I took one apart to take a look, and the issue is the oh too familiar someone bought cheap capacitors that use the wrong formula. Tsk tsk Apple!

Here are some photos of a faulty power supply from a Time Capsule I’ve taken apart to demonstrate -

If you look closely, you’ll see that the middle capacitor on the right has leaked, and the others are bulging slightly.  Its a little hard to see unless you look closely, but they are faulty!

WARNING

There are high voltages present in the PSU even when it has been off for a while, so do _not_ take it apart unless you know what you are doing. Otherwise, you are liable to shock yourself!

To take a Time Capsule apart, you need to carefully remove the plastic underpart first – some of these are easy to remove, some not. One was a complete nightmare – took ages and ages to remove the plastic, and of course I managed to gouge my fingers in the process!

Once removed, its a matter of unscrewing the 3 thousand tiny screws that hold the metal base in, and popping the metal base out.

Time Capsule plastic undergarments and my patented "pad extraction tool, which I also use for opening Mac Mini's."

In the two I fixed this week, I decided the easiest course of action was not to replace the power supply caps, but instead to remove the PSU completely, and re-use the existing connectors.

If you look at the left corner of the PSU (I’ve already destroyed mine removing the connectors), there should be 3 separate cables bunched together.

The Black power connector with only 1 cable is the 12v line.
The power line with 4 wires is the 5v line
and the power line with the most wires +-5 cables? is the ground.

As 5v / 12v is a fairly easy PSU type to find, I’ve just cannibalized some old 3.5″ HDD case PSU’s to remake the cable. Those are really cheap to buy – 30-40RMBish locally USD$5+-

The Apple PSU is a 12v 1.2A and 5v 3A. The PSU’s I used are 2A, but seem to be ok. Worst case, I can replace them if the Time Capsule draws too much current. I think it should be fine though, as the drives don’t really draw that much juice anyway. Only real current draw is when the drive initially powers up, and the Time Capsule seems to delay that till after its finished booting, so its less of a power draw.

The 2 PSU’s I used were fairly similar. I chopped the connector end off, both had 3 wires inside, so it was just a matter of using a multimeter to work out what wire carried what voltage, and then soldering the relevant ones to the connectors I removed from the PSU.

Tip – Push the new cable through the old power cable hole, then make a small loop on the other side with the cable *before* you solder the connectors. That way the cable can’t pull through and possibly break some / strain something later.
Bear in mind that the fan also mounts just above the power, so it might be a bit of a squeeze putting it all back together!

Solder the 3 wires to the relevant connectors, wrap up with electrical tape, and test without the HDD initially to make sure the yellow power light comes on.

If that comes up ok, power down again, connect the HDD, and recheck. If all is good, then put it back together!
I didn’t bother putting the plastic mat back under my Time Capsule.

Here’s how my completed Repaired Time Capsule looks -

So far its been working fine. I also took the opportunity to replace the HDD with a new 2TB drive, as mine was a 500G.
I’m enjoying the free space…

I think this is actually a better way of doing things for the Apple Time Capsule, as the PSU gets to be external, and there is less heat inside.

In theory this really should be something that Apple does a recall for, as its definitely an epidemic.  I’ve personally seen a couple, and there are continual reports on the web for the same things.  As Apple China is… not very good in our extensive experience -  http://www.badappleservice.cn/ cough, cough, I tend to fix this stuff myself.

Good links on all this here -

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/1267631.html

There is also a PDF document on how to do this, but as its on that heinous den of iniquities (Google), its not accessible in China.
Should be on this link, but I can’t check, and I do no illegal evil, so no bypassing the most glorious firewall, that blocketh half the damn internet for me…
http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems

Today I had another crack at enabling MMS on a 2G. For some reason not much documentation, and too much misinformation out there on the net.

Guaranteed working instructions for China Mobile users below:

Note #1 – this is for 2G iPhones only. 3G and newer phones, skip to the MMS settings at the bottom of the post, and put those in Settings / General / Network / Cellular Data Network…

Note #2 – 2G users – if you used BlackRa1n to jailbreak, this will not work either, and will b0rk wireless. Use PwnageTool, and create a 3.1.3 jailbroken / boot neutered (carrier unlock) firmware, install that first, then continue.

iPhone 2G users –

Install 3.1.3
Jailbreak with usual steps.
Add cydia.ifoneguide.nl in Cydia / Sources
Wait a bazillion years for cydia to timeout with the various blocked in China repositories.
Click Search
Download Activate 2G MMS
Reboot

Normally we’d be done, however the MMS settings won’t let us save a diffferent MMS and GPRS name, so we need to install a specific IPCC (iPhone Carrier Setting file) for China Telecom.
As China Telecom is (at time of writing) not an official iPhone supplier, they don’t have an IPCC file, so we need to roll our own.

