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Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Full Documentary) | Future Cities | WIRED

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A WIRED documentary explores the unique hardware prototyping, manufacturing, and open-source copycat ecosystem of Shenzhen, China.

Future Cities, a full-length documentary strand from WIRED Video, takes us inside the bustling Chinese city of Shenzhen. Subscribe to WIRED►► po.st/SubscribeWired We examine the unique manufacturing ecosystem that has emerged, gaining access to the world’s leading hardware-prototyping culture whilst challenging misconceptions from the west. The film looks at how the evolution of “Shanzhai” – or copycat manufacturing – has transformed traditional models of business, distribution and innovation, and asks what the rest of the world can learn from this so-called “Silicon Valley of hardware". ABOUT FUTURE CITIES Future Cities is part of a new flagship documentary strand from WIRED Video that explores the technologies, trends and ideas that are changing our world. Subscribe to the WIRED YouTube channel to ensure you never miss an episode. HOLY LAND: STARTUP NATIONS (SERIES 2) Premiering in February, the second season of WIRED’s Future Cities series takes us inside one of the world’s biggest startup nations. With the most tech startups and venture capital per capita in the world, Israel has long been hailed as The Startup Nation. WIRED’s four-part series will look beyond Tel Aviv’s vibrant, liberal tech epicentre to the wider Holy Land region – the Palestinian territories, where a parallel Startup Nation story is emerging in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and the West Bank, as well as in the Israeli cybersecurity hub of Beersheba. And we will learn how the fertile innovation ecosystem of Silicon Wadi has evolved as a result of its unique political, geographical and cultural situation and explore the future challenges – and solutions – these nations are facing. CONNECT WITH WIRED Web: po.st/WiredVideo Twitter: po.st/TwitterWired Facebook: po.st/FacebookWired Google+: po.st/GoogleWired Instagram: po.st/InstagramWired Magazine: po.st/MagazineWired Newsletter: po.st/NewslettersWired ABOUT WIRED WIRED brings you the future as it happens - the people, the trends, the big ideas that will change our lives. An award-winning printed monthly and online publication. WIRED is an agenda-setting magazine offering brain food on a wide range of topics, from science, technology and business to pop-culture and politics. Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► wrd.cm/15fP7B7 Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► link.chtbl.com/wired-ytc-desc Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_YouTube?sourc… Follow WIRED: Instagram ►►instagram.com/wired Twitter ►►twitter.com/wired Facebook ►►facebook.com/wired Tik Tok ►►tiktok.com/@wired Get more incredible stories on science and tech with our daily newsletter: wrd.cm/DailyYT Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. ABOUT WIRED WIRED is where tomorr

Why it's here

8 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as an excellent, mesmerizing documentary on the fast-paced hardware and hacking ecosystem in Shenzhen.

coordon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Mirai Botnet Client, Echo Loader and CNC source code”

I cannot wait for some type of top-down pressure to force IoT developers to take security seriously. The movement has been pushed into overdrive thanks to insane levels of competition where you either crush your R&D into the smallest breakneck period or you live to see your creation being sold for half of what your budget can allow by other firms lifting your efforts while you're still at the workbench.1 I've been getting cozy with Shenzhen-based hardware accelerators for the past year as part of a personal side-venture and I have not seen a group so pressured to deliver a product as fast as possible with security being a casual afterthought. To get a decent taste of what it's like, I whol…
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drewmateon Hacker News • Recommends

On “A 24-year-old made $345K in 2 months by beating Kickstarters to market”

There's an excellent documentary on the hardware/hacking ecosystem in Shenzhen on YouTube: link to this video . A lot of people there seem to embrace the ethos of moving fast and ignoring IP laws (both original creator and spoofer) because by the time you get a lawsuit or patent filed, the tech will have moved far beyond what you were trying to protect, and it will no longer be worth your time. Basically, move fast and try to keep up. It's crazy how fast the tech cycles are there.
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tmoretonon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation”

WIRED UK did a great job going into more detail on Shenzhen, highly recommend watching the documentary. link to this video
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smckton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Shenzhen: China’s ‘skyscraper capital’”

If interested about Shenzhen, I'd highly recommend watching this mesmerizing feature on Wired UK: link to this video
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lubujacksonon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Letter from Shenzhen”

For a companion piece I highly recommend this hour long vid by Wired about Shenzhen. It's worth your time: link to this video Things that stood out to me was the maker mindset was so prevalent and competitve that it had filtered down to the buyers. So someone cobbles together some new widget for their phone and starts to sell it. Other people see it selling a nd copy it, but they make modifications. Shoppers see it for the first time and decide they want one with a purple strap, so they shop around until they find it or find someone who will make it that way. This is where the hoverboard fad bubbled up but also how and why it "flamed" out. I think it's a fascinating testbed for technology and creativit…
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thisisiton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Jack Ma: US wasted trillions on warfare instead of investing in infrastructure”

Whenever people talk about failures of government to build infrastructure I can't help but look back at the brilliant Wired documentary on Shenzhen. It depicts a boundary line between the city and urban village. And government had the power to relocate 150k in a snap to get the development going 1 How many countries can actually do that? Sure, couple of hundreds of people can be moved but 100k people, I am sure that cause a riot of sorts and project shut down very quickly. 1 link to this video
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nexus6mikeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Shenzhen’s economy under strain: blame the trade war?”

