Archive for August, 2005

Hospital

Peking University HospitalOriginally uploaded by jiulong. Last Frday Qi woke up with a severe pain in her upper back. Because she has broken her back last year we were a bit concerned, but she decided to go to work anyway. This was not a very good idea, and after a few hours she went to a hospital to get checked by an expert doctor. It turned out that she had dislocated a bone in her upper back (I did not even know you could do that). After the doctor treated her, she hoped the pain would go...
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Anonymouse works again!

Just noticed that my favourite proxy Anonymouse is suddenly working again. Great, so I can read the blogspot and other China-blocked weblogs again without going to Bloglines. In case you are not familiar with anonymouse, you can read most website that are blocked in China by typing: http://anonymouse.ws/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http:// followed by the address of the site that you want to see. The service was down (or blocked?) for the past two weeks or so, and during the past couple of hours it...
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Shanghai Daily

I subscribe to the online version of the Shanghai Daily, an English language newspaper that is a lot more interesting to read than the China Daily. I used to read the China Daily in Beijing because there was nothing better available, but since I moved to Shanghai I have not touched it again, except when I get one on an Air China plane. I actually did not read the online Shanghai Daily that often, because the format was hard to read on a computer screen. I hoped they would change to a different...
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Taxi driver chat

This morning while driving to work, my taxi driver was watching me work on my computer. That is not unusual, it happens almost every day, and some are looking like they have never seen a laptop before. But this one said: "Ah, pingguo diannao, hen hao!". For the non-mandarin speakers, he liked it that I was using an Apple computer. So I started chatting a bit with him. In his free time (not much, he works 12 hours per day driving his cab) he likes to program and surf the internet. And he uses...
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Bad English…

Sometimes you really wonder why Chinese companies cannot not peform a spelling check before printing signs or ads in English. These three I found in the luxurious Grand Gateway mall in...
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Xujiahui – Sunday morning pictures

Some pictures I took this morning while walking to the bakery to get some fresh bread for...
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Lujiazui Golf Club

Friday night after finishing work Gary, Qi and I had a dinner at La Gondola (great Italian restaurant by the way, check it out. Next to Westin Hotel, corner of Henan Lu and Yan'an Lu). Instead of hitting Shanghai nightlife, we decided to hit some golf balls at the driving range next to JinMao. It was still quite busy at 11 PM, and also still quite warm. Nice way to end a busy week, and not too expensive (total RMB 80 including a beer and two cokes). (BTW, photos were taken with my phone, that...
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Online time limits for Chinese gamers

The Dark Plumber of Doom Originally uploaded by Wakiyamani. The Chinese government has announced plans to limit the time that gamers can spend online. After 3 hours their characters abilities will be halved and after 5 hours almost all strenght of its characters will be gone. Most big Chinese online game companies have already agreed to include these measures into their games. Of course they have to, otherwise their business licenses will be cancelled. Will hackers be able to break the...
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Toodou.com update

Toodou.com logo Originally uploaded by Marc van der Chijs. Yesterday Oriental TV came to the Toodou.com office to produce a program about us. They will produce a 25-minute program that will be aired later this week at 7:00 PM. According to the producer, the program has the second highest rating in Shanghai, so lots of viewers probably.Also the Toodou team was featured yesterday in a 4-page special in the Wai Tan Hua Bao (you won't see me in the pictures, I was not there when the reporters...
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Shanghai registers all mobile phone users

Interfax reports that from September 1 onwards all Shanghai mobile phone users will need to register with their ID card:All mobile phone and Xiaolingtong (PHS) subscribers in Shanghai, new and old, will have to register their legal names with city authorities beginning September 1, the Shanghai Communications Administration and the Shanghai Public Security Bureau (PSB) said on Friday. "We have tightened control in order to protect mobile phone users from malicious and fraudulent SMS (short...
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Wine

Chateau Haut Dina Originally uploaded by Marc van der Chijs. After lunch I had a wine tasting session to determine which wines to serve during my wedding. This is one of the nicest parts of organizing a wedding. We decided on two nice Bordeaux wines, a red 2000 Chateau Haut Dina and a white 2001 Chateau Bauvallon. During the tasting we discussed a few things about foreigners doing business in China, and the way they often look at the market (if every Chinese would buy one of my products...
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Chinese anti-Japan War computer game