Here’s one I found earlier – ChinaMobileCarrierSettingsWithMMS.zip

Download that, unzip, and throw on the desktop.

We’ll need to tell iTunes that its ok to use the IPCC file first, so close iTunes.
Now head off to terminal (or a DOS window for those on Windows), then paste this in.

Mac users:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE

Windows users:
(32 bit)
“C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe” /setPrefInt carrier-testing 1

(64 bit)
“C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunes.exe” /setPrefInt carrier-testing 1

Done?

Ok, now open iTunes again, connect the phone if its not connected, and..

Mac Users:

Press + hold down Alt(option), and Click “Update”

Windows Users:

Press + hold down shift, then Click “Update”

iTunes will prompt you for a file.
Choose the IPCC file you downloaded.

Sync the phone.

Finally… shut the phone off again.

Once you power up again, you should be able to send/ receive MMS!

If its not working for you, check that the settings are in there –

Settings / General / Network / Cellular Data Network

(anything not listed below should be empty)

Cellular Data
APN -> cmnet

MMS
APN -> cmwap
MMSC -> http://mmsc.monternet.com
MMS Proxy -> 10.0.0.172
MMS Max Message Size -> 300172

Tested, and working on lots of 2g iPhones.

UPDATED May 5 2010

Note: I don’t personally own an N310. I don’t have access to one either, as the owner of this one went back to the States with it.
Updates to this page are mostly from the comments people have made. When I can assist I have / will, but as I don’t own an actual N310, I rely on you for feedback!

One of my friends brought round a notebook for me to Hackintosh yesterday. Unlike the usual god no… kind of options I get given, this is actually a nice machine.
This one is almost as Mac friendly as my current Nano sized Hackintosh (aka Loz’s Hackbook Nano)

I present the next best thing in Mini Mac’s (until the will it? won’t it? Mac Tablet comes out! (ok, so it came out already, and its a bit meh..) ) – The Samsung N310

The Samsung is a generic Atom based Netbook with the following hardware:

CPU Intel Atom N270, 1600 Mhz
Chipset Intel 82945GSE Graphics Controller
Graphics Card Intel GMA 950
Audio Realtek ALC272
Wifi Atheros AR5007EG Wireless
Ethernet Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet
Bluetooth Adapter USB Based Generic
Webcam USB Based Namuga 1.3M

Installation is remarkably easy.
You’ll need the following things – an External USB DVD drive, and Snow Leopard.

Suggest before you install anything, update your BIOS to the latest version. This should be something like BIOS version 06BA or newer.
The bios updates are windows only, so you’ll need to do that before installing OSX, or have some other method of booting into Windows afterwards (google for Hiren Boot CD 10 for something that will provide a bootable Windows XP amongst other tools).

There are two bios files that are available currently. This first one is the one that you will likely have to use:

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/FM/201002/20100203094911375/Win_N310_06BA.exe

And here is the second one:

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/FM/201003/20100302094206890/Win_N310_01BD.exe

CHECK YOUR VERSION OF YOUR BIOS IN YOUR BIOS. IF YOUR VERSION ENDS IN A “BA”, USE THE FIRST ONE. IF IT ENDS IN “BD”, USE THE SECOND ONE.

Ready?

Download the latest NetbookInstaller ISO from here – http://osx.mechdrew.com/downloads/
Burn to CD. Connect your USB drive to the N310, and boot off of the newly burned CD.

Follow the instructions to swap with your Snow Leopard DVD at the appropriate time, and boot into the installer.
Install as normal (in my case, I just wiped the existing partitions, set the boot type to GUID instead of MBR in Partition, Options, and did a full install)
Once the OS reboots (or finishes with a cannot install error right at the end – don’t worry, its not a problem!).
Reboot into the NetbookInstaller ISO again, but this time choose the HDD (as we still need to install a valid bootsector for the OS to run)

The OS should boot up ok, fill in the relevant bits and pieces, and get to the desktop screen.
Open up NetBookMaker from the CD, navigate to the Tools folder and open NetbookInstaller:

I did this using 0.8.3RC4, but newer versions should be similar. Current version is 0.84rc1 as of April 2010.
Click Continue for the Unrecognized Hardware Prompt.

