Use WIA Windows Image Acquisition instead of TWAIN for scanning http://ping.fm/MtwjS

Lenovo Thinkpad disk encryption is poorly explained on the Lenovo website

Proposed Grand Central priority list: 1. service availability; 2. problem management internally; 3. problem reporting; 4. everything else

Did I complain earlier about the way that Grand Central handles extensions? I should have.

:enovo U110 11.1" WXGA 1366 x 768 Hard drive 120GB 4200rpm; res and disk speed not that impressive

Problem reports "submitted" through twitter currently go around the tracking system. How big a problem is this? Perhaps fatal except for small, immediate response issues

look at hand held OTDR (cheap)

Need to look into utility of remote wipe

Bye Sally. You were a great dog...

why does the brand new HP Officejet J6450 that's attached wired Ethernet always come up offline?

trying Google Sites for work planning.

GrandCentral: it's a pain not to be able to include a phone extension in the contact info. I put it in the remarks as a work around

Just glommed onto TwittEarth. Great visualization!

wishes I was riding motos in Thailand. Or Lao. Or, really, anywhere in SE Asia...

Verisign Openid site seems really slow (or is it just AT&T again)

What's the "best" prepaid mobile in China that allows cheap international calls, with a long expiry?

Ok, iPhone ping.fm app now working (but why not yesterday? And character count only shown *after* composition)

Declare temporary victory at UCSC and reward self with great lunch at Sri on Water St

attend UCSC dark fiber status meeting; fiber test OAK-UCD?

experimenting with MagicJack

ok now pinging status with Ping.fm. If I could just get the dumb fiber tested...

GPS: Garmin Nuvi versus Dash Comparison

I've been reading reviews of the Dash Express, which is just being dropped into general availability, though it appears that Amazon won't be shipping it until 27 March, 2008.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of data available yet comparing the Dash Express with currently available devices. Since I need to do this anyway, I'll come up with something for the Dash Express, my now back level Garmin nuvi 650, and a current traffic enabled Garmin nuvi.

----------------

Ok, first possibly fatal problem is that it's not clear how the Dash Express can be transferred between cars, which is a problem since I most often need GPS when in a rental car. And, since I travel a lot in rental cars in California, I can't affix the mount to the window, by law. Dash support says they're aware of the issue and it's not a straightforward fix, since the unit is bulky and heavy.

(to be continued)

GrandCentral Issues: Click2Call Problems Resurface

The last couple of days I've been noticing that GrandCentral's Click2Call is either unresponsive or takes multiple invocations to call my local number so that I can call out.

I don't see an outage notice, but, then, GrandCentral doesn't display outage notices in a prominent place. It would be helpful to have the range of informational --> critical outage messages in an easy to find place on their site.

D-Link DIR-655 Router

Picked this up at CostCo in Cypress, since, for whatever reason, it's not at the local one in Richmond, CA.

(Update: ok, it turns out that Richmond does have it. It was just in the locked case.)

There's a free support number, 888.822.9299, for Costco members, 24/7.

First step is to print out the settings from the old Netgear WGT624 router.

Update: no sweat setting this up and making it operational. I need to do some refining on the settings, though.

ShifD: Share Note, Place, Link Between Phone and Computer

Starting to try out ShifD to interchange info between a PC, using either a web site or an Adobe AIR application, and a mobile phone using SMS messages.

Initially I tried out the function using just the web site, under my latest thinking of avoiding PC based applications, but I'm interested in Adobe AIR. So, I'm probably further junking up my laptop (and further tethering myself to a particular machine, but...)

LinkedIn Makeovers

A pretty spartan listing of tips on LinkedIn makeovers, with some focus on Guy Kawasakai's postings:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/linkedin_profil.html

iPhone: Handset Speaker Stopped Working

After using my Iphone with the iPhone earbuds this morning, I took out the ear buds and found that the handset speaker/ringer (as opposed to the speakerphone) stopped working.

After powering the phone off and on a couple of times, as part of trouble shooting I found:
--speakerphone function worked
--ear buds worked
--bluetooth worked.

I tried the Apple iPhone support site and did two of the non-destructive resets without success. Just about the time I was ready to trek to an Apple store to have them fool around with it, I plugged in and unplugged the ear buds a couple of times and now the handset speaker/ringer works again as desired.

