropriate, including those containing pornography, violence, magic and superstition themes, and especially anti-government material, such as those critical of the Chinese Communist Party or supporting independence for Taiwan, Tibet, or Xinjiang.

So much for media freedom.

Via PC World

These Nike Flywire shoes can really make you fly. Weighing only at 2 pounds, the Zoom Victory Spikes and Zoom Matumbo Nike footwear will be made available to the US track and field team to compete in the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Cables from a suspension bridge has inspired the ultra design but these shoes are still cheap to manufacture.

Nike fans have to wait until September to have a feel of what is like…flying.

Via Crave

This year Beijing Olympic Games has a “Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics, People’s Olympics” mission and Haier (娴峰皵), the world’s fourth largest white goods (major household appliances) manufacturer, has provided more than 60 000 tree-hugging and energy-saving electronic products to BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games).

Haier has designed a complete line of green products for the Beijing Games. 31 categories of Haier products have been installed in all Olympic venues in Beijing and the co-host cities. The Olympic products are also on sale throughout China to meet the consumers’ need.

Haier has supplied all venues with 13,236 refrigerators, all CFC-free, with 5,353 using carbon dioxide as a natural refrigerant.
1,500 green washing machines have been installed in 18 laundries established by Haier in the Olympic Village and the Media Village to provide quick and efficient laundry services for all athletes, officials and journalists.

Mind-numbing numbers, eh.

Via IT news

No earthquake is expected to hit Beijing during the Olympic Games next month. No sign of a strong quake has been detected yet, so it should be a safe Beijing 2008.

The 107 quake-monitoring stations of the network cover a 150,000-sq-km area around the capital (Beijing) and are said to be the most extensive such network in the country. It can detect a temblor as light as magnitude 1.0 and report it within five to 10 minutes.

Via China Daily

The Chinese government has installed more than 10 000 “smart devices” (think high-tech cameras) in Beijing to track down individual vehicle. This goes with the alternate-day cars ban that will begin on 20th July. Offenders will be fined 100 yuan ($15).

Starting July 20, cars will be banned on alternate days depending on the last number of their license plate.

Hope the ban and these devices can reduce congestion and pollution during the Beijing Olympics.

Via Switched