Choose the correct disk in the Volume Dropdown, and
Check Install Chameleon 2
Check Install General Extensions
Check Generate a System Specific DSDT.AML file.
Uncheck everything else.

Click Install.

It should trundle away for a few minutes, then recommend you reboot.

Remove the NetbookInstaller DVD, and make sure that you can reboot ok from the Hard Drive

Right now you should have working Webcam, Video, Bluetooth, and Trackpad will support 2 finger scroll (go to System / Preferences/ Trackpad to configure)

We’re still missing Wifi, Audio, and you’ll notice that sleep doesn’t quite work yet.
To install those, we’ll need to set some BIOS parameters, and replace the wifi card.

Wifi – the original card is a crap atheros. I couldn’t be buggered looking for drivers, and immediately swapped it out for a Dell1390 Broadcom card. Cheap, and the same as real Macbooks, so no driver issues. Should be about $8 on eBay (RMB50 or so locally in China on Taobao).

The N310 is reasonably easy to disassemble, just remove all the plastic plugs underneath (including the larger feet ones), and remove the screws. Gently remove the case bottom, and replace the wifi card.
If you use the Dell1390 you won’t need to install any drivers, they’re built in, yay!

Enabling Sleep / Brightness (working on 10.6.3 / BIOS 06BA apparently ) -

Go into the BIOS and set the following:

EDB = Enabled
Legacy USB Support: Disabled
USB S3 Wake-Up = Enabled

Boot into OSX

You’ll need to replace the DSDT.aml from NetbookMaker with the one below.

I’ve uploaded a DSDT.aml for the n310 here – DSDT.aml.
To use, rename file to DSDT.aml, and copy to /Extra, then reboot.

This also apparently works for Brightness control with the latest BIOS revision on 10.6.3. You’ll have to change brightness from the System Prefs / Displays / Brightness though, as the function keys aren’t mapped.

Note: If you do mess around with DSDT.aml files, please have a working recovery method available that you can access the hard drive with (eg an OSX Install DVD + Boot132 CD). Apple’s install DVD can also be used for recovery.

If you find that you can’t boot after installing the DSDT.aml, boot from the Boot132 CD or USB, then boot into to the OSX install DVD. Go to terminal in the installer, and delete the offending file, then reboot.

For the remaining drivers:
Download the zip below for modified Bluetooth (to enable bluetooth on / off keyboard switch), and 10.6.3 compatible Audio drivers (kexts) for the N310.

Thanks to Breathless for modifying the Bluetooth, and emailing me both files.

Samsung N310 Audio and Bluetooth Kexts

Copy to /Extras/GeneralExtensions, then rebuild the Extension cache.

You can do that manually or use a tool. NetbookInstaller nicely places a program called UpdateExtra into the /Extra folder which can rebuild the Extension cache for you. Reboot once done, and you should be good.

Thats pretty much it!

—-

Now you should have a fully working Samsung N310 running OSX Snow Leopard!

The brightness (via Displays System Prefs panel), sleep, audio and bluetooth should all be working fine. The wifi too (assuming you replaced the mini pci-e card as recommended)
The volume on/off keyboard functions should work, the trackpad on/off.

Thanks to Breathless for the feedback so I could update this page.

Good luck with yours!

Useful links:
http://www.kexts.com – kexts (drivers) for OSX
http://www.superhai.com/darwin.html – Power related drivers for OSX
http://osx.mechdrew.com/ – MechDrew from MyDellMini’s site on Hackintosh Installs
http://cid-8b65993ef55cf014.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/OSx86/Snow%20Leopard – some Czech site hosted on live.com full of goodies/ kexts

Hong Kong

MB489ZP/A 8gb blk
MB496ZP/A 16gb blk
MB500ZP/A 16gb white

Same with
ZZ = Macau
ZA = Singapore

here is the list of official unlock units from other countries.
MB489NF/A
MB496NF/A
MB500NF/A

