Apple's iTunes platform now allows customers in the People's Republic to pay for their mobile apps and music purchases with their Chinese bank cards. However, instead of paying for each purchase as you go, you'll now have to first top-up your iTunes account in pre-set amounts of 50, 100, 300, or 500 RMB. Payments via Alipay or Union Pay are also not currently available. Steven Millward of Penn Olson dissects Apple's move:

The move is also designed to combat piracy of iOS apps in China, which has been thriving under the previous inconveniences/restrictions. Just this week we saw a major Chinese web company, Tencent (HKG:0700), launch a shanzhai iTunes app that helps you avoid Apple’s tightly-controlled ecosystem, and there’s the Chinese-made iTools desktop app that assists in the jailbreaking and adding of pirated/cracked apps. more ›

Tired of unsuspectingly walking out the door on those days where China's atmosphere makes Jupiter's gaseous cloud layer look like a biosphere in Costa Rica? Now with new real-time air quality tracking twitters, sites, and apps (all city-specific), you can monitor the skies without holding your licked finger to the wind, and know exactly which days it might be better to stay in instead of going on that 10 km bike ride. more ›

Taiwan megastar and singer-songwriter Jay Chou (周杰伦) has joined the ranks of Ashton Kutcher as a celebrity tech investor. His latest venture comes in the form of 31SMS, a mobile messaging application for iPhones and Android phones which he's hoping his star appeal will help make a WhatsApp-killer, at least for the Greater China market. more ›

Looks like the subway mobile shopping space is really heating up. First we had the subway supermarket shopping app Yihaodian that seeks to replicate the success that Tesco had in South Korea. Now we have Ubox, a mobile app for iPhones, Android and Java-based phones, that allows you to pay for your vending machine purchases with your cell phone. more ›

This one's for all you tweetaholics out there. There's finally an app that helps you sync your Twitter and Sina Weibo accounts! The app's called Twitter2Weibo, and using it is real easy too. All you need to do is to log in with your Twitter account, and then your Weibo account, and you're good to go! Various options are available to customise your experience -- you can choose whether or not you want to sync retweets, mentions, geo locations and upload images. Try the app out here and don't forget to follow Shanghaiist on Sina Weibo.
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Grindr, the gaydar-in-your-pocket mobile app that's taken the international gay community by storm is now back online in China after an extended period of being blocked by the Great Firewall. more ›

Not a bad way to make ancient relics hip with the kids these days: draw a comparison between 2000-year-old bronze and the number one iPhone app. Thanks goes out to the Chinese microblogger who spotted this Shang dynasty wine container at the Shanxi museum and tweeted it to the world. It's now been forwarded 5,000 times and drawn 500 comments on Sina Weibo. more ›

Gadget Republic proclaims that this means it's "goodbye Twitter" forever in China. We think the verdict's still out on that. Still, it's good to know if you had been planning on getting your feet wet in the Weibo world, but had been dismayed by the language barrier. Unfortunately, no similar app for Android users yet. Also see: Digicha's Sina Weibo guide. more ›

"BLACKBERRY is expected to officially launch its App World service for Chinese mainland users in the next couple of days, sources said yesterday, and users now can access the service for a trial period. A company source told Shanghai Daily that the short trial period would help the company solve any problem before the official launch whose date was not confirmed by the firm. The App World went live in other countries and regions in 2009, but BlackBerry didn't open it to domestic users. Industry observers said the move to officially launch the App World was to coincide with the launch this month of the Playbook tablet computer by Research In Motion, also the maker of BlackBerry phones. BlackBerry phones accounted for about 4.6 percent of the domestic smartphone market in terms of sales in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to research firm Analysys International." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

What began as a simple call by Professor Yu Jianrong for internet users to snap pictures of street children and post it on Sina Weibo, the leading Chinese microblogging service, has become something of a revolution that is being talked about by everyone today. At last count, the campaign's official account @随手拍照解救乞讨儿童 (lit. Snap a picture to save a child) has about 152,000 followers while @Yujianrong himself has become something of a superstar with close to 380,000 followers. more ›

Because those damn pigs deserve to be knocked around by irate poultry outside of a tiny smartphone screen too! What's next, a carnival booth of Bejeweled? How about a real life version of Fruit Ninja? more ›

The App Store has 1000’s of paid or free applications which are useful to anyone planning to live in or visit China. Every week or so I plan on introducing a few applications in this ‘There’s An App For That:….’ section. Today I’m covering driving with 3 free applications from the App store available for download now! more ›

How, um, exciting! Forget queues for the Expo pavilions and prepare for an on-line stampede to download the new Expo app for the iPhone. Shanghai Daily, official media partner of the Shanghai Expo 2010, has launched the app to bring users all the latest info at the touch of a button. Not convinced you want it...? No, neither are we! more ›

We've heard that the iTunes app store can sometimes be strangely stringent about what type of applications get to be sold there - so we're surprised that this one made the cut. Stuck Pixel's Cute Asian Girls app gives you hundreds of photos of pretty Asian girls in various poses for an introductory price of 99 cents (roughly 6 RMB). more ›