Now hey, this is cool. Cityweekend has a new online feature where they'll text you the address of your destination free of charge. Their website has just added a handy button beside their venue listings that sends the address in Chinese and English straight to mobiles. We just gave it a go and the text came within 5 seconds--super! This is definitely something we can get behind...because as much as we love 96288 sometimes when your taxi driver is scowling at you and the 962288 number is still playing that darn song, this could be just what the doctor ordered. You will have to have an account with Cityweekend and for the moment, the sms service only works it for their "highly-buzzed" restaurants but we like where this is going--this and their "call for free online" feature. Read more about it straight from the horse's mouth. more ›

I had just been forwarded this message from an unknown number when I came across City Weekend's write up. Mine read "BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan govt confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phillipine at starting 4pm today. Pls send to your friends." I'm not sure how it jumped the Filipino-Sina divide, but if you receive the message too, please DO NOT send it on. The last thing anyone needs is useless panic over cancerous weather (especially in rainy Shanghai). Plus, in case of fallout, betadine (a common antiseptic) is about as useful as putting your head under a pillow to combat radiation. Your best bet is the much harder to procure prophylactic potassium iodide. more ›

Recently uploaded onto the twitterverse were two word documents (this one and this one) purporting to be a list of SMS words banned by China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. The three telecommunications companies had announced their plans to monitor text messages for "bad content" this time last year, but the implications of that went unnoticed for most of 2010. more ›

You might have heard that the "restrictions" on media and communications in Xinjiang are slowly but surely being "restored." Well, it seems like that's a bit too optimistic: First, the ban on SMS services was lifted, but according to Far West China, you can only send twenty messages a day. In addition, you can also make international calls as of today, and access to the internet is slowly being unblocked: as of now, there's a grand total of four websites you can access, and it seems even those are fairly censored. more ›

Hey sexy texters, feel free to whip out your phones and tell your respective others how much you like bedtime moves. What? Worried that it'll somehow get your SMS service turned off by the folks at China Mobile and the Public Security Bureau? Thankfully, it turns out that news of those proposed regulations against sexting aren't quite true... at least for now. more ›

• Last week Baidu announced after two years of searching the appointment of Li Yinan as the new Chief Technology Officer for China's leading search engine. Just when everything began to fall into place and we were getting ready for a season Googlesque innovation, rumours began to fly that William I. Chang, Baidu's Chief Scientific Officer was planning to resign because he didn't like his new job scope. Not sure though how much of a rumour it is when they have already named his successor.
• To make CEO Robin Li's life even more stressful, Baidu's next big push will be into the e-commerce arena with the launch of youa.com may be thwarted by Alibaba Group's announcement that it will invest another RMB5 billion into its own online Taobao.com to strengthen its 57% market share. Of course Alibaba claims that this had nothing to do with fending off Baidu and we of course believe them.
• In its own corporate reshuffle, Alibaba has for the first time in its five year history appointed a COO. Zhang Yong, former CFO was promoted to fill the void left by Huang Ruo, the former VP and B2C business director who resigned at the end of September.

Chris Horton of GoKunming informs us of another abnormal incident involving a bus in Kunming Monday evening. No reports of any bomb or explosive device were made, but eyewitnesses say they heard a "loud explosion-like sound", as rumours of another explosion spread like wildfire via text message. Meanwhile, in a separate incident at the Kunming airport, several irate passengers "clashed with airport police, smashing computers, desks and other items". more ›

Too much spam on your mobile phone? You're not the only one being hit or getting angry. 30 NPC delegates are thinking of enacting a PRC Information Security Protection Law, which would provide a heavy deterrent to spammers. more ›

Photo from Shanghai Daily. more ›

BBC's Shanghai correspondent Quentin Sommerville goes to the Pingyang neighbourhood south of Shanghai and finds that the anti-Maglev protests have not quite abated. In his report [VPN required], he makes the following observation:

Rarely have protests in China been so well organised, or the protesters so well-dressed.

the "best user experience", Nokia?) more ›

Quick note from the Editor: We are pleased to introduce to you a new member of our family: David Feng, who has come to join us at Shanghaiist to head up our tech column. David is the founder of the Beijing Macintosh User Group and a one-man super blogger on the China tech and startup scene. He was most recently the China editor for tech uberblog BlogNation, before its infamous implosion, that is (which we shall not belabour here, go google it if you're interested). David continues his excellent blogging on everything related to the technology, mobile and startup arena in China on his new space, TechBlog86, and of course, right here on Shanghaiist. To get to know David more, click here. more ›

You can pluck a Chinese patient away from the hospital, but you will never snatch his cell phone away from him! Photo from Tim Johnson of China Rises. Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Simply post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos[at]shanghaiist.com.... more ›

No, we're not talking about "personalized networks of influence" — everyone needs those. We're talking about Guanxi, the paid SMS service that allows you to send the name of a venue and it replies with the venue's address. Yesterday, for about the 27th time[1] in the past several months, we got a message supposedly from Guanxi telling us their number had changed ... again: Due to Mii rule chng,new# of Guanxi Search is 106695882929.Pls save!... more ›