MB489CZ/A
MB496CZ/A
MB500CZ/A

MB490CZ/A
MB497CZ/A
MB501CZ/A

MB489CZ/A
MB496CZ/A
MB500CZ/A

MB489GR/A
MB496GR/A
MB500GR/A

MB489GR/A
MB496GR/A
MB500GR/A

MB489T/A
MB496T/A
MB500T/A

MB489T/A
MB496T/A
MB500T/A

MB489NF/A
MB496NF/A
MB500NF/A

MB489FB/A
MB496FB/A
MB500FB/A

MB489ZP/A
MB496ZP/A
MB500ZP/A

MB489ZA/A
MB496ZA/A
MB500ZA/A

MB489X/A
MB496X/A
MB500X/A

MB489RS/A
MB496RS/A
MB500RS/A

MB489AB/B
MB496AB/B
MB500AB/B

MB489ZA/A
MB496ZA/A
MB500ZA/A

MB489SL/A
MB496SL/A
MB500SL/A

MB489SO/A
MB496SO/A
MB500SO/A

MB489TA/A
MB496TA/A
MB500TA/A

MB489TH/A
MB496TH/A
MB500TH/A

MB489TU/A
MB496TU/A
MB500TU/A

MB489AB/B
MB496AB/B
MB500AB/B

Site: http://192.168.1.1/
User: telecomadmin
Pass：nE7jA%5m

Useful if you want to rejig the QoS settings.

The other standard modem HG520S is easier – admin / admin

Might be useful for some folks. I’m mostly posting here for myself, as I’ll probably forget and need to google it later.

Riding motorized transport without one is not recommended, as this can lead to fines, deportation, and jail in worst case scenario’s.
This has been documented enough times by those unfortunate enough to knowingly break the law.

Electric Bikes/ Scooters are not exempt from requiring a licence, despite what the nice man at the shop selling you the bike, or others might say.

To be street legal in Shanghai, you need a plate.

1) Only bikes purchased in Shanghai can get a Shanghai plate.
Keep your official receipt (fapiao) when you buy the bike, as it needs to be used to get your licence.

2) As of a law passed in April 2008, Shanghai Electric bikes have to be:

* Under 40kg.
* Not capable of speeds faster than 20km/hr.
Effectively this means only bikes < 36v.
* Listed in the allowed vehicle database for Shanghai.
Legal bikes have a 15 digit unicode (like a car VIN) which is unique. Manufacturers have to apply for a production licence for this, and not all have done so.

A list of licenced manufacturers is available here:
http://www.shbicycle.com/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=6230

If you own a bike that is older than that date that does not conform to the above, and you had a legal licence at that time, then it can be renewed each year, and its still legal.

3) To licence an electric bike/scooter/moped you need to visit the police station for your district.

You will need to bring:

* – The fapiao for the bike
* – Valid form of ID (Passport for foreigners)
* – The bike
* – Money to pay for the licence (11rmb currently)

—–

FAQ’s:

Can I use a legal plate from another province?
eg Jiangsu…
Possibly No, with some caveats -
It is not legal to ride with an out of town plate unless it is a weekend, or public holiday. You can be fined 200RMB if caught riding outside of these times, although this is unlikely. This is a grey area though, so police attitude to this may vary/change. While having a plate is better than not having a plate, it may not help if you have an accident.

Can I carry a passenger?
According to the law, no.

Is is illegal to drive without a plate?
Yes. Being a foreigner does not exclude you from following the law.

Do I need a driving licence for an electric bike/moped/scooter?
No.

Is there an official list of legal bikes?
There are 2 official sites where you can check if a bike is legal – http://www.shbicycle.com and http:/www.shjtaq.com

A current list of legal bikes with photo’s is here:
http://www.shbicycle.com/Photo/ShowClass.asp?ClassID=84

You will need Chinese reading abilities to read either site.

Instructions below for non illiterate:

市民在购买电动自行车时，可以通过上海市自行车行业协会网站上（HTTP://WWW.SHBICYCLE.COM），或上海交通安全信息网（网址： HTTP://WWW.SHJTAQ.COM，点击首页右上方的 “车/牌/证公告”栏目中的“上海电动自行车—上牌备案登记表”）查询该目录。

Are the cool Vespa lookalikes legal?
No.
The Vespa lookalikes / Spicy Motors bikes are not street legal for various reasons – weight, voltage, speed (unless you have a 2008 model licenced prior to 8/2008).
Additionally, they are not listed in the police database of allowed models.

…but XXX / Bike shop / my friend etc says its legal?
In short: They’re lying.