Is there some sort of mechanical switch that is tripped when the plug for the ear buds is inserted that stuck in the wrong position?

Timebridge: Repetitive Meetings

Now that Timebridge has Google Calendar integration, I'm trying to use it for more of my meetings among those who don't share the same calendar system.

I ran into a case today where I want to schedule a meeting each Monday, but, as far as I can tell, there's no way to set up a standing meeting. If the Timebridge conference call function is to be used, it also should be available for each of the meeting repetitions.

Update: I received a note from Timebridge support that adding support for repetitive meetings is on their development roadmap. (5 Mar 08)

Grand Central: Site Not Responsive

This will teach me to recommend a beta service. The Grand Central site seems just plain non-responsive for the last 1/2 hour or so.

Road Conditions in the Anlong Veng, Cambodia Area

Babu posted about some activities in the Anlong Veng area that included some information about traveling there from Siem Reap. I commented on the blog entry, but there wasn't any followup. Anyway, so as not to lose the thought, I'll repeat most of the comment here.

I appreciated the news that there is road improvement progress between Siem Reap and Anlong Veng. Now that the independent tourist overland route between Poipet and Siem Reap is becoming more and more expensive, overland to Siem Reap from the north is becoming more and more attractive.

Is the road to the north sealed much past Banteay Srei? I understand from your blog entry that the part that's not paved is graded. Is it your impression that the grading will extend past Anlong Veng to the border?

I was also interested to read about the school building efforts. Is it your impression that school and library construction efforts such as Room to Read's (http://www.roomtoread.org/countries/cambodia.html) have been effective? I realize that this question may be too broad to answer.

Handheld GPS: Garmin Colorado and Vista HCx

My Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, which I've had for less than a year, may be lost forever, so I'm looking for a replacement.

The obvious first choice would be the same thing, an eTrex Vista HCx.

However the new Garmin Colorado, either 300 or 400t, are worth considering.

Some considerations:
--size: Colorado is 2.4"W x 5.5"H x 1.4"D, HCx is 2.2" x 4.2" x 1.2" (the Garmin web site, for some reason isn't consistent in listing W-H-D in the same order)
--weight: Colorado 7.3oz; HCx 5.5oz
--display size: Colorado 240x400 pixels - 3" diagonal; HCx 176x220
--battery life: Colorado 15 hours; HCx 25
--chipset: Colorado- Garmin proprietary; HCx SiRF III
--datacard: Colorado SD, though it appears that 4GB is the limit supported with SDHC; HCx microSD

Some unanswered questions:
--the Colorado has a "Transflective color TFT"; the HCx has 256 level color TFT. What's the functional difference, if any? There is at least one report that the transflective TFT technology is less readable out of doors as well as discussion about the display.
--apparently the Colorado lacks a "night mode," which affects the screen brightness and colors displayed.
--is startup time too long?
--is Trackback feature needed?
--USB 1.1 only?
--no street names with City Nav loaded
--no waypoint averaging
--map borders clutter screen (I've seen this on other units)
--lists don't scroll around, but have a beginning and end
--zooms only to 80 feet

This page lists many perceived deficiencies and this one lists issues.. It's hard to know which of these can be changed/fixed with a firmware update, assuming that Garmin wanted to make the change in the first place.

One concern I haven't yet seen mentioned elsewhere is, with the non-SiRF chipset, can the Coolorado ever take advantage of Ephemeris APGS to reduce time to fix. Perhaps the function or its equivalent is already included?

GrandCentral: Quickrule

GrandCentral has a "quickrule" function that allows one to send all incoming calls to voice mail or forward to a temporary number.

There probably should be some sort of reminder function to make sure someone doesn't set one of these and forget about it.

Garmin City Navigator Thailand NT comments

Garmin has produced street level mapping for Thailand with points of interest such as lodging, restaurants, and transit (for example, small town bus stations)and ships it on a microSD in an SD adapter. I got version 8.

Some initial comments:

• the serial number isn't evident, if it has one at all
• when used with a nuvi, it doesn't show 3D maps
• detail in small towns is pretty good, though there are some misspellings

Points of interest include:

• border checkpoints
• Banks and ATMs

GrandCentral Issues: System Status Notification

So I see on the Grand Central Inbox page a notice about a partial outage. I just happened to see this.

