Yes, another weibo rumor. But this time, there's pics. So it definitely did happen. Apple CEO Tim Cook made an appearance in the Xidan Apple Store yesterday. We wondered why Cook wouldn't hit up the more famous store in Sanlitun, but apparently, it's because the Xidan store ... Read More
The Chinese internet is all atwitter with word that Weibo accounts on Sina, Tencent, Sohu and NetEase will require real name and ID registration by March 16.
Authorities claim that real-name registrations are necessary to curb salacious and downright false rumors, but then again, isn't that why we sign ... Read More
As with anything in Zhongguancun, Garage Cafe is tech-centric, start-uppity and uber-entrepreneurial. It’s a space where, if you have an idea, investment manager-turned-café founder Su Di can probably help you find someone who can inject capital into it, integrate it or develop it.
Su Di is at the café ... Read More
We know you probably weren't waiting overnight in sub-zero weather. Or pelting the Apple Store in Sanlitun with eggs. But Bloomberg reports that the launch of the iPhone 4S was completely halted, with police asking would-be customers to go home as the store would be closed all day.
An ... Read More
EDM (electronic direct mail) is the internet equivalent of those glossy supermarket circulars which spilled out of your mailbox back in ‘80s and ‘90s. They started taking over the net before email systems developed sophisticated methods to exile them into the Phantom Zone. These days, not only have we drawn ... Read More
It’s no secret that Chinese officials have been at war with Google. Gmail access is sporadic, Google image search crippled, Google docs never works, and Google+ was banned upon release. For all these services though, there are reasonable substitutes, except for Google maps. But with the recent release of ... Read More
Weibo’s huge. It now counts over 250 million users. Initially it started off as a means to stalk celebrities, follow friends and share the trivial joys and miseries of life, but has quickly become a formidable tool for spreading information widely and instantaneously. Now it’s evolved into a ... Read More
Emoticons? Useful. A "dynamic" photo of your face in a series of weird facial contortions that purport to demonstrate your emotional state? Just plain creepy.
3DoM's Living Portrait takes scans of your photos and processes all the key facial areas. You can then make the photo express happiness, sadness ... Read More
Foreigners and locals alike have lamented the utterly molasses-like net connection speeds as of late. Frustration has been mounting for many but the problem is almost impossible to fix on the user’s end. However, the People’s Daily Online reports that there is light at the end of the ... Read More
At the end of November, Beijing will have free public Wi-Fi available in several hotspots around the city. Most notably, Xidan, Wangfujing, Financial Street, Yansha and Zhongguancun will be covered under the initial launch.
TechCruch reports that the plan will provide 2Mbps and coverage will expand to include 60 percent ... Read More
What do people really use their iPads for? Games of course. There’s a billion out there. Here are our favorites.
Machinarium
You’re a robot and you’ve just been dumped on a scrapheap by god-knows-who. That’s the starting point for this wonderful game which was just released ... Read More
We've been hearing for months about a forthcoming English edition of Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging platform. That's not here yet, unfortunately.
But underdog performer, Tencent Weibo surprised everyone by pulling out the English version of their microblogging service before Sina. And without much fanfare either ... Read More
In August the big news was this announcement from TechCrunch.com:
“We’ve teased you with this news over and over again, but today it becomes official: TechCrunch is coming to China.” For a visit? For the next Yen party? No, they are coming to launch blogs, in Chinese and ... Read More
The Chinese government is rightly proud of launching part of a space lab into orbit. Nothing seemed to go wrong (a high mark for craftsmanship here, we think) and as always, watching things get shot into space is always uplifting.
But CCTV, home to the 'Top Gun' misfire has deflated ... Read More
We got tipped to this file-sharing site from a recent Techrice post. Thanks, Techrice, because we LOVE Xiami.com. It's fantastic for live-streaming music due to the fact that its music library extremely deep and it has a wonderfully clean interface. You really don't need any Chinese ability ... Read More
Podcasting was all the rage in the mid-noughties. These blog posts for the visually-impaired are integral methods of feeding us information and giving our ears something to do at the office besides listening to co-workers’ nauseating ringtones. This article rounds up the best China-related informational podcasts. The musical podcasts we ... Read More
Remember the good old days when you went down to Zhongguancun to pick up dirt-cheap daoban versions of big-ticket software packages like Final Cut Pro or Windows XP? Well you still can. But that’s now only relevant for devices with disc drives suspended in those huge bulky towers under ... Read More
Games are the most popular apps for iPad. We’ll get to those in a later issue. In the meantime, get connected and productive with these nine must-have iPad apps.
Pleco
This Chinese-English dictionary and language learning app is already a staple among iPhone users and its iPad app blows ... Read More
TechCrunch, one of the leading tech blogs out there (now owned by AOL), made the breathless announcement on Wednesday that they will be hosting a two-day DISRUPT event in Beijing Oct. 29-Nov 1.
DISRUPT is a new event on the geek scene, having just started a couple of years ago ... Read More
If you've been on the fence about what kind of tablet computer to buy, note that Samsung just officially launched their Galaxy Tab 10-inch model in Hong Kong. Many people have been looking forward to this tablet as a genuine alternative to the iPad.
Samsung's seven-inch version has ... Read More
Pleco and Qingwen are pretty much default options for iPhones, but with the iPad's bigger screen, there are other options out there worth considering. Today we're pitting Pleco's iPad app up against apps for Collins Mandarin Chinese Dictionary and nciku.
[See our previous review of the South ... Read More
Only 200,000 people were initially invited to join and it was promptly blocked in China so we knew this had to be good. We asked Shanghai-based social gaming guru Paddy Markham to fill us in on the inside scoop. Here's what he had to say.
Google+ was born ... Read More
Is the government about to crack down on Beijing's Wi-Fi cafes? That was the sentiment on Monday when this New York Times report hit the wires. It was promptly picked up by Shanghaaist and Beijinger. The New York Times piece quotes owners of a few places who've turned ... Read More
Basically no one is systematically reviewing China-specific apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Except us. We give each reviewed app a final verdict:
1. Must have, 2. Only If You're Into This Stuff and 3. Crap.
First up is our take on the South China Morning Post's app ... Read More
Our groupbuy platform, FlashBuy, celebrated its one-year anniversary in June. To date, we’ve saved our readers almost two million RMB. To celebrate, we’ve started doing something different with FlashBuy: giving stuff away. Think hotel stays, gourmet pizzas and sumptuous meals. Have we gone nuts? No. It’s part ... Read More
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Middle 8th: The New Sanlitun Village Location Has Creative Zest
By JPDM
I tried the new Middle 8 location last night. We tried to make a reservation... >>