Caveats:
If you are in living a city other than Shanghai this may be ok.
Different cities, different rules.
If the bike is 2nd hand, and has an existing legal Shanghai licence, and it has been renewed each year, then it is also ok (albeit extremely unlikely).
Otherwise, see the short answer.

What about repair / warranty?
By Law, bikes have a “三包” (threefold warranty).

If you have issues within 7 days the seller is legally obligated to give your money back if you so wish.
Within 2 weeks, you are guaranteed a replacement bike.
Within 1 year, if you have more than 2 of the same type of failure, they have to replace, or you can get your money back less depreciation.
Consumables such as lights are not covered by this, nor are collisions..

Parts have the following warranties (by law):
Motor: 2 years
Frame, Fork, Charger, Controller, Battery: 1 year

*For batteries, failure is deemed as holding < 60% of original charge.

More details here:
http://www.shbicycle.com/news/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=43

Note that it is while it is illegal for shops to sell bikes that cannot be licensed, many still do.

Where can I licence my electric [bike/scooter/moped]?

Addresses for each district:

Bao Shan
宝山区 凇兴西路长征新村23号 56672872

Chang Ning District:
长宁区
天山路11弄12号
62747031

No 12, Lane 11, Tian Shan Lu

Hong Kou:
上海市丰镇路118号/上海市水电路1656号
上午8：30—11：30；下午13：30—17：00 周五下午不
受理 65161561

Feng Zhen lu / 1656 Shui Dian Lu
Closed Friday morning.

Huang Pu District:
黄浦区
山东南路49号
63289464

49 South Shan Dong rd

Jing An
静安区
昌平路372号
62539361

372 Chang Ping road (off Shaanxi road)

Lu Wan District:
思南路、香山路 交界拐角处－－卢湾区非机动车管理处
卢湾区 思南路46号 63275000
46 Si Nan lu / Xiang Shan lu

Min Hang District:
上海市沪闵路4888号（莘庄镇靠近颛桥）
上午8：00—11：00；下午13：00—16：30
6489 1010-3015

4888 Hu Min lu

Nan Hui District:
南汇非机动车管理所：

上海市南汇川南奉公路6116号
上午8：30—11：30；下午13：00—17：00
电话58021896

Nan Shi District (Southern parts of City?):
南市区 中山南一路161弄5号 63138859

Pu Dong District:
浦东非机动车管理所：
上海市浦东新区杨高中路1500号上午：9：00—11：30；下午13：30—16：30 周五下午不受理电话28946594
or
浦东新区 浦东南路3640号 58394097

1500 Yang Gao Middle Road
or
3640 Pudong South Road

Putuo District:
普陀区
芦定路325号 52811677

Xu Hui District:
龙吴路2388号，徐浦大桥下面
2388/2138 Long Wu Lu, underneath Xu Pu bridge

徐汇区 龙吴路2138号（徐浦大桥） 64340579

Yang Pu District:
杨浦区
双阳路357号
65433020

Zhabei:
闸北非机所
上海市天目中路707号
上午8：30—11：30；下午13：30—17：00 周五下午不
受理 63172110

Also 闸北区 共和新路1985号 56650065

707 Tian Mu Middle Road

I’ve updated the post to reflect that this can be done in other cities in China also, not just Shanghai, as this was getting re-twittered with questions about how to do this in other locations.

You may also want to support me, and buy a set of my Chinese / English Fridge Magnets (as these are useful for newcomers to China – you can use them to communicate with the ayi!). More on those here – http://liurl.cn/eu

Anjuke.com has city sites for the following locations currently:

北京 (Beijing)  上海 (Shanghai)  广州 (Guangzhou)  深圳 (Shenzhen)  成都 (Chengdu) 南京 (Nanjing) 杭州 (Hangzhou) 苏州 (Suzhou)

In order to select the city you want, visit one of the city sites eg http://shanghai.anjuke.com, and click the link next to the city name 其他城市 (other cities)

See the image above for an example where I choose 深圳 (Shenzhen).  The direct link for shenzhen is http://shenzhen.anjuke.com

You’ll still need to find out the chinese names for area that you want to live in for your city, unfortunately, I’m only familiar with Shanghai and Zhuhai, so I can’t really help for other locations!
I can assist with translations, and update this post if people leave comments though.