…s indicative of capacity than it is of current demand / throughput. Both countries could benefit from building more deep-water ports. China currently has two Panamax ports, with a third on the way. Vietnam has none and is building its first. The U.S., by comparison, has 42 by my count. 5 Separately, there's a great Wired documentary on Shenzhen: link to this video . 1 link 2 www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3018403/chinese-manufacturers-returning-home-inefficient-vietnam 3 link 4 link 5 link…
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irsagenton Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?”

…Where to Watch: link 2. Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware | Wired UK: Future Cities 1:07:50 2016 the evolution of “Shanzhai” – or copycat manufacturing – has transformed traditional models of business, distribution and innovation, and asks what the rest of the world can learn from this so-called “Silicon Valley of hardware". Youtube: link to this video *2.1. The People's Republic of The Future | Bloomberg: Hello World 30:10 2019 Shenzhen, tech-fueled entrepreneurs try to navigate an authoritarian regime. Youtube: link 3. The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard | TPB AFK 1:22:07 2013 The history of the Pirate Bay. Torrenting. Legal. Privacy. Homepage: link Youtube: link Where to Wa…
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uolaon Hacker News • Mentions

On “China, Not Silicon Valley, Is Cutting Edge in Mobile Tech”

The thing is that no one is going to explain to you what's going on in China. Understanding the Chinese ecosystem takes considerable effort and the people that do understand would rather talk to others in the know than to a wall. I actually cringe a bit even writing this. If you want to think that there's no difference between PayPal, eBay and modern Chinese versions you are free to do so. But until you've used these things in China (or at least had sufficient imagination), you won't actually know if there is something there. link link to this video link
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jsnathanon Hacker News • Mentions

On “What $50 buys you at the Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen, China”

Wired did a 1-hour feature recently called 'Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware' 1. They also visit the markets. 1: link to this video
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aub3bhaton Hacker News • Mentions

On “Azure Intellectual Property Advantage”

Latest innovation in Cloud Computing! Frivolous Lawsuit Defense As A Service. I think at some point the archaic IP laws in USA would mean that deployment of cutting edge technology ends up happening in China. This is already happening in Shenzen. link to this video
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gcmartinellion Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: The most cyberpunk city in the world?”

Watching this documentary ( link to this video ) about Shenzhen I got a very strong cyberpunk vibe, especially the last 1/3 of it. People at the streets fixing electronics, cheap/pirated circuit boards being sold at the curb, etc.
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a1371on Hacker News • Mentions

On “China Blocks WhatsApp”

I doubt anybody will ever see this response, but about the Hoverboard, here it is: Hoverboards are originally from China 1 however, most of us have likely learned about them from Kickstarter etc. I think the users of HN would agree that "invention is never a sudden thing". The process for hoverboards has been iterative, of course. I have heard claims of having commercial hoverboards as much as five years before they became household names in the US. 1 link to this video
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nickpsecurityon Hacker News • Mentions

On “How China Systematically Pries Technology from U.S. Companies”

Keeping customers. See Shenzhen which is a free-for-all but out-innovates about everyone else in product development: link to this video
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Kaverenon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Notorious patent enforcement entity values its entire portfolio at $2, folds”

The patent system needs to be changed in some way. When people talk about monopolies, they seem to rarely mention that the government enforces awful patents. And you don't even need to make the thing, just patent it! I'm not sure if it's fair to R&D costs to gut patents entirely, but I'd like to see them weakened considerably. Patent trolls should not exist. Glad to see justice in this case. Edit: Watched Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware, was interesting in regards to loose IP rights. 1 link to this video
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freeflighton Hacker News • Mentions

On “As China Hacked, U.S. Businesses Turned a Blind Eye”

…s IP from allies. But I seriously doubt the damages for that go into the $57 billion, that's just a piracy-damages like inflated number. In reality, a whole lot of interesting innovation, particularly on the hardware level, has already been happening in China for years already. They gonna out-make the US maker movement, on a massive scale 0. 0 link to this video…
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