THOMAS PODVIN’S FREELANCE WORK
Freelance writer - translator - Editor

http://beifan.com/

The Internet offers trainloads of travelogues with material of diverse quality and practical use. This website was created to share photos of Chinese people, and their geography, customs and food. Not especially well designed, the homepage displays gazillions of hyperlinks. As a result, the visitor is overwhelmed; fortunately, they provide an extremely handy site map. Beifan.com was created by an English teacher in a Methodist Church in Wrexham, North Wales who happened to meet some 'boat people'. How likely is that? Anyway, as a result of this chance meeting, he traveled frequently to China from 1987 to 2005. He fell in love with the Chinese and his passion spilled all over the web. The site has many different topics, in no particular order. In short, it is all about chance. Some of the links provide hours of virtual tours to some of the most gorgeous places in China (from the Yangtze Gorge, to Dalian's beaches and even Shanghai's Bund). The accompanying text is just as intense, containing a wealth of details and historical facts. Visit this site if you have plenty of spare time; ideal for train travelers.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue

http://thegadgetblog.com

Our dictionary defines 'gadget' as "an often small mechanical or electronic device with practical use but often thought of as a novelty". The definition fails to specify gadgets that may be classed as totally trivial, amusing, grotesque, tasteless or even sexy. Not surprising, there are people who spend their time designing such gizmos; others simply reference them. Colbert Low loves gadgets and specifically all electronic devices, the more novel the better. Low's blog is a tribute to these unsung inventors, with hundreds of entries classified in dozens of categories (cellphones, gaming, household, robots, etc.). Guest bloggers (and Low) provide daily comments that introduce new fancy gadgets. For instance: "the portable Nokia 770 tablet will please workaholics with its expensive, conspicuous platform to surf the Internet from anywhere… while the Modern 2-Tasten sexy mouse will allow fantasy breaks at work... the ice kebabs sticks will bring life to any cheesy cocktail party". Well, you get the idea.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
January 2006 issue