It probably would be helpful to have this sort of status message available some other place, perhaps a System Status page.

Also, it would be helpful to have a news feed with significant status messages. Even BART does this. (And so does Skype with their Skype Heartbeat messages.) The phone service demands, pretty much by definition, carrier class facilities and status information is a part of this.

GrandCentral Issues: Inbound Calls Not Working

Now at least one caller said that there was no ring at all when he called my GrandCentral number.

Updated: I can call myself just fine.

Updated: Ok, I asked the guy who called me this morning and did not hear a ring to call again. He did, was announced by the GC robot as "unknown," even though he is in my GC address book, and I picked up. He says he heard nothing--not a ring nor an announcement from the GC robot.

GrandCentral Issues: Click2Call Working?

Ok, now I can't get GrandCentral's Click2Call to originate calls at all:

• I select "Call."
• GC responds by displaying numbers from which I can call
• I choose one
• GC displays the indication that the call is happening
• but no ring at the number I've chosen to call from

Updated: Just tried calling and got through ok, so perhaps the function is working again (for me).

GrandCentral Issues: Inbound and Outbound

The story so far is that I've been having problems when using GrandCentral's outbound calling Click2Call feature. The people I'm calling have been complaining that there is a long silence when they answer, leading to their saying, "Hello...hello, etc." and then, occasionally, hanging up.

Since I'm making real work calls with the GC Click2Call service, I stopped using it for most important calls. Yesterday, 31 Jan 08, after one problem in the morning, I used it a couple of times in the afternoon with people likely to be understanding and they reported no problems. So maybe it's a transient problem.

I did have another problem yesterday, which I had forgotten before, when someone called me using my GC number. The GC robot said, "Press 1 to accept," which I did, since it was a coworker, and nothing happened. I pressed "1" several more times, but the my coworker and I never connected. (I called him back and apologized.) This happened again with another person who wasn't so understanding.

I've started telling people to use my GC number and now I'm really hoping I don't have to tell these same people to go back to the old numbers. People don't understand why I list one number for voice and another for SMS anyway (and some people don't know that SMS=text), so the whole thing is confusing for them.

GrandCentral Click2Call Problems

Apparently my previous problems with people hearing long delays when I originate calls to them using GrandCentral's Click2Call are continuing. The best course seems to be to avoid using it for a while.

GMail and Thunderbird: Switching Between Plain and HTML Composition

Sometimes while in the middle of writing an email note I want to switch from my usual plain text composition mode to rich text/HTML.

Web based GMail allows this easily; Thunderbird doesn't, which is a big pain.

Signing into Plaxo with Verisign OpenID

As part of trying to flog Plaxo to a friend, I went to the Plaxo site, which I hadn't visited for a while to update my Plaxo profile with my GrandCentral info. A couple of days ago I had signed up for an OpenID using Verisign as my OpenID provider.

The Plaxo first-time-OpenID-sign-in process wasn't all that intuitive, requiring first (unannounced as far as I could tell) that my OpenID be "attached" to my Plaxo Id.

The first time I tried associating one with the other, the process flunked. The second time worked, though, as far as I could tell, I did exactly the same steps. If someone wasn't medium sophisticated in this stuff, it's unclear if they would have prevailed.

GrandCentral: Representing One's Phone Numbers

Since GrandCentral doesn't handle incoming SMS/text messages, it's a problem trying to decide how to represent one's phone contact information on, say, a business card or an email signature.

People are conditioned to understand O[ffice], W[ork], C[ell], and (maybe) M[obile] as prefixes for phone numbers on cards and email signatures.

I suppose one could use H[ome], but it's so uncommon a card or a sig[nature] that it doesn't make real sense to include it with the others. The common usuage would be to spell it out in a personal note or, perhaps, trade in a vCard.

If I were to use GC, for GrandCentral or U[nified], it would just cause confusion.

And dividing between V[oice] and T[ext] and labeling as such doesn't seem practical (and exposes a changeable cell/mobile number, too).

GrandCentral Experience, Chapter 1

So, I've been using Google's Grand Central phone service for a week or so for real work and I think this as good a place as any to comment on the ongoing experience, especially problems. There's a Grand Central Help Group, but formal support doesn't seem to be provided.