In general, you want to be using the web to do the research, not go to agents.
When I say this, I mean do the research yourself for the apt’s you’d like to look at, *then* go to the agents in question, and ask to see the apt’s.
Agents generally range from clueless, to inept, to downright timewasters, so only go look at stuff you think is good for your requirements.

There are a number of good websites that just do apt stuff.
Here are some of the common ones for Shanghai and Beijing. You’ll find that many of the apt’s will be listed on multiple sites, so generally you’ll only need to use one site to search. I like Anjuke, because it has a clean interface, and is easier to use. The cheapest places in Shanghai are generally the ones on http://rent.online.sh.cn though.

上海 Shanghai
http://shanghai.anjuke.com
http://rent.online.sh.cn
http://shanghai.souwoo.com/
http://www.anjia.com

北京 Beijing
http://beijing.souwoo.com/
http://beijing.anjuke.com/

You can find suitable places fairly easily online, and just arrange to visit the ones that are in budget, and look suitable.

Using the Chinese sites is a lot easier than it looks!

First and foremost, learn the Chinese for the area you’ll be in.
The main foreign friendly area’s (in Puxi) are:

卢湾 = Lu Wan (Xin Tian Di and surrounds)
静安 = Jing an (Portman (Nanjing Xi lu) through to changshou road)
徐汇 = Xu Hui (huai hai rd / french concession)
长宁 = Chang Ning (zhong shan park)
红桥 = Hong Qiao

Rental is 租房

Here are some quick instructions for using Anjuke

Anjuke, you would click 租房 (rent) – http://shanghai.anjuke.com/v2/rent/

This will give you a search similar to the one below. Its fairly nice to use, and essentially you filter out the locations you want (or don’t want).

区域 is area (see the ones listed above)
租金 is monthly rental – choose your price range
房型 is how many rooms (leave that at the default, price is more important)
装修 is buildout – this goes from 毛坯 (bare concrete), through to standard (aka hovel), through to 精装修 (ok/fair) and 豪华装修 (acceptable/ probably tacky).

不限 means I don’t care. (You use this in conjunction with the options above, so if you didn’t care about the renovation, click that to show any renovation type).

If you want to find a place in Jing An for 2000RMB , you’d click 静安, 1000-2000元, then take a look at the listings.

eg

面积 refers to area size.

In the listing above, there were 307 results, and the first result is for a room in an old house.
The size of the apt is 48sq/m, and its on the second floor, out of 3 floors.
The build out is 普通装修. This tends to mean never been cleaned or painted, or otherwise maintained.
As the price is cheap, its quite probable that it has a shared toilet / kitchen (which is quite common for old houses).

Click on the title of the listing to view the details. (the large blue link on each listing)

Also check in the listing title to see if the listing says 单间出租 – that means they’re renting a room, and you’ll be sharing a flat.

Most places have pictures, (but don’t assume they’re correct). Each listing will have an agent, and a phone number.
Call the number, and talk to the agent, if you are interested.

If you don’t speak Chinese, then print the page out, and ask someone for some help.

You can translate any page listing to chinglish fairly easily using http://www.google.com/translate. Just copy the url for the page, open another page and paste the url into the google translate box. Click translate, and it will give you a bad translation, which is generally good enough to get the gist of things!

These were my tips for someone else recently who was asking the same questions for Changning area:

No problems to find a nice apt for less than 3000RMB for that area furnished. Prices online in Chinese sites range from 2300 – 3000 for 60 sq/m around that area.
You won’t really find unfurnished apt’s here in China.

Electricity is expensive here – if you leave the a/c on – eg in summer months its a necessity, expect bills of 500rmb upwards.
Water, gas is cheap < 50-100rmb. Internet 150rmb a month for 2M line.

Contract usually signed for 6months to 1 year. Typically 1 – 3 months deposit, and 1 month to the agent as commission.
Most of the agents here are clueless unfortunately.

Suggest look for apt’s in larger buildings, as those will be newer, and have lifts (anything >7 floors has a lift)
eg 总26层/第15层 – this means that its the 15th floor out of 26floors.

You can use google translate on the pages that you look at in order to give you a little more info, but pretty much all the info you need is easy to see – eg m2, price..

Another important point not mentioned at all is that you should exercise caution.

If the landlord is an asshole, don’t bother, even if its a nice apt.
The ideal landlord is one you don’t see until the rent is due.

