I worked from Beijing during the Olympics last year for 3 months. The hardest part of the setup was securing an apartment on a short term lease with broadband f

I worked from Beijing during the Olympics last year for 3 months. The hardest part of the setup was securing an apartment on a short term lease with broadband from a few thousand miles away. I had to hire a guy that went from apt to apt then uploaded pictures to me at night. You definitely want to see pictures. I also had no clue where the "hip" parts of the city were, so I spent many hours just talking about the various Beijing neighborhoods and prices. Then we had to negotiate a short term lease, and pray that the landlord would honor that when I arrived. It all went rather smoothly (it helps that I speak Mandarin and knew some trusty locals). But while I was there, I kept thinking how difficult it would be for someone who didn't know anyone in Beijing and who didn't speak Mandarin to set this up. And what if I wanted to do something like this in, say, Cairo? It'd be very difficult. I think setting up apartments around the world for technomads would be a great business idea. All that'd be required would be a clean place with broadband, hot shower and a bonus would be a nearby co-working space for local or expat geeks.