Setting up wasn't too awful since I had recently scrubbed my contacts as part of an iPhone conversion, using Yahoo's address book as my contacts database. One reason for this was to keep my contacts from being associated with any specific PC.

Some day to day operational problems came up such as lack of support for extensions, no Skype integration (in favor of Gizmo, and no international outbound call support.

And today, when I make outbound calls using Grand Central's Click2Call feature, people complain that they don't hear anything for a couple of seconds after they pick up the phone. This has happened for 3 callers, so far, leading one to hang up.

HSBC Branches and ATMs in China

HSBC ATMs in China from the HSBC China site, including those at airports.

Citibank ATMs in Bali

Bandara Bali Arrival International Area (beside Baggage Plane).	Jl. Bandara Ngurah Rai, Denpasar – Bali
Jimbaran Mc Donald Jimbaran	Jl. Raya By Pass Ngurah Ray No.1 Denpasar – Bali
Sanur Mc Donald Denpasar	Jl. Raya By.Pass Ngurah Ray No.109 Denpasar – Bali
Teuku Umar Branch 1	Jl. Teuku Umar, Denpasar Bali
Teuku Umar Branch 2	Jl. Teuku Umar, Denpasar Bali

Garmin's Worldmap V3.02 and V 4 Comparison

Trying to determine the differences / comparison between Garmin's Worldmap V 3.02 and V 4. On a 76CSx I found that I could generally tell where I was in Malaysia, but when zoomed the map might show me well in the water in places like Melaka.

A comparison is the kind of thing that would be useful in the site's product description.

Free City Tours in Europe

WELCOME TO SANDEMANS NEW EUROPE: "free walking tours in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, and Paris"
Mentioned by Stan Sesser in the WSJ, 9 Jun 07. Berlin also has a free bike tour.

NPR : 'China Road' Trip

NPR : 'China Road' Trip Gauges a Nation on the Move: "In 2004, Rob Gifford set out on a 3,000-mile journey across China. The NPR correspondent followed a single highway west from Shanghai into the heart of Asia. His trip resulted in a series of stories and now a book, called China Road, a look at the rapidly rising nation."

Translate Foreign Language Web Sites

Cool Things You Can Do With Google - lifehack.org: "Translate Foreign Sites

A large portion of the web sites on the Internet are not in English. This means that you’re missing out on a big portion of the Web. Fortunately, Google has provided a solution.

First, translate the word you want to search for into the desired language. You can do this at BabelFish. Next, go to Google, enter your search query, and press enter.

On the results page, you should see a link that says, “Translate this page” to the right side of the search results. Click on that link and Google will automatically translate the page to English
for you."

Excel tips and keyboard shortcuts

Aabservations » Blog Archive » Excel tips and keyboard shortcuts

Visualizing the ‘Power Struggle’ in Wikipedia

Visualizing the ‘Power Struggle’ in Wikipedia

Top 20 Most Hotly Revised Articles

• Jesus
• Adolf Hitler
• October 2003
• Nintendo revolution
• Hurricane Katrina
• India
• RuneScape
• Anarchism
• Britney Spears
• PlayStation 3
• Saddam Hussein
• Japan
• Albert Einstein
• 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake
• New York City
• Germany
• Muhammid
• Pope Benedict XVI
• Ronald Regan
• Hinduism
  

Comparison of TMC Traffic vs. MSN Direct for GPS

Comparison of TMC Traffic vs. MSN Direct on your GPS | GPS Lodge

Compares traffic features such as on Garmin nüvi [nuvi[ 660 and 680

DoDo Jin Ming Page - Laurence Miller Gallery

DoDo Jin Ming Page - Laurence Miller Gallery: "DoDo Jin Ming Respecting the awesome power and drama found only in the sea, DoDo Jin Ming creates extraordinary black and white images that transport the viewer to a precipice about to be submerged under a cascade of water."

Sri Lanka closing airport at night after rebel airstrikes - International Herald Tribune

Sri Lanka closing airport at night after rebel airstrikes - International Herald Tribune: "Sri Lanka's only international airport will be closed at night after a series of Tamil Tiger rebel air raids near the capital...

