China and Brazil move ahead with satellite program

China and Brazil have agreed to move ahead with the “China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS)” program by adding another satellite to it, CBERS 4A, the Brazilian press reported citing the Brazilian Space Agency. The director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), Xu Dazhe, showed interest in building the CBERS 5 and 6 satellites as part of the 10-year programme between the two countries, talks for which are due to begin again at the end of 2014. CBERS 4, the most recent satellite, is due to be launched into space on 7 December of this year, after CBERS 3 burnt on re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere when it failed to go into orbit. At a recent meeting the Brazilian Space Agency and CNSA signed a memorandum of understanding to share satellite data.

Baidu launches search engine in Portuguese

Chinese company Baidu last week launched its search engine in Brazil (http://br.baidu.com/), after adapting it to Brazilian Portuguese, the Brazilian press reported. In order to differentiate itself from its main competitors, Google and Bing, Baidu is using an algorithm that allows users to access videos, music and play games directly on the results page, without having to click through to the webpages themselves. However, in order for this to become and advantage to the search engine, it still has to set up partnerships with content producers.

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