AsiaApps.com is proud to announce that it has launched a new domain to help the users of our new iPhone Application. Shanghai.WorldDocent.org will now house all the information on the iPhone guide. Please support the guide by registering an commenting on each venues page.

We are now working on updating the guide regularly with the information users input into the new website. We also are working on a Google Android version of the App, Features we will be adding to the App for the next release are one touch dialing and links to website.

The Application has finally been sent to Apple for review. I'll keep you posted as to if and when it is accepted.

I am about to send the code to Apple. This is scary; Mostly because I don't have the program the way I want it done, therefore I know that I don't have the program the way you want it done. But don't despair this is good for both of us. With the App launched I can get feed back from users to make the App better. AsiaApps is a one man show, so I can't think of it all. Perhaps another App will be created and smoke mine and we all are happier (except my pride).

On another note I found this site appulo.us. I think they hit on come good points on the About Us section. The Apple App Store is a flawed system. You shouldn't have to pay for a program that after buying you never use. Which leads me to better news, The App will be free. This may seem like a bait and switch if I ever switch to a paid App in the future but if I ever charge for this App it will only be because the App is that polished and is getting recognition as a respectable guide. Many people don't think free Apps are respectable Apps.

I hope to see you all commenting soon on the App on the App Store and here on the development blog. Now, Back to the secret project I can't tell anyone about

Well the Shanghai Tourist Guide is becoming the Shanghai City Guide instead. I'm worried that I have everything and that I don't know what to do with it. Here are the key features

• Attractions
• Shopping
• Food
• Night Life
• Hotels
• Transportation
• Survival Chinese
• General China Information

Each one of those sections have loads of content within them.

The problem I am haing is visualizing the future of the guide. Yes first I need to launch it and see where it takes me but I really hope I can throw together a website that lets users create listings for the guide. Shanghai is a huge city and it is constantly changing. Yes I can keep my finger on the pulse of the city but I can't go to every attraction every week to make sure things are just the way I described it in the guide. I hope that I can launch a website similar to Urbanatomy.com or SmartShanghai.com and keep things minimalist. I hate advertisements and I hope that I can find some other way to monetize my work. Currently my idea is to charge for the app. This is good in many ways for you the user, you pay me a little money and I guarantee no advertisements and unbiased articles. This is a purist tour guide approach like Frommers or Lonely Planet where the company makes money from the book sales and not the advertising within the book.

Of course the other option is I get things started and rolling with you the customer and then flood my updates with paid advertising that you the customer may or may not want.

For the moment the guide will be free and I hope I can get a user base. I simply ask you the reader to understand that my business model is not yet finished and that I reserve the right to change the way the guide works. I think that if I start charging for the guide I will have to republish it on the iTunes App Store and stop updating the older guide. I'll warn you in advance if this is going to happen

Okay back to coding I want this thing ready ASAP!

Even though the Shanghai App has not been launched on the iTunes App Store yet I am underway working on the Hong Kong Tour Guide. For the Thanksgiving Holiday I traveled to Hong Kong to see the sights again and catch up on the city. Like Shanghai, Hong Kong is constantly changing from day to day. Hong Kong also has the iPhone, unlike China at the moment, so its nice fro me to be able to say that I am working on an App made for this city. The Subway and transportation system in Hong Kong is very convient. But to an outsider who hasn't had experience with it before it is also very complicated, mostly because you have so many options. I am leaving through Shenzhen because I have a multiple entry visa and a flight from Shenzhen to Shanghai is much cheaper than a flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Apparently 10 miles makes a big difference? As for keeping my trip cheap, like many backpackers and travel guide users, I stayed in Chung King Mansion. There is not a better display of globalization than this building. English, Cantonese, Indians, Africans, and Polynesians all do business with on another here. Yes the hostels are far from the Chinese 'norm,' but the experience is remarkable. The Indian food is great, cheap and I will miss it when I am in Shanghai. Come to Chung King before it loses this dirty charm. I skipped out on the drinking scene this time around. I walked along the elevator and ventured by Lan Kwai Fong, but I did not indulge. I hope to have all the basic attractions down before I work on the nightlife section of the guide. Well that is this weeks major update. I've been in Hong Kong for the American Holiday.