The airport will be shut from 10:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m each day starting May 10, [2007]"

Need to check times for SQ, which used to arrive and depart during this window.

» 2.5 TERABYTE hot-swap storage for $730! | George Ou | ZDNet.com

» 2.5 TERABYTE hot-swap storage for $730! | George Ou | ZDNet.com: "2.5 terabytes of hot-swappable SATA-300 storage"

Need to understand capabilities of storagecontroller, though. See comment:

...using highpoint rocketraid 2320 card, hot swap capability is a function of the controller, not the caddy

SMS Your Flight Status

Business Hacks » SMS Your Flight Status on BNET: "I've long since stopped using 411 as a resource when I'm on the go. It's pretty expensive, and Google's free text message service is almost as fast and doesn't require me to wait on the line. (I just SMS my request to 466453.) Recently, Google integrated this service with flightstats.com such that it allows you to check out your flight on the go. For example, I typed in 'swa 1582' to check the status of an Oakland-Reno flight, and I got a message with the flight details and status (on time!) right away.

By David Goldenberg"

Yamaha takes 24-hour lead in A/V receiver war | Crave : The gadget blog

Yamaha takes 24-hour lead in A/V receiver war | Crave : The gadget blog: "the RX-V861 is no slouch: in addition to the usual assortment of high-end audio goodies (

• auto speaker calibration,
• multizone operation,
• built-in XM satellite capability,
• 105 watts per channel), it's got
• two Simplay HD-certified 1080p-capable HDMI inputs, and--just as important--
• it can upscale analog video sources to HD resolutions.

What it's missing, of course, is a few of the keystone features we're expecting in the true 'next-gen' receivers due later this year: namely,

• HDMI 1.3 and
• built-in support for
  
• Dolby True HD,
  
• Dolby Digital Plus, and
  
• DTS HD Master Audio (the super-high-def soundtracks found on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs)."

Mowser mobilizes any Web page | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

Mowser mobilizes any Web page | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone: "bookmark Mowser and use it as the front-end to the Web on your mobile. Mowser transcodes any page into a Web-friendly format, stripping out large graphics and splitting a Web page up into smaller pages that a phone can handle. It's also RSS-aware: If there's an RSS feed on a page you visit, it will provide a link for it, and transcode the feed into a format your phone can easily display.

The service has built-in bookmarks for major sites that are already mobile-friendly (which it does not transcode) and it has keywords for popular searches. For example, if you type 'wi' followed by a search term, you'll get the Mowser-compacted version of the Wikipedia page for that term"

CableCard goes mainstream on July 1 | Crave : The gadget blog

CableCard goes mainstream on July 1 | Crave : The gadget blog: "CableCard may be going mainstream just as its successor technology is ready to leave the lab. Downloadable Conditional Access System is essentially a software version of the CableCard technology that promises to correct all of the current standard's shortcomings. But it won't be ready for deployment until 2008 at the earliest."

FTP clients

Choosing between FileZilla and FireFTP.

Wikipedia Comparison of FTP Clients

Documentation:

• FileZilla
• FireFTP
  

Vietnam Revisited - WSJ.com

Vietnam Revisited - WSJ.com: "...The author might want to improve his own grasp of Vietnamese culture: He tells us that the Citadel is 'ancient,' but in fact construction on it started in 1804. Besotted with the setting's beauty and supposed antiquity, he finds himself envying the simple pride shown by Hien, their guide. 'Soon Hien was no longer leading us. Instead he seemed pleased simply to stand amid the astonishments of such a storied place.' Mr. Bissell himself, he confesses, has never felt a similar awe at any of his own country's cultural monuments -- the Lincoln Memorial, say. He asks his father: 'Why is that?'

'Because you're an ungrateful little prick,' replies John (Nice Guy) Bissell."

Garmin Nuvi 680 Full Review

...it has the ability to pull down information about weather, movies, traffic and gas prices.

The MSN Direct system will retrieve movie theater locations and what's playing at those theaters too, allowing you to search by movie or theater.

When you tap on the weather button you get a forecast for a city or town close to you. As the unit pulls down more weather information, the display will show you the opportunity for a weather forecast at most cities and the option to browse other cities.

You get a list of towns and cities near you and then as you continue to scroll you start to get a list of major cities near you.

