Tracking the products, trends and reach of China's local to global technology & culture.
DEFINITION: Shanzai [San-zai -alt. sp.Shanzhai] 1. mountain fortress/bandit 2. a vendor, who operates a business without observing the traditional rules or practices often resulting in innovative and unusual products or business models.
DEFINITION: Shanzai [San-zai -alt. sp.Shanzhai] 1. mountain fortress/bandit 2. a vendor, who operates a business without observing the traditional rules or practices often resulting in innovative and unusual products or business models.
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 After reading Tom Igoe’s “Idle speculation on the shan zhai and open fabrication” blog entry I’ve been trying to find some time to bring it to your attention. While Bunny Huang’s “Tech Trend: Shanzhai” blog post might be credited for bringing the details of what the shanzhai phenomena is all about and into the limelight, Tom’s piece looks at it in such a detailed way that I could never call it “idle”. One of the important viewpoints on shanzhai business that Tom explores is “situated manufacturing” as he explains here in this excerpt from his entry: A few years ago, Clay Shirky described an approach to software development that he dubbed situated software. Watching the students at ITP, he noted how many of their ideas for software tools were developed quickly for a very specific community, and served that need well, but wouldn’t scale to a larger audience. But perhaps scaling wasn’t necessary, he suggested, if software tools afford a quick, improvisational approach to development, and if the result serves the immediate need. Situated software isn’t enterprise software, it’s localized software. Sometimes it’s based on ideas from enterprise software, and sometimes it’s an entirely different beast, but it’s always based on the immediate needs of a local group. Situated software is often built as web mashups. What open hardware companies and the shan zhai point to is a world of situated manufacturing: hardware and consumer goods that are developed in a similar fashion to situated software. The resulting products are sometimes sloppy, sometimes unfinished, but that’s okay, if they serve the immediate need. They can always be improved in the next run, which is never more than a couple thousand units away. Tom’s blog also goes on to describe the conditions necessary to create an environment where situated manufacturing and a collaborative work force can foster innovation. If you’re at all into the shanzhai phenomena “Idle speculation on the shan zhai and open fabrication” is a must read. [Article Source] Related articles |
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Social Production & Operation Tablet Bag Design from:shanzai Studios How To Buy
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Idea Stream from Shanzai Studios
Below are the featured entries from Shanzai Studios iPad bag design project called "Operation Tablet Bag Design". Participating in Operation TBD is simple, free and gives you the chance to share ideas about a unique new product that will be tailored and manufactured to your needs.
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Asia Analysis
More Shanzhai Devices
 Based on Linux, the GP2X Wiz (nice name!) is a completely open multi-functional handheld entertainment device. The makers, GamePark Holding from Korea, say it’s different than other shanzhai video gam...More pics & analysis... | |
 iPhones are still awesome but they’re also now just common possessions. So what’s the next best selling smartphone, the iPhone killer? With the launch of several Android powered smartphones, the featu...More pics & analysis... | |
 There was a time when Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) were the only and best medium for inbuilt storage in notebooks. Although HDDs used in notebooks are smaller in size than normal HDDs, they still contribut...More pics & analysis... | |
COOL E93 tryin' hard to look like Gary Cooper (super duper)
Here’s an interesting piece of Shanzhai design. Touted as a “concept” machine, the COOL E93 (or is that N93? Take a look at the following...More pics & analysis... | |
Model handles A-Wang
Here’s a look at the interestingly named A Wang E98N. A lot shorter and slightly wider than most phones, the Wang has a polished black finish and a slide open keyboard design t...More pics & analysis... |
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Well that wasn't biased lol!!- Similar but the hiphone doesn't hava capacitive touch screen.
- I tried several times buying from this seller but each time failed, got refunds though so all good, but apparently I live in a too...
- If you have a close look at the icons compared to the 3gs you can see that some are slightly different expecially the phone icon w...
throw ur mobile in kengeri gattar....