Shenzhen Traffic

Shenzhen big screens

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Shenzen is alive at night. I thought China wouldn't be modern but I was very wrong.

Getting a lift in Suzhou

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Taxi ride at night in Wuxi

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Wuxi building

View from the pagoda at Wuxi

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Riding the cable car

Overlooking the pagoda from
The cable car.

Barges on the river at Wuxi

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Back in Wuxi after visiting Suzhou

Today we've been in Suzhou, the furniture city. I've never seen so much furniture in the one place and we got some great deals. We are now back in Wuxi shopping for DVDs and about to get something to eat.

Construction everywhere you look

One of the first things I noticed besides the world class highway infrastructure, was the amount of construction in this part of China. They really have some momentum going here. By the way, although it looks foggy outside this morning in Wuxi, I've been told it's smog and won't be clearing up as the day goes on.

Twitter and Facebook blocked in China

It seems like China is not a huge fan of social networking. Twitter and Facebook are both blocked while other sites work fine. There are workarounds. I can post to both Twitter and Facebook amongst other services, via Posterous. That is how I'm posting this.

The stormy drive from Shanghai to Wuxi

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It's very hot and humid here at this time of year but as the rain started the temperature dropped from 31C to 24C degrees.

Downtown Wuxi

Downtown Wuxi

View from my room at the Vienna Hotel in Wuxi

Boarding in Sydney to Shanghai

Time to start the China adventure

You know what's it's like. You wake early before a flight and you may as well get up and have plenty of time to get ready without rushing. My flight to Sydney, for the first leg of my China trip, leaves at 6am and the airport is about an hour drive across Melbourne.

After only visiting countries with similar cultures to Australia (South Africa and the US), I'm looking forward to visiting an eastern culture. I'm sure it will be a life changing experience. Let the adventure begin.

All Set for China

Went down and exchanged some AUD for CNY. Travelex offered 5.1 but I did a little better at Flighcentre Travel Money who gave me 5.45. So looks like I have everything in order to leave early Wednesday morning. As usual, I'll leave packing for the last minute.

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Google Tablet Launching Nov 26 in US On Verizon

Google Tablet Reportedly Launching Nov 26 On Verizon

Gizmodo Australia » Search Results » ipad

Today brings a glut of rumoured information on Google’s iPad rival: the Chrome OS tablet will be manufactured by HTC, launched on Verizon and go on sale on November 26, according to Download Squad. Black Friday.

The rumour originates from an unnamed source, but it also adds up given what we’d previously heard and know. It’s been rumoured that Google and HTC are partnering on tablet hardware since January, and clearly Google and Verizon have gotten awfully cosy of late. And launching a major new product on Black Friday – the busiest shopping day of the year in the US – would generate a lot of attention and, more importantly, hands-on time if they end up selling them in brick and mortars.

Download Squad also lists some “likely” specs, and it’s not clear whether that’s also from their source or just pure speculation. But let’s hope for the former: Chrome OS, Tegra 2 graphics, a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB RAM, 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity and webcam are all listed as possibilities.

The iPad’s gone a long time without any real competition – if this rumour holds up, this holiday should make for quite a reckoning. [Download Squad]

The above image is a Chrome tablet UI concept posted by Google in February.

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Paul Young

Xnet Australia

http://x.net.au

Setting up Posterous

This is a great technique for setting up your publishing network for maximin leverage. Just part of the 2010 Challenge training. http://www.challenge.co/training/2010/mod3/day4/