Also small repairs are usually better off getting organized by yourself, rather than the landlord. Workmen are cheap here, and spending 50-100rmb for fixing a leaking tap is less hassle than having the landlord do it. If it will cost > that then use the landlord…

Another hugely important thing is to make sure that you don’t get ripped off.

Buy a cheap disposable camera, take pictures of the state of the place when you move in. Have the landlord sign these – it will cost you less than 50rmb.

When it comes to moving out, you won’t have any arguments over who scratched this, broke that etc.

I’ve moved into places where the furniture dated back to before I was born, and it was crappy then, and worse condition now, so be prepared, and record everything so that when you move out, they don’t steal your deposit by claiming you broke stuff that was already falling apart.

Also important is to make sure that the landlord is allowed to rent the place out. Make sure that the name on the rental contract matches the name on the Landlords ID.

I’ve had a few friends who have had to move for various reasons related to that. Also make sure that the landlord can give you a fapiao for the rental, as this 95% guarantee’s that the apt is legal to rent.

Ask for a discount if you don’t need a fapiao.

Good luck!

As we often get asked why people need to register an ICP licence, as well as whats required. I thought it would be a good idea to explain what it is, and why its needed.

Essentially, an ICP licence is a permit from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MII) in order to have a website in China.
In Chinese this licence is called a Bei An (ICP备案).

This was made law way back in September 2000, but not enforced until the late parts of this decade – 2007 onwards.
The latest documentation about this, and other requirements (in Chinese) is over here – http://www.miibeian.gov.cn/chaxun/flfg1.jsp?id=12

It is mandatory for any websites hosted in China to have an ICP licence, under penalty of law.
This applies whether the site is a .com, or a .cn or any other kind of domain name.

How do you apply for an ICP licence?

Website ICP licences are applied for at the MII website ( http://www.miibeian.gov.cn ), as this is all in Chinese, we typically assist clients with this process.

What do I need to apply for an ICP licence?

The official requirements are below:

Name of the website owner
Ownership information – ( Is the site is owned by an individual or a company? )
Valid identification documents (e.g., passport, ID card, etc)
Passport ID or Identification ID

Name of website investor
Your Location (in China)
Address (in China)
Operation type

Contact Person
Types of valid identification documents of the contact Person (e.g., passport or ID card, etc)
Passport ID or other Identification ID of the contact person
Office Phone (in China)
Mobile Phone (in China)
Email:

Name of the website
Home page of the website
Domain name of the site
What type of site it is (e.g., blog, forum, etc.)
What is the content of the site?

Although foreigners should be able to apply for an ICP licence, in practice that’s not possible (we haven’t been able to successfully have an ICP licence issued for a foreigner for at least a year).
Effectively this limits us to the following two requirements (we can fill in the rest for you):

Legal Chinese Company Licence Number
Company Name (in Chinese and English)

or

Chinese Name
ID number.

Note that while companies are able to register multiple websites, individuals are only permitted to register a single site.

Where do I put the licence?
The excerpt from the official wording reads as follows: 并在取得经营许可证或备案号后 3 天内放在网站主页下方显著位置.
This basically says that the licence must be placed on the website within 3 days of receiving the licence, and must be placed on the home page at the bottom of the page.

Note that we do check clients sites on a semi regular basis for this, so if you redesign your site and forget to put the ICP licence in, you may find your site closed until this is done.

How long does it take?
Typically licence application takes less than two weeks. We have seen licenses issued in as little as a day though, through to taking 2-3 months!
This all depends on when you apply, and what kind of business you are doing in China.

We recommend that you avoid leaving things until the Chinese Holidays if things are urgent, as the relevant departments are usually understaffed, and about to go on vacation.
In a worst case scenario, we can host sites oversea’s until the licence is issued.

The licence department will ask us to close down acccess to the site when they perform the check though.

We recommend that licenses are applied for well ahead of time, so that you don’t have any downtime.

What does it cost?
Applying for an ICP licence is free. If you are one of our clients, we perform licence application as part of our service.
If you aren’t one of our clients, then why not become one!

What kind of sites can get licenses? / What can we host?
Any site that does not contravene China law can get a license. We cannot assist you with hosting anything that is illegal in China!

China law prohibits the following kinds of websites:

• Pornographic or promoting immoral behaviour.
• Sites offensive to the Chinese government or people.
• Sites that sell online drugs or satellite equipment
• Sites that promote banned activities or organizations.

