alex duncan is an entrepreneur
& web expert living in shanghai.

After Google Reader was unreliable again today I thought I’d give Google’s PRC status report a quick look. What a sad picture indeed.

So it turns out starting your own company is hard. Really hard.
It takes a long time, a lot of hard work and even then you have to do all sorts of other things to pay the rent. This is the first in a series of blog posts where I’ll talk about these “extra” activities.

Well, so blog readers (if there are any of you) I have got to the point where I am simply too busy to sleep. It’s been a difficult decision to make, but I’ve decided that I need to give up sleep all together in order to get everything done.

I’ll try to keep you updated on progress.

Oh Apple, please don’t make me sad again. I’ve been a loyal fan for many years, long before this new crew of iPod converts joined. I want to love you I really do, but you make it so f**king hard sometimes. Read More »

I’m a big believer that ultimately winning is what counts, today’s election result for the LibDems was proof itself that 2nd place is the first loser.

For those of you who haven’t heard there has been an election in the UK in the past 24hrs. The results are in and it’s a hung parliament. Read More »

On his show This Week in Startups Jason Calacanis is often prescribing doses of Gladiator or Black Hawk Down to entrepreneurs who he doesn’t feel have enough passion/agression. These two films, where the underdog rises up against the man, are perfect, even the most feeble and recalcitrent entrepreneur cannot fail to be stirred into action.

This blog refresh has been quite literally months in the making, but eventually after hours and hours of agonising over pixels and code I finally got it live! Read More »

After months of feeling alone, feeling like I saw something others didn’t and simultaneously like I was the only one that didn’t get it. Finally today someone who knows a lot more about this kind of thing said what I had been thinking. Read More »

In a city of cheap taxis and many rainy days these can be some of the most valuable numbers in your phone. I recently cleaned up my address book and put together this handy vCard with the phone numbers for the 5 biggest Shanghai taxi companies.

For those not in Shanghai Wagas is a trendy cafe cum sandwich bar and a good one at that…or at least it tries to be. This morning I was just sat in Wagas on Wujiang lu (my fave) waiting for a friend, sadly this was not to be a happy experience! Sadly there doesn’t seem to be the profit margin on a 45元 sandwich to actually come to the table to take my order so I have to traipse up to the counter. Annoying and from my reckoning detracts far more from the brand & quality than it saves them in operational costs. What particularly ruined today was the bacon & scrambled eggs on toast which arrived first without the bacon and when it finally came was cold. Come on Wagas sort it out! Read More »