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Long Shanghai summers, Ultracapacitors and picnics
Posted under China on Wednesday, 28 October 2009
A few things that come to mind regarding pollution, climate and China: I've received an email telling that Chinese smog is threatening economy and health in Hong Kong, which is a terrible thing. After living in clean, clean Sweden, I do notice the effects that smog can have. At the time of writing, it's really smoggy in Shanghai, it's depressing...
Boat trip, Leifeng Pagoda and Yakitori in Hangzhou, China
This weekend we made a small trip of 180km out of Shanghai to see the West lake in Hangzhou China, with 6.5 million people not a small town, but due to the beautiful scenery of the lake and the hillside, it's a favorite destination for many Shanghainese. For me, it was a trip down memory lane, because I had been there for a few weeks during my...
Special visitor from Netherlands
Posted under asides on Monday, 26 October 2009
I've got a special vistior from the Netherlands over this week. Giel Talsma is a former neighbor of mine and we've known each other for over ten years. I ran into him when I was in Holland during the summer and I invited him to China, he was excited immediately.
After picking him up at the Pudong airport on a early Saturday, we have had a busy...
Baidu signs China Carrier search deal for Next Generation Phones
Posted under Technology on Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Previously, Google signed a contact with China's biggest carrier to gain footprint in China, however, their number one competitor in this nation signed a deal that will add their search pre-installed on many of the next generation phones, starting with a side-by-side display on the launch of the iPhone next month.
Google is included in...
Company using facebook to scam children
Posted under Technology on Sunday, 18 October 2009
We all know there are plenty of games on Facebook, like recent hits Farmville, Mafia wars and Texas HoldEm poker, all created by game company Zynga.
Zynga's revenue model is entirely based on players buying virtual goods - like gaining quick access to more land in farm-game Farmville - to enhance their game experience and competitiveness....
Company using facebook to scam children
Posted under Technology on Sunday, 18 October 2009
We all know there are plenty of games on Facebook, like recent hits Farmville, Mafia wars and Texas HoldEm poker, all created by game company Zynga.
Zynga's revenue model is entirely based on players buying virtual goods - like gaining quick access to more land in farm-game Farmville - to enhance their game experience and competitiveness....
Gathered influential writers to bring you Asian tech news
Posted under China, Entrepreneurship, Japan, Korea, Media / In The News on Wednesday, 14 October 2009
I'd like to tell you about a new blog we have launched yesterday. First, let me tell you why we went through all the effort: Personally, I have kept a close eye on developments in countries like South-Korea, Taiwan and Japan over the last years, but have start to observe that India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and Thailand are entering the world...
Here comes China
Posted under China, United States on Monday, 12 October 2009
Interesting discussion on the latest NPR planet money episode. "Here comes China"; In line with the 60th anniversary of the people's republic. The hosts, Alex Bloomberg and Adam Davidson ask their guests if China still needs the US more then the US needs China. After all, China needs US dollars to stay strong, and consumers to buy exports....
Tribute to the potato
When people enquire about typical Dutch cuisine, the first thing that pops to my mind is the "potato eaters" painting by Vincent Van Gogh. To me, this 'cozy setting' visualizes how Dutch peasants have been eating potato's every day for at least 400 years, in a typical Dutch way. Besides the painting, I was raised eating potato's almost every day -...
S. Korea web companies prepping for iPhone, nation going wireless
Posted under asides on Friday, 9 October 2009
I bet that we can expect heaps of great Korean developed games and apps from Korea from 2010. The iPhone is will be introduced in South Korea in November. While South Korea is arguably miles ahead in tech, the iPhone has been absent from store shelves ever since its first launch in 2007. Web companies are preparing for the introduction of the...
How Chinese men searching for “village of hot lesbians” broke the Internet in Sweden
Posted under China on Friday, 9 October 2009
It all started when a news agency Xinhua reported (made up) the existence of a city in the northern Swedish woods with 25,000 inhabitants, all hot women living together to satisfy their Scandinavian sexual desires. The city, called Chako Paul was founded in 1820 by a rich widow and is guarded by two blonde guards that will strike men down that try...
20 cent gym part 2: bench press
Remember the 20 cent gym I blogged about? It was about the Chinese ‘muscle beach’:, a bunch of people assembling in a Shanghai park to work out every day. Frankly, the Chinese men pulling heavy weights while looking angry can be quite impressive (but why do they take their shirts off?), I decided to show the scene to a foreign visitor...
China has 30% more Internet users than the US, time for global web dialogue
Posted under Internet, Technology on Friday, 2 October 2009
Let's talk translation. Remember Babel fish? Good at the time, but they lost their place in the market due to the quality of human powered Google translation with an API. Today, we have another player in the market, Facebook connect. Once you've integrated Facebook connect into your site, you can offer users a variety of languages to translate...
PRC’s 60th anniversary, funniest remarks of the day
Posted under China on Thursday, 1 October 2009
Today, almost all Chinese have a day off to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Just like most Shanghainese, we stayed indoor to watch the parade on tv.
NY Times called the parade "a precision display of military bravado and a confident prediction by President Hu Jintao that “infinitely bright...
Gamers in Qiandaohu – Spilgames outing at 1000 islands
Posted under China on Thursday, 1 October 2009
Last week, the entire Spilgames Asia team assembled on a Thursday morning 7 AM in front of our office. The Chinese, Polish, American, Korean and Dutch colleagues got up early for good reason; Spilgames organized a company outing to Qiandaohu - favorite holiday destination for many Shanghainese - by bus, so we had to leave early to avoid Shanghai...