Note that certain kinds of content do require additional licensing, in addition to an ICP licence.

An example would be BBS (Forums).
If you require a forum, we recommend that the forum is hosted outside of China until a license can be issued.

Note that BBS licensing requires additional fee’s and documentation due to the amount of work involved.

Did the usual stuff – disk repair, disk verify (caught some small things).
That fixed the disk full messages.

Then the client told me – oh, by the way, Safari doesn’t open.

Tailing the system log in console still revealed issues.

14/04/09 09:07:43 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] could not fetch history: Cannot allocate memory
14/04/09 09:07:43 com.apple.launchctl.System[2] BootCacheControl: could not stop cache/fetch history: Cannot allocate memory

A quick google of that error showed it was caused by…. Wacom drivers.

While Wacom have updated drivers for other tablets, the client uses a Bamboo, which hasn’t had driver updates since 2007.

Checking the logs while opening Safari revealed that it was trying to open a non-existent file called com.pentablet.defaults.xml

On the off chance that this would work, I created a blank file in terminal.

Terminal
sudo su
[enter in your password]
cd /Library/Preferences
ls -al com.pentablet.defaults.xml

If (and ONLY if) no file is found, do this:

echo > com.pentablet.defaults.xml
exit
exit

Safari will open again.

Hopefully Wacom will release newer less buggy drivers sometime soon.

For at least the last 2 years, I’ve been telling people to use 360Safe antispyware software if they have the dreaded lurgy, er I mean Windows.

The number one issue people have is that its all in Chinese.

While its fun to say “It’s all Chinese to me”; or as my family back home like to rib me with the perenially popular in South Africa -  “Howzit my China”*, people do have a point.

*Yes, I know thats totally irrelevant, but I had to throw it in somewhere

So, without further ado or waffle masquerading as informative writing, I present to you below:

The Laowai’s Guide to 360 Safe Anti Spyware.

Installation Instructions

First thing to do is to download the software.

Go Visit http://www.360safe.com

You’ll be looking for a link on the page that looks like this:

Click the big green button marked 免费下载 (Free Download)

After a second or three you should be able to run the install software.  It will download the updates, and show you something like this after a few minutes.  Don’t worry that the Chinese is coming up as garbage just yet – we don’t need it.

Click Next (the Big highlighted button with the (N) > above).
Then click the button marked (I)
It will prompt you for where to install the Software.  The default C:\Program Files\360\360Safe is a good choice.
Click (I) again, and it will trundle away for another minute or so, installing.

When it gets to the next part STOP.

Its asking us if we want to install 360 Safe in the startup.  Generally you’ll want to do the American thing, and just say No, so click the bottom selection, and click (N)

Click (N) again on the next screen

The last screen will appear asking us if we want to reboot

If its convenient, reboot, if not don’t.  Doesn’t make a huge amount of difference.

Usage

When you first open up 360 safe, you’ll be presented with a screen looking something like this:

You’ll notice at the bottom things are happening – its downloading updates automatically. (See the 18% above).  You can let it finish downloading updates – this usually takes a few minutes or less.

The first thing to do is to scan the computer for spyware.

Click the 常用 button, then click the second tab.

Then click the Scan link

It might ask you whether you want to download updates first (if you haven’t already).  If so, click the left button to let it complete the download first prior to scanning.

If it needs to download files, a window similar to the one below will appear.  Let it complete downloading, it will disappear automatically once its downloaded its updates.

It should start automatically scanning once its updated.

Assuming the computer is clean, you’ll see nothing in the second tab (as above).

If you have spyware, then it will be listed.  To remove spyware, just check the box next to whatever is listed, and click the button on the left at the bottom.

This is usually enough to clean up a computer.

If you have some more recalcitrant spyware, then you’ll need to go a step further.  Close the previous window, and click the 3rd tab (see below)

Click the obviously placed scan button in the centre of the page.

It will list whats starting up in your computer on the left hand side.

Anything listed in the first row is spyware.  (In the picture above I have zero items listed).
If you find anything, click the checkbox next to the listing, and click the left most button at the bottom of the page.

Thats pretty much the extent of it.

If you have something really nasty, 360Safe will prompt you to download one of its more specialized removal tools.  If that happens, you’re probably better off bringing the computer to someone who knows what they’re doing, as its likely to be a more complicated removal than the average end user is capable of.