If you've read a Travel Guide critically you will notice something about their writing. Its in a weird Third person point of view. The language is crafty, intricate and in my opinion over styled. This bothers me because it is not the voice we are accustomed to thinking in or hearing on a day to day basis. Of course as a writer I can write in this voice, but I am debating its merits. You see I want this guide to be user contributed as much as possible. Web 2.0 allows you to tell me what should be published. Those that speak will be listened to, and perhaps listened to by hundred of other people than just myself. I don't expect these people contributing to the guide to write in 3rd person. Its difficult.

For example here is what I want to say about Malone's"

Every taxi driver in Shanghai knows the word Malone's. This is because every businessman that has traveled to Shanghai has been brought there by their Chinese contact and given one of their signature burgers or a half rack of bar-b-que ribs. This is not the place for a backpacker trying not to break the bank, a burger and fries will be upward of $10. Unfortunately their success at Malone's has spread throughout Shanghai. Beggars will great you upon arrival and exit of the venue. In the Summer months, Malone's has a wonderful patio to people watch from, alas it is November. If you must have a '6 dollar burger,' Malone's is a safe bet. Malone's turns into a bar at night and host a cheesy Filipino cover band.

Third person means I don't get to say anything that I actually want to. I want to mention that I live three blocks from Malone's and that I hate the place. Not because it is a bad place to eat, but because of the beggars. Each assumes that I have money to freely give away and flock to me. Furthermore, what burger in any place in the United States is worth $10? Anyone will tell you that the best burgers served anywhere in the United States is a hole in the wall place that locals have to tell you about to even know where it is. A home made burger & fries with a soda should be $6-$7. Welcome to Shanghai because this Canadian owned 'American Café' is the best thing the city offers got.

Yes, Harsh and Hyper-critical the second review is both good and bad. I sound more like a ranter than a reviewer, but this is how I think more often than not. And I think anyone with the initiative to write on the Development Blog and make a suggestion will be ranting or raving. People with a mediocre review of the place rarely take the time to tell others about the venue, good or bad.

So third person or first person?

Okay so I have all the gears in place. and they are all turning very well. Now I am simply populating my tour guide with as many useful bits of information I can muster out of my brain and from various sources. Wikipedia is a major influence in what is going to be in the guide until I can write up better articles. For the moment I feel that I will start the guide without mountains of content like a Lonely Planet or Frommer's Guide. Instead I hope to get it out and started and update it mercilessly. It isn't the peak tourist season in Shanghai and many of the major attractions that fill the pages of paper tour guides are closed down for winter.

The major hold up on publishing the guide to the App Store is getting the Taxi Cards set up and ready. I want the guide to run very fast, no waiting dial like many other Apps out there. Because of this I am programming each individual place directly into the app without using a database. This to some would be poor programming practice, but I hope that you will appreciate the speed at which the information I give you comes.

I hope that I can create a community of people creating content for this guide. I encourage any input on what I have done currently through the comment section of this blog. If your comment is truly interesting/helpful don't be surprised if I send you an email. Also if you are in Shanghai or have a trip planned don't be afraid to mention it here. I believe that with a good community of supporters this guide can become a great city guide, or static version of the popular Chinese company that sends you text messages of where venues are called Guanxi. I hate typing text, I'd rather get my information straight from my phone or iPod.

Hey everyone, this is my first post on the Development Blog section of the site. I've spent a few days setting up my server and preparing this site. The current App, Shanghai Tour Guide, is sitting on the sidelines until this site is populated. I want to be ready for launch within the next few weeks.

A few things should be mentioned about this site. First off the Content management system I use is Mephisto. Secondly I have been mercilessly changing the code to a great theme for Mephisto and WordPress. The theme is called Skittlish. Skittlish was originally developed by Cristi Balan.

Now that I have given credit where credit is due, here are a few words about myself. I am a young, hungry, software engineer. I live in Shanghai China, although I travel China regularly especially to Beijing and Hong Kong to visit friends. I started AsiaApps as a way to support my travel habit. I am a freelance software engineer, this basically means I'm unemployed, but I love programming so much that I will do it even if I am not getting paid by a company. I've been programming in C++ for 4 years now, and I just started Cocoa Touch programming for iPhone applications. I run my web based applications with Ruby on Rails, which I have been programming in for about a year now.

To find out more about me please check out PaulWoodWare.com, which is my online portfolio. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me.