Some parents really step up role in children’s dating game
Posted under China on Thursday, 17 September 2009
While walking around Shanghai last weekend, we came across the most particular scene at the People's Park. Hundreds of elders had gathered and were having a market like situation where a few were adverting something and others were inquiring.
We found out that they had eagerly gathered to exchange information about their children/grandchildren...
Shanghai Marathon 2009
With the whole Seoul Hangang Marathon experience still fresh in mind, I decided to subscribe for half a marathon in Shanghai. This particular run is quite a bigger event, taking place in the heart of the city.
Isn't Shanghai a terrible dirty city to run the marathon? While some might expect that this 'smoggy city', once called the 'opposite of...
The 20 cent workout in Shanghai
A 40 year old Chinese man drives his motor bike with carrier filled with barbells, dumbbells and a radio to the park outside my Shanghai compound every evening. Upon arrival, he marks an area of roughly 40 square meters and unloads the heavy weights. Shortly after, the place is packed with shirtless muscular Chinese men working out. I have seen...
Pictures from around Shanghai
Posted under China on Monday, 14 September 2009
Old meets new
Taken at the Jingan temple "Temple of Peace and Tranquility" this afternoon.
Wiki: "The first temple was built in 247 AD, at the time of the Kingdom of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period. Originally located beside Suzhou Creek, it was relocated to its current site in 1216 during the Song Dynasty. The current temple was...
One of the things that make living in Shanghai so great
Posted under China on Thursday, 3 September 2009
One of the nice things of living in China is to witness the feel-good energy that (most) people receive from the tremendous growth the country is going through. Development can be turbulent, but I am receiving a lot of smiles on the street as well. I was talking with a 60 year old Chinese woman in a plane from Beijing, and she was so excited to...
Good morning China (video: Fireworks in the morning)
I have experienced some Chinese culture, one of the things that made me interested in the country were the fireworks. In The Netherlands, we can only light fireworks for a number of hours per year, during new years eve. From the age of six, I used to spend every new years eve with my Chinese friends (in a small town Chinese restaurant) to...
Eating bacon in Daejeon
Everytime when I return to Korea, the comic graph by Randall Munroe (displayed above) pops into my head. Who knows if bacon is really that bad, but I have a feeling that I should not eat it too often. I never really liked bacon, until I ate it in Korea. While living there, I had to compensate the barbeques with a lot of running, leaving little...
Want some mayonnaise with that King Cobra?
I have seen some interesting food in Asia over the years. Most interesting dishes were definitely in China. I don't want to bother you with the cliché backpack-like stories that hit the blogosphere daily, because eating culture is indeed different here, nothing new, I know.
Instead I want to tell you about how the live-stock,...
Korean Institute pushing Hangeul alphabet across Asian tribes
Posted under Korea on Thursday, 27 August 2009
I came across an interesting article on the website of the Korean Embassy in the Netherlands. Apparently, a tribe based in Bauer Indonesia has chosen to use Hangeul (Korean writing) as its official writing system.
The 60.000 people of the tribe, were about to lose their native language due to the lack of a writing system, are learning to write...
Chinese do not pay attention to red traffic lights anyway
I decided to buy a simple (20 euro) bike at the Carrefour last week, as there are many more bikes and bike roads in Shanghai then in Seoul. Finally I feel free in the city!
Is it dangerous to cycle through Shanghai? My first response would be that it's certainly not easy to cycle here. First off because there are many electric bikes here, these...
Empty eight lane roads in Zibo
This week I was in Zibo (map), a 1.5 hours bus drive from the nearest airport of Jinan. There are about 4 million people living here. The city is known for material arts and it's rich resources. Due to the resources, the city is characterized by smog, due to coal mining and farmers. To facilitate the mining, the prefecture-level city has a...
It’s good to take pictures!
So, it takes about 20 years for me to forget a sight, as it seems. Displayed below is a old and a new holiday picture, taken in the south of France.
The first picture is around 1990, second one almost 20 years later. The chap in blue is me, the handsome girl in the right is my sister Mirrin.
What is particularly interesting is that none of...
[Movie] Would you freak out when your name is announced at the Airport? (Dutch)
Imagine sitting at the gate, waiting for your plane from Amsterdam to Shanghai to arrive and you hear your name announced over the speakers. This happened to me yesterday.
Yesterday I took the train to the airport of Amsterdam, and checked in like normal, passed security check and ordered some fruits. When I found a place to sit, I started to...
![[Movie] Would you freak out when your name is announced at the Airport? (Dutch)](http://www.joop.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/imgp4171-300x263.jpg)
Greetings from France!
Posted under Entrepreneurship, Pictures on Friday, 24 July 2009
I arrived in Castellane France. I couldn't resist to publish this picture of my desert yesterday.
I learned a few things in France:
When the camping has WIFI, it's hard to resist ^^
Badminton battles in the pool often end up in badminton parties.
You don't need a villa to have a good time in the sun, a tent is also okay
For now my...
Learning Chinese with help of Iphone/iPod Touch
A quick post about learning Chinese Mandarin with help of my iPod Touch, because I think it's a remarkable useful device for learning phrases and - in the case of Chinese - also for learning to write characters using the touch screen. All and all, very efficient for those idle moments of the day to study a new language. I agree it would not help...
Who the F***
Spil Games Asia honcho with some ROK and PRC experience. Check out this blog for your daily photo feast and some background stories from Asia. Subscribe to Joop Dorresteijn by EmailRecent Comments
Adam Daniel Mez…Joop, you just got me addicted to something new! Oh no! ::: who would have thought the Czechs invest this...
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