"Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad", a new piece on the notorious tech manufacturer Foxconn by David Barboza and Charles Duhigg of the New York Times, was translated into Chinese and published in Caixin, one of the leading news weeklies in China. They've compiled and translated a list of the reactions by Chinese readers to the piece, which split along the usually lines of tacit acceptance and finger-pointing. more ›

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A very public spat between "science cop" Fang Zhouzi and former Google China chief Kaifu Lee on Sina Weibo has kept Chinese internet users hooked over the last few days. Fang has attacked Lee's credibility, accusing him of lying about himself in interviews that he has given and in his Chinese biography published in 2009. The Chinese media has lapped up the war of words between the two but the spat has received scant attention outside of China. more ›

Okay, so you're trying to seal the deal with some fatherly big boss-types in the clubhouse after a few rounds of golf. They want to know if they can take a peek at those luxury housing development plans you've been cooking up, but they can't all just crowd around your little tablet computer like a bunch of craven children, right? And they definitely can't pass it around from one person to the next, what ludicrousness. So what do you do? Looks like the new Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet has you covered. more ›

'Today we have got two from Canada, they're 11,000 yuan (S$2,183) each. If you're interested, you need to come straight away,' a salesman at a mobile phone shop at Hailong market told AFP. She said it was a 16GB model, the least expensive in the range. In the United States, the same phone is sold for US$199 (S$252) with a two-year contract. more ›

With the iPhone 4S being released today, it's only a matter of time before the first arrive on China's gray market, where Chinese will rush to bask in Apple's latest creation. However, those early adopters with sub-par English skills may not be as enthusiastic after having a few minutes to play around with Apple's newest gem, Siri. more ›

Today is the last day to sign up for 3DSxShanghai! A three-day caffeine-fueled marathon, 3DSxShanghai is a weekend challenge for tech entrepreneurs and Zuckerberg-wannabes to come up with a new idea workable idea in the space of a weekend. Sign up today for a chance to find out whether or not you have the requisite bill-paying skills. more ›

Shanghai's new Apple Store on East Nanjing Road (which we've been prattling on about for over a week now) opened its doors to the public at 9am this morning, and we aren't exaggerating when we say we haven't seen Chinese people this giddy about something, ever. Since we're rather China-centric at Shanghaiist, it's par for the course to compare random social phenomena to some previous kindred thing from the dark murk of bygone Communist epochs, and we'll be a running dog if the assembled crowd weren't the happiest, most hopped-up Chinese people Shanghai's seen since Liberation. more ›

The largest in China, the new East Nanjing Road location is the third Apple Store in Shanghai, and the fifth nationwide. Replete with the same products and accessories available at most Apple Stores worldwide (variation does occur: the iPad 2 3G was just released in China today, trailing other markets by six months), the new Nanjing Road Apple Store will feature plenty of personal attention from its in-house staff, so that a visit with the royal blue-shirted Apple Helpers will mean anyone who hasn't already swallowed the Mac Gospel will be ready to click around their new OSX desktop with a measure of familiarity. more ›

You can start lining up now, Apple Borg devotees! Word on the internet street says that Shanghai's third Apple Store, located at the tourist-trap section of East Nanjing Road, will open before China's National Day on October 1st, and even possibly as soon as next week. Perfect timing for the Golden Week hordes! more ›

Barcamp, the "un-conference" where anyone and everyone with a passion for technology can make a 5-minute presentation in front of like-minded geeks, is back in Shanghai for the 9th time. The organisers at Techyizu are expecting around 300 attendees this time, so this will be a fabulous opportunity for you to share your earth-shattering idea, or just to get to know the local tech community. more ›

Will you join us to slay the mighty Sina Weibeast, O Microsoft of Redmond? "Renren, a Chinese social networking website, will integrate its services with MSN, Microsoft's Internet portal, the companies announced on Wednesday. Reuters reported that netizens will be able to share login access, status updates and instant massaging on both platforms, according to their agreement. The collaboration between the two former competitors reflects a trend of alliances in social networking services, combating pressure from front-runners such as Chinese micro-blogging site Sina Weibo and instant messenger provider QQ, industry analysts said. China is the world's largest Internet market with around 480 million users, and half of them use social networking websites." [China Daily] more ›

On behalf of the outlawed benevolent spiritual group/black renegade cult Falun Gong, the Human Rights Law Foundation has filed a U.S. federal lawsuit against Cisco Systems, claiming they corroborated with the Chinese government in monitoring the activities of dissident groups. more ›

It looks like the hype over Renren might have been a little premature. Stocks for Renren (RENN.N) have been in decline for several days shortly after their debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The frothing at the mouth that was prevalent only a week ago now seem like the ravings of a tech-bubble lunatic. more ›

For those of you worrying over the fate of the new Lenovo-backed video game console, breathe a deep sigh of relief. After missing their November 2010 domestic launch date, CEO of Lenovo subsidiary eedoo Technology Jack Luo announced on Friday that the iSec, short for 'Sports Entertainment Center', would launch in the second half of 2011, and would only be sold outside of China if domestic sales topped 1 million units. more ›