Scene from HiPiHi.com from Torley. more ›

Li Yuchun (李宇春) — the "androgynous wonder from Sichuan" who was the first winner of Super Voice Girls (an American Idol-style talent show) — recently gave a concert in Nanjing, and she performed in *gasp* a skirt! Now if you have no clue what an earth-shattering revolution Super Voice Girls represented (for the very first time, viewers were allowed to vote for their favourite singer via SMS, causing some powers-that-be to quake with fear) and... more ›

Two bits of transportation news from random sources: more ›

We received the following tip in the form of an SMS from Dan who saw the following story on TV in Singapore while vacationing with his wife (Oh the wonders of modern technology!): Last Saturday morning, a fire broke out at a Tongchuan Lu apartment. Footage from CCTV4 showed the man perched on top of a ledge on the fourth floor as firefighters attached a safety harness to his waist. Shortly afterwards he slipped and plunged downwards, hitting a metal pole before he was stopped by the safety harness somewhere around the second floor. Close shave! To view the video, click here. more ›

The first rule that many foreigners hear about doing anything in China is that you will need guanxi - relationships that help you clear the jungly bureaucracy, receive preferential tax treatment, or "free" land. Of course, the follow-up rule that is never stated in polite company is that guanxi means money, a greased palm, a sop, and a board seat. However, as useful as some relationships can be, they frequently outlive their usefulness and become nothing more than baggage. more ›

If you are a text message addict like us — 10 fens do add up fast, we have some good news for you. For a limited time, China Mobile (all you 134-139, 158, 159 people) is offering free SMS service with just one string attached: download its new instant messenger client, 飞信/Feixin/Fetion (Chinese for “flymail”). The IM, at least in its current incarnation is nothing to crow about, but it does have one ass kicking feature you won’t find in MSN, Gtalk or QQ: Free SMS within the China Mobile network, PC to mobile, mobile to PC, and of course mobile to mobile. Download the PC client here, and mobile client here (under your cell phone’s brand and model number). Mac fanboys need not despair, pop in a virtualization/emulation software and you can get in on the free loving too. more ›

Pitchfork ran a post recently that touched on some Shanghai live music news, mostly the role they felt was played by the "slightly-more-repressive-than-ours" Chinese government. (Pitchfork is based in Chicago.) We've already offered you some reasons why Pretty Girls Make Graves canceled their April 28 gig at 4live. Pitchfork talked to their label, Matador, which said "following some miscommunications with promoters, Pretty Girls were unable to secure work visas in time for the shows." Hmmm. Wonder if the Shanghai-based promoter would want to comment on that? (The Pitchfork story also mention that Sonic Youth's Shanghai gig "went off without a hitch" — for the fans, yes ... but, again, the promoter may sing a different tune.) more ›

One of the nice features on Google Calendar is the ability to add the lunar calendar on top of the western one, which helped us verify that today, Thursday, is indeed the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. more ›

The sign on the gate that leads to Tang Hui on Huating Lu reads "停止营业" (ting zhi ying ye or "No longer open for business"). Yep, it's true — the new Tang Hui failed to last a year. The bar and supposed music venue closed last week, Tang Hui general manager Morry Morgan confirmed via SMS: more ›

Imagine Superman, Monkey King, time travel, martial arts and state-of-the-art technology all rolled into one. Sorry for that mental image, but this is what Mohuan Shouji (魔幻手机 or "Magic Cellphone") promises when it hits the small screen in November. This "modern" fantasy television drama series brings up a concept that human beings can actually be transported through SMS (we have heard rumors that Shanghai officials and mobile phone service providers are actually planning on launching this functionality ... by 2010, the magical year when all of our dreams will come true). more ›

A while ago we stopped getting those helpful reminders from China Mobile when our cellphone started approaching zero in the funds department. After a couple months of sheepish thank you's to the wife for helping us recharge, we thought it was about time to get them back. more ›

The folks at Shanghaiist hope that the first two days of the new year have treated you well. We were busy, constantly deleting SMS's—Shanghai sent an average of 32 messages per person, and our puny memory capacity got filled up right quick. Also, we are glad to report that we didn't die from fireworks related injuries. Like many others, these days center around family meals and gatherings. As fun* as that is, we think it might have been more interesting to eat from a big-ass hotpot. The giant pot, which you see above, has a 12 meter diameter, weighs 15 tons, and takes about 5 tons of hotpot "soup" to fill. It can feed about 60 people, which is what it did on Feb. 16 in Chengdu. It looks an interesting place to get laid (when empty), that way when people ask you what the weirdest place you've ever done it is, you'd at least have something original to say. more ›

From Shanghai Daily: more ›

The Straits Times today tells us about 27 year old Liu Qian who "has been feted as a modern-day heroine, held up as a role model for women, and won the hearts of thousands across China". For the past eight years, Liu was the mistress of Yao Chuanrui, a former manager of a Shenzhen-based state-owned company, who had been detained by police for questioning over the alleged embezzlement of RMB70 million. more ›

After almost half a year, Shanghai’s iconic “alternative lifestyle nightclub”, Home Bar, officially reopened last week under its new brand, Pinkhome. It has been transformed from its previous existence into what is China’s first gay multiplex including a dance club, restaurant/lounge, and hotel. As some readers may remember, there was a pre-soft (is that a word?) opening last October for the bar, after which the establishment was closed again until renovations were completed. For those of us privy to that event, the ground floor décor looked much the same as it did in October, though, vastly different from the old, gritty, but lovable Home. more ›