Interfax posted this story this morning:PowerNet Technology, a Chinese online gaming firm, has developed a new online game in cooperation with the China Communist Youth League (CCYL) named "Anti-Japan War Online," which will begin commercial operation by the end of 2005, a PowerNet official said Tuesday."The game will allow players, especially younger players, to learn from history. They will get a patriotic feeling when fighting invaders to safeguard their motherland," a PowerNet Project...
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Electricity failure

The first thing I normally do when arriving at the office is to make a big cup of coffee. Normally Sophie has already turned on the machine before I arrive, so the only thing I have to do is push a button and a minute later I have a large cup of steaming hot Italian coffee.This morning I noticed that the coffee machine was still off. I turned it on, but nothing happened. I tried the computer nex to it, also not working. Ergo, a power failure in that part of the building. The office is located...
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It's a small world

Shanghai by Night - August 22, '05 - taken from New Heights (3 on the Bund) Originally uploaded by Marc van der Chijs. Sometimes it seems the world is really small. Look at what happened yesterday for example: I was riding in a cab with Gary, my biz partner for Toodou.com, when he got a call from a guy from the US that he would meet later that afternoon. Turns out I also met this guy a couple of weeks ago through an online business forum, and when he arrived in Shanghai the week before...
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TV shooting for Toodou.com

Shanghai, China - TV shooting for Toodou.com Originally uploaded by Marc van der Chijs. The podcasting multimedia website that I co-founded last year is becoming extremely popular. With up to 700,000 page hits per day, and over 50,000 registered users (15 days ago it was only 30,000 registered users!) Toodou.com is exceeding the figures from its business plan. Lots of media attention, not only from blogs, but also interviews with magazines and newspapers. This morning we had a TV crew...
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Internet speed

This weekend the internet speed was once again extremely slow. It started Saturday around noon, when I noticed that I got server timeouts on my Gmail account. This site normally works fine, even on busy times on the net, so when it is not loading on a Saturday afternoon something must be wrong. It turned out that almost half the (foreign) sites I tried to load did not work. Strangely, it was not the case that only European or only US sites worked, it seemed very randomly. I was planning to work...
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Cooler weather

It seems the height of summer is over in Shanghai. Early this week still temperatures were still around 37 degrees, but not we are back around 30-31 degrees. I like the heat, but I also appreciate a bit cooler weather. Finally I can go for a walk at lunch time again, without having to take a shower afterwards and change clothes. In the evening it is actually quite cool (lower 20's). I went running two days ago, and when I walked back from the gym at 10PM it was very pleasant to be outside....
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Apple History

Since about 10 months I am using an Apple computer, and I am extremely satisfied with it. Not one virus hit me in 10 months! Quite amazing, considering that I used to have one about once every 10 days (no, please do not start attacking my computer now...). It is very user friendly, quick, and does not hang itself up. Compatibility with Windows computers is almost 100%, and the few programs that do not run on Apple yet (or not as good, such as the Skype interface) will probably do so soon. And...
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Responsibility

Two interesting related news items in the Shanghai Daily today, about responsibility for an accident. The first one was against a travel agent: a tourist had drowned while swimming in the sea in Thailand. The family of the deceased decided to file a lawsuit, because the travel agent should have warned the tourist that it is dangerous to swim in the sea. In my opinion totally ridiculous, but the court did not see it that way and awarded the family damages.The second news item was about the...
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Taxi line @ Hongqiao airport

Shanghai Hongqiao airport - waiting in line for a taxiOriginally uploaded by Marc van der Chijs. Yesterday I flew back from Beijing to Shanghai. As usual the flight was delayed, this seems to be standard when flying this stretch. We had to wait for one hour on the runway before we were allowed to take off, due to 'traffic control'. What this means was not mentioned, I suppose too many planes were on this route.Another thing which has become standard is the long line for taxi's at Hongqiao...
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