Most Shanghaiist readers are familiar with legendary dive bar C’s and with the music pub Logo too. Darkness, taxi rides and alcohol make the rest of the area a bit of a blur but we have the benefit of living there. The area, called The Xinhua Community, is centered around Xinhua Lu’s heritage architecture and greenery. We covered this a bit by introducing J. G. Ballard’s old home in a previous post. It also has......

Shanghai will always be a step ahead of the capital, Beijing, when it comes to some things. Like freeways — Shanghai got the Huning Freeway first (back in 1988!). And now, wifi freeways. Jiading Wireless City will be reality no later than May 2008. Mesh Wi-Fi and WiMAX technology will make this part of Shanghai just that bit more wireless. And the good thing is — this is free. Want to get online now in......

Have you got an opinion? Shanghaiist has started publishing opinion pieces from readers on selected weekends, so if you feel like you've got something to get off your chest, email it to us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com and if we like it, we will publish it under this column. China Gets Beijing and Shanghai Ready for the 2008 Olympics and 2010 Expo By Jeffrey Wasserstrom China's economy is booming like never before and......

As June 15th (iPhone launch date) draws near, for us tech enthusiasts, it could only mean one thing: We are that much closer to the launch of Meizu’s Minione, formerly known as the M8 (or the iPhone clone). Actually, we have no idea when the freaking thing will be released, but its gotta be getting close, and yesterday, from Uberphones, by the way of Gizmodo, we gleaned a few more juicy bits about the Meizu......

So a writer from The Gazette, a popular Montreal newspaper, was in China recently. And he was awed by the same things that most writers who haven't been to China recently are awed by: the shiny skyscrapers, the intoxicating energy, the pirated DVDs. But the writer's trip to China also coincided with the "most exciting Quebec election in decades," and he desperately wanted to follow the news from back home. And thanks to this thing......

Seem to be. For us, at least, using City Diner's WiFi. Does this link work for you? Also on Shanghaiist BlogSpot blocked again, among others Thanks for the tip, Simon!......

A quick follow-up to last Friday's post, "Whisk whacks free Internet — a trend?." Sunday's New York Times ran a story that might be of interest to those of you who have interest in the topic of WiFi and its freeness. The piece, entitled "What Starbucks Can Learn From the Movie Palace," discusses how some American eateries are handling the WiFi issue — FYI, it ain't free at Starbucks or McDonald's (yes, McDonald's has WiFi)......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

We love WiFi — Shanghaiists are sociable folk, and this Shanghaiist in particular has fallen into an easy Sunday routine of catching up on news and email with a cappu and sandwich at local cafés. We like having a “third space” — a local hangout where we can meet up with friends, have the occasional coffee, and wile away the hours. We’ve already mentioned a few recent faves, and celebrate the expansion of free internet......

Chinese survey finds religion booming "Professors at East China Normal University estimated that about 300 million people - equivalent to more than 30% of the adult population - followed Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Muslim or other beliefs." YouTube - Baidu Movie "Baidu's movie relased before its landing on Nasdaq." YouTube - baidu vs google "'Baidu PK Google, what will happen?" List of Officials Who Kill Others or Themselves "Here is an unusal list of Chinese......

For us in Shanghai, the keynote speach of Steve Jobs at Macworld came at around 1 am. It marked an important event in the gadget world — the unveiling of the much-anticipated iPhone. You can find A LOT OF details here, here, here, and here. First interesting thing: the name "iPhone" — just in mid-December Linksys launched its new series of iPhones. Now, Apple, Inc. took over the brand name and both parties seem to......

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary. And now, the awkward transition......

Wikimapia is a neat Google Maps/Wikipedia mashup with a mission to "describe the whole Earth." We're most interested with the Shanghai portion, which already has seen a bit of activity. Basically, it's an interactive map that allows anyone to label a place of interest in almost any language anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the "maps" portion of Google Maps doesn't work in China because ... um ... uh ... why doesn't it work here again?......

Shanghaiists aren’t frequent patrons of Xintiandi establishments: With a can of diet Coke going for 38 kuai, we prefer to spend our hard earned Renminbi elsewhere. But, there has always been one notable exception -- we love Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Although the place is hardly budget (26 kuai for a medium ice latte), we like it because it’s close to our gym (no, not Physical -- Megafit, though seemingly just as rainbow friendly),......

This just came in to our news desk: WiFi cell phone will soon make their debut in Shanghai. Kick ass! Errrh … only one question, what exactly is a wifi cell phone? So, we took some time out from gawking at hot chicks online and went to work. A WiFi cell phone is actually not very different from mobile phones today. In addition to picking up signals from either a GSM or a CDMA network,......

Torontoist throws down the gauntlet and challenges all comers: pillow fight, bitch. They also stand up for a fellow blogger taking heat from the TTC and welcome city-wide WiFi. SFist can finally admit it: It's possible that Bary Bonds juiced. Is Bay Area artist (tempted to put quotes around that) Thomas Kinkaid "kinda crappy" or "explosively crappy" or does he just like marking territory? SFist wonders. Technology comes in the form of new Mac goodness......

How does that Arcade Fire song go? "I woke up with the power out, not really something to shout about." Well, that is our theme song for the day. The power is out on a large chunk of Nanjing Xi Lu -- no street lights during the middle of the day on one of the city's busiest streets ... beautiful -- and we live on Nanjing Xi Lu. So our power is out. A sign......

The China Daily reports that an expansion to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport is expected to be completed by 2007 and cost $1.23 billion. The expansion includes a third runway and a new terminal, upping the airport's capacity from 20 million passengers per year to 60 million. Eleven million used the airport last year. [T]he new terminal's three-storey design will channel passengers more efficiently. International departures will be handled on the top floor, international arrivals on......