Tim Yang’s Weblog

You cannot browse many websites in China because of the infamous firewall. Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter are some of those affected. Gmail and Google Reader on the other hand are fine.

But when you use the Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter mobile apps on Blackberry, you can do stuff as normal. It’s not disabled or banned.

I tried this first on my Blackberry in Beijing on data roaming then on the hotel’s wifi. Both times it worked. I could upload photos and update my status on Facebook. I could also check Twitter feeds and check into Foursquare.

I also managed to get access on the Blackberry mobile browser. I was able to visit all banned sites on the browser (via wifi). I tried imdb.com, isohunt.com and youtube.com. All viewable.

It might be a Blackberry thing because when I tried it on the Android web browser (as well as Opera for Android), facebook.com and youtube.com both timed out. Facebook app on Android didn’t work either.

This might also be a new development because I appear to be the first one to notice it (although there have been thousands of Foursquare checkins in Beijing so far).

I must remember never to dive with a newbie and non-photographer group ever again. This is the second time I’ve made that mistake. They tend to go to very safe and shallow areas and move far too fast for patient photography.

So I didn’t get much photography done. Especially since the first day was overcast and I don’t have strobes. I also didn’t get to return to the part of the Sri Nakhoda wall that has all the nudibranches.

The visibility on the third day was very good and the first wreck in Tenggol bay was the clearest I’d ever seen it. Here was the giant moray hidden inside.