BarCamp is a fun, user-generated "un-conference." The BarCamp model started in the Silicon Valley as a response to formal, exclusive, and boring tech conferences and has since spread to 350+ cities worldwide. It's a can't miss event for techies, entrepreneurs, and social innovators. more ›

We all know Coldplay frontman Chris Martin loves him some Apple. Earlier this year he performed at an official Apple event. Hell, he and wife Gwyneth Paltrow even named their daughter after the computer brand.¹ But do you think Martin knows there is a pseudo Apple Store named Coldplay in Shanghai? more ›

Yes, the open, participatory, user-generated 'unconference' for geeks, entrepreneurs, innovators, bloggers and techies that first started out in Shanghai back in 2006 is back. Billed as an "unconference where everyone who attends participates by presenting or helping out", the event will be on June 12 at The NetCircle along the Suzhou Creek. more ›

While the system seems pretty cool, we feel like we've definitely seen that OS somewhere else. more ›

We've been burned so many times before, so we're taking this with a grain of salt - but China Tech News reports that China Unicom has reached an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone 3G to China by May 2009. If the rumor's correct, then it means that China Unicom will be launching the iPhone the same time it starts up its WCDMA 3G network nation-wide. Apple had allegedly been talking to China Mobile as well, but talks stalled over the tech company's iTunes app business. more ›

A man in a Guangzhou Lenovo store died after the cellphone in his chest pocket exploded. The explosion severed a major artery in his neck and caused massive blood loss, almost immediately killing him. Though the make and model of the mobile phone are still under investigation, a member of the staff said the man had just changed his cellphone battery to a new one. This is the 9th recorded cellphone explosion in China since 2002, so maybe it's best to make sure your cellphone's in a bag or something, rather than on your physical person. Hexun more ›

If you have a US iPhone 3G and have been tempted by repeated reminders in iTunes to upgrade to the 2.2 version of the iPhone firmware, you may soon be able to give in to the temptation without fear of relocking your device to AT&T. The iPhone Dev Team has announced that they will be launching a software hack to unlock your 3G iPhone on New Year's Eve. This will allow you to upgrade your firmware and keep it unlocked for use in China or anywhere else with a GSM network for that matter. more ›

2009 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for China's mobile market. All that excitement over Google's Android phone is finally making its way to China. On the right you see a sleek new gadget codenamed "OPhone" that is making its rounds on gadget forums lately. Said to be a joint effort between Lenovo and China Mobile, this is the first in a series of phones that will be "based on China Mobile's OMS (Open Mobile System) which is essentially Android + TD SCDMA (China's home-grown 3G standard)." ITProPortal says the phone is expected to debut sometime in February or March. more ›

Tech super blog TechCrunch tells us of a rumour swirling around that China Mobile will be "offering the iPhone at a heavily subsidized discount in order to court the massive Chinese population". An article at it.hexun.com which cites a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) as its source says:

China Mobile will procure the handsets for their full price, and then on-sell subsidized handsets to consumers. The source explained that China Mobile could buy a 3G iPhone from Apple for USD 299 – an example price – and then sell the handset to users for USD 199, treating the additional USD 100 as compensation to Apple. [Translation by Marbridge Consulting]

Check out John Pasden's helpful tips here (and be jealous that your company doesn't subsidize the purchasing of cool smuggled gadgets). more ›

... comes from The New York Times. Check it out and let us know if you have found anything better. more ›

From Beijing-based techie Frank Yu: "iPhones for sale in Beijing. 1st Gen 8 gig iPhone USD 735. 2nd Gen 8 gig 3G iPhone USD 1,176. The Older iPhones rose almost 42% since 3G." [Source] more ›

Thanks to Twitter’s perpetual failures, Lu’s Fail Whale now features on t-shirts and coffee mugs while other artists create kinetic Fail Whale sculptures. more ›

In a critical post about a new search engine awkwardly-named Cuil, the folks at popular blog TechCrunch posted a screen grab of a Cuil search for "TechCrunch" and said: "And I have no idea who that person is next to the results for our 'About' section." Why it is none other than Shanghai's biggest R.E.M. fan, Sam Flemming, head honcho of Internet Word of Mouth research and consulting firm CIC. So, that answers the "who" portion of this question ... but what about the "why"? The only thing we can think of: Cuil rightfully finds Sam a more attractive alternative to TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. more ›

Amnesty International's website is unreachable for journalists covering the Olympics one day after the organization issued a harsh report criticizing China's failure to make good on promises to improve human rights leading up to the Olympics. A more practical complaint from the press room — the internet is sloooooooooow. Welcome to our nightmare, guys. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, while admitting that websites for certain "cults" will indeed be blocked, blamed other inaccessibility issues on foreign web hosts. “There are some problems with a lot of websites themselves that makes it not easy to view them in China,” Liu Jianchao said. Hmmmm. [Source] more ›