Catshanghai

Everybody is writing reviews of the past year so I will join in too. 2007 has been a great year for us, although it has not been without struggle and frustration. I have just been scanning this year’s blog posts as a prompt for the some of the highlights, which I will summarise below:
Personal Stuff
We [...]

I took a ride on the new extension to Line 4, which opened today. I took a ride from Nanpu Bridge to Pudong Avenue and from Century Avenue to Luban Lu. It was noticeable that the stations were teaming with ayis, and that the trains were busy yet not overcrowded. There was a wait of [...]

I had a triple whammy of bad customer service yesterday afternoon.
Maybe, I shouldn’t be such a spoiled child for expecting anything more. I also understand that shop workers are probably paid less than 2000 RMB a month and they have been brought up in a different culture that has not trained them to use [...]

I like to joke that I only came to China to escape from Christmas. I have made no secret of my scepticism towards the fake sentimality of the British Christmas tradition. I dislike the music and the commercial hysteria that lasts for months and months. See last year’s post. That said, I am no scrooge. [...]

BBC News Online | Technology | Action urged on broadband speeds
Overoptimistic broadbands seems to be a problem everywhere, but at least OFCOM is looking to force the industry to be honest and transparent about the actual bandwidth, which is being delivered to customers.
(tags: Internet, UK)

BBC News Online | Technology | Weblogs rack up a decade [...]

I spend many hours every week listening to and watching various technology podcasts from Twit, ZD, Revision 3 and CNET. They are all written and presented by former TechTV employees so it little wonder that they are almost exclusively focused on Silicon Valley and North American issues? Occasionally, Europe will get a brief mention and [...]

Lifehacker has just been looking at the problems with Windows Mobile and how Micrososft is going to fix it. As a WM user myself, I find the whole experience promising and irritating in equal measure. I have bought a whole range of 3rd party applications such as Resco Recorder, PocketInformant and Flexmail 2007 to improve [...]

Time to top-out your public transport cards, all RMB 999 folks, Opening Day is upon us! The Shanghai metro system will soon be welcoming into the family “three lines and two segments,” as the opening as been nicknamed, consisting of new Lines 6/8/9, the 2nd northern extension of Line 1 and the final stretch of [...]

Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near is sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I have read the first few chapters, but it is a dense tome that demands your full attention. I have been too busy and exhausted to be able to get into this book so far, but I have three weeks [...]

‘Cafe con’ premises shut down — Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 — English Window to China News
“THE Manabe coffee shop on the 3rd floor of the Brilliance Shimao International Plaza has been closed down” after being shopped for tea shop scams.
(tags: Shanghai)