MSN Direct covers about 100,000 gas stations across the country, and after doing a little research I found that the US has 121,000 gas stations, making for about 83% coverage of major gas stations (there are about another 10,000 outlets with no employees, making them, in my mind, so small they may not be worth considering; even if you add those, that's still an impressive coverage number - 75%)

MSN Direct Traffic on the Nuvi 680
This gets a little messy, and to fully understand the traffic area, you need to understand the suppliers of traffic data. The Nuvi 680 uses MSN Direct Traffic. MSN Direct uses Traffic.com's data (being acquired by NAVTEQ), which relies on road sensors for the most part to gather information about traffic flow and incidents.

The Nuvi 660 and most of the Garmin line uses TMC traffic also supplied over the FM band by ClearChannel communications. The data is fed by Inrix. I have written a lot about Inrix, and their miles of road covered is superior to Traffic.com's from what I can tell. Check out how Inrix collects more information about roads that don't have expensive installed sensors; it's called the Dust Network, and it's pretty innovative.

Don't walk away from the Traffic.com fed MSN traffic yet. The data feed coming from Traffic.com tells you anticipated delays along your route, where speed data is given. So something like: "2 incidents on your route. 15 minute delay." I like this, as it informs me about what is going on and how much trouble I am in for. The trade-off here is coverage, for what is a pretty useful feature in my mind.

You can compare the coverage for your area at Inrix or at Traffic.com. At Inrix, just click on your city to see a what roads are covered in your area. At Traffic.com, click on your city and then on the Map tab to show the coverage graphically.

Asterix thread on FlyerTalk

Includes information on compatible providers .

Asterix projects

Good source for Asterix implementation information.

Funny, Informative Blog on Western China

While looking for information on Tibet Travel Permits, I came across this interesting blog.

WSJ on Microsoft Vista Requirements

• Memory: Microsoft suggests 512 megabytes of memory, or RAM, for stripped-down Vista, and it will probably recommend one gigabyte of memory for full Vista. But based on experience with the company's guidelines, I strongly suggest doubling those amounts. Even on a cheap machine, I'd get one gigabyte of memory, and if you want to run Vista with all its features, I suggest two gigabytes.

• Video: Stripped-down Vista can run on any graphics hardware that can support what's called SVGA, or a resolution of 800 by 600. The hardware should also support a Microsoft technology called DirectX 9. This includes many integrated graphics systems, which do away with a separate video card in favor of graphics chips bolted to the mother board.

Full Vista will be best with a separate, or "discrete," graphics card that has at least 128 megabytes of dedicated video memory. These cards also need support for DirectX 9. In addition, however, they must also support Microsoft software called "WDDM" and "Pixel Shader 2." If your eyes are rolling right now, don't fret. Microsoft officials say nearly all discrete graphics cards on the market today meet these specs, as will the latest integrated graphics systems, such as Intel chip sets labeled 945 or higher.

• Processor: For stripped-down Vista, a processor running at 800 megahertz or faster should be sufficient, according to Microsoft. For full Vista, the speed rises to one gigahertz. I'd edge higher if your budget allows, but you don't need the fastest processor.

• Hard disk: Disk storage is already copious enough for Vista, and buying large amounts is cheap. For stripped-down Vista, I'd go for at least 60 gigabytes of hard-disk space. For full Vista, I'd boost that to 160 gigabytes, to accommodate lots of music and video.
--Mossberg, 13 Apr 06

Meebo Icons

If you have a picture that you’ve created that’s 96×96 pixels, and you would like it to potentially be one of the default buddy icons in meebo, send it to buddyicon@meebo.com.

Hong Kong Automated Passenger Clearance

Since 16 December 2004, the Immigration Department has introduced the automated passenger clearance system (e-channels) to members of the public. Currently, Hong Kong permanent residents (except those under the age of 11) or Hong Kong residents holding Document of Identity for Visa Purposes (DI) can use their smart identity cards to perform self-service immigration clearance. Since 12 September 2006, e-Channel service has been extended to people who have the right to land or are on unconditional stay in Hong Kong, and non-permanent residents who have been issued with a notification label. Meanwhile, please note that Hong Kong residents must bring along with them their valid travel documents when travelling.