The £17million yacht that comes with its own supercar

The £17million yacht that comes with its own supercar (but be quick, there are only going to be six of them) As far as freebies go a luxury supercar has got to be near the top of the list. But then if you're already forking out £17million for a 122ft state-of-the-art super-yacht you wouldn't really expect anything less. This ultimate buy one-get-one-free offer has recently gone on the market attracting attention from billionaires all over the world. Double trouble: The incredible super-yacht comes with its own supercar which can be stored on board But even if you could afford to buy the exclusive boat, you'd have to order sharpish, as the company are only making six models and has already attracted five possible buyers in the first week on the market. The luxury yacht possesses a luxurious Art Deco interior, boasts four large, double state rooms, a reception area, salon, 52' LED TV's and state-of-the art sound systems in every room - all of which can be personalised. And you will never be short of thrills as the ship can reach top speeds of 43 knots, with its twin MTU 16V000 engine, with the ability to achieve 55 knots with its optional Rolls Royce KaMeWa boosters offering a staggering 14,000hp. But not to be outdone, the super car, which is powered by a 880hp twin turbo V12 engine has a top speed of 375kmh. This artist's impression shows the matching supercar rolling off the docked £17million yacht Like a Bond villain's den, the interior of the super yacht as decorated in an Art Deco style. The design can be changed to suit the individual buyer You can even park your new car on board the impressive boat in its very own garage, located at the stern of the ship. Founder of the Swedish company Strand Craft, Kurt Strand said they had built the boat and car for the 'very wealthy'. He said: 'We have had a lot of interest from all over the world, specifically the Middle East , it was designed for luxury and for people who want the best. 'The custom made super car is the best feature, both the boat and the car are very high performance and the boat is very fast. 'It is very unique and we are making it in limited numbers, so it's exclusive, we are only making six. 'It has a very futuristic design and nothing like this has ever been made before. It even has bullet proof windows.'   The gigantic yacht easily dwarfs the waiting supercar on the dock The yacht has room on the deck at the back to soak up the sun, and pose for paparazzi Crashing through the waves the yacht can hit speeds of up to 43 knots Mr Strand said that they would sell the duo on a first come, first serve basis, and said the new owner would need to be wealthy to afford it. 'We have already had five people interested in it and we will have meetings with them next week,' he added. 'It's a very expensive boat to produce, it will be the most exclusive in the world. 'It's very good that this design has found so much interest from clients.

Can Magic Really Fit In Seven Inches? (iPad)

Yet another Taiwan publication is saying that a 7-inch iPad is coming. This rumour isn’t new. In fact, it was one of the first rumoured sizes. It echoes the always-unreliable Digitimes and iLounge’s latest reports, but is it really possible?

iLounge recently claimed that a “highly reliable source” told them of a 7-inch iPad along with “news” of an antenna-fixed iPhone 4 – coming out as early as January 2010. They also mentioned an iPod touch with a smaller screen than the iPhone. Back in early 2010, iLounge’s original Apple tablet rumours said that Apple was preparing a 7-inch tablet. At the end, though, they back-pedalled, saying that Apple thought a 7-inch screen was too small, and that that Steve Jobs & Co decided on a 10.7-inch iPad instead.

The iPad’s screen size is 9.7 inches.

Likewise, Digitimes has been banging the 7-inch iPad drum for a long time. Unlike the Economic Daily News – which points at an IPS display – Digitimes said the screen is OLED. It’s highly unlikely that Apple will use OLED for anything, given the success of their IPS Retina display and that it is impossible to get OLED screens in the massive quantities Apple would need. The Economic Daily News claims this “iPad 2″ is coming by the year’s end. Now that would be a Christmas surprise.

Why a smaller iPad?

Proponents of this rumour say that going down to seven inches will probably make the iPad lighter. They also say it will be cheaper to make and that Apple wants to keep control of the market they created by offering more flavours.

But we know that Apple has tried different formats for the iPad before settling on the 9.7-inch form factor. There’s nothing wrong with that format. If anything, it’s too small for reading things like comic books. But it feels good to handle, and has resulted in more than three million units sold in very little time (when everyone except a few predicted its catastrophic failure).

It doesn’t make sense to change the winning formula with a screen that will be too small for comfortable reading, while being just double the size of an iPod. And the market doesn’t seem big enough yet to have space for another flavour.

At this point, the only thing that the iPad needs is a higher resolution screen at the same 9.7-inch size. We will probably see this when version 2 is released – probably in a year from now.

Could the rumour be true?

Could the rumour reposted by PC World be true? Who knows. It doesn’t seem very reasonable to me and Taiwanese newspapers have a history of posting false tech industry stories about Apple products in order to boost the reputation of component manufacturers. At the same time, the actual providers are extremely strict about secrecy because their contracts with Apple depend on it.

Like with every Apple rumour – especially this time of year – it’s better to be highly sceptical until an Apple spokesperson actually confirms it. [PC World]

via gizmodo.com.au