To enter the e-channel is simple. People just have to insert their smart identity cards with the side bearing the arrow and chip into the card reader. The system will take a while to perform mutual authentication with the smart identity card key. People can enter the e-channel when the gate doors open. After entering the e-channel, people just need to place their thumbs flat on the centre of scanners. After fingerprint verification they can leave the e-channel.

Halfway to Hawaii Time Calculation

"I've always come within a minute of the half-way point on the Hawaii game. I ignore everything except flight plan time and the time we took off. We have pretty sophisticated flight planning software used by Dispatch, and the flight plan time already takes all of the other variables into account.

From experience, I know that we generally run about 2-5 minutes ahead of flight plan (although we can certainly be behind), so I subtract out a couple of minutes and divide by half, guessing a number for the seconds. I've never been very far off."
--Mark Rogers

SOX Revisions in Prospect

The Securities and Exchange Commission conceded earlier this year that the provision [Section 404] wasn't working as intended. In May, it said it would rework the rule so that companies -- and their auditors -- aren't engaging in "overly conservative" audits and are instead focused on areas that present a risk to the company and its investors. The agency also said it hoped to tailor the rule to companies of all sizes, so that small businesses, in particular, weren't overburdened.

The SEC says it will unveil its changes next month. The agency, along with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the auditing industry's overseer, said it will propose a revision to the auditing standard known as AS2 that auditors follow when testing management's assessment of company controls.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox wrote to the oversight board this week, urging it to include in its changes some of the recommendations made by the SEC's small-business advisory group, including one that the auditing rule be adapted to companies based on their size. In his Nov. 6 letter, Mr. Cox said the SEC agreed that the standard needed to be focused on matters that are material, or relevant, to a company's financial results.

It isn't clear how far the SEC might be willing to go in making it easier and less costly for businesses to comply with Section 404. And some observers are skeptical that the problems can be fixed.

"This may be a bell that can't be un-rung," says Joe Grundfest, a former SEC commissioner and co-director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. "The audit firms have already incorporated a lot of the inefficient 404 process into their integrated audits, and once audit firms have processes in place, it's very hard to persuade them to back off and ease up on those processes."

1080p

David Carnoy, CNET:
we agree with the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), a group that consults for home-theater manufacturers and trains professional video calibrators, when it says that the most important aspect of picture quality is contrast ratio, the second-most important is color saturation, and the third is color accuracy. Though resolution may be the most talked-about spec these days, it comes in fourth on the ISF list,

TrixBox - VoIP Asterix PBX

The asterisk-based solution, TrixBox, enables the home or small business user to quickly set up a VOIP Asterisk PBX. A web GUI makes configuration and operation easy. We also provide an xPL (home automation) interface for easy interaction with other devices in the home.

Mobile phone roaming opinion

Extracted from a post on the FlyerTalk Travel Technology forum:
I have a Nokia E61 sect-band (800/900/1800/1900/2100mhz) phone with wifi. On the wifi side, I signed up for a free account with truphone.com which has free calls to the US until the end of the year. Where I am on wifi, I'll call free. Where I am off wifi, I can pretty much roam anywhere. Underneath the dashes is a solution I am using when I am in Europe or most of Asia. I originally posted it to a different thread so it might seem a little non-responsive.

=============================

I have skimmed through the past eleven pages of the forum post, but if I am hitting things previously covered please excuse me. I travel a great deal and just wanted to share my solutions.

I have a Cingular with their Global Blackberry plan which gives me unlimited Blackberry data access all around the world. I also pay Cingular $2.99 a month for a feature called fast forward which gives me unlimited domestic call forwarding. When I jump on a plane, I literally forward my calls just before the cabin doors shut.

When I get on a European bound plane, I pack a second phone which is basic quad band unlocked phone. I have a Riiing SIM like the prior posters. I purchased for $1 a month a US 800 number from callbackworld.com that forwards to my Riiing SIM at US$0.14 a minute. I also normally use their callback service. I trigger their callback service using my Cingular phone. This permits me to make outgoing calls to the States at $0.14 a minute.

Something prior posters have not focused on is the cost of voicemail when abroad. There is a little covered “gotcha” here. When you are standing in Europe and miss a call or are on the phone, the call gets routed back to the US on a conditional call divert. This means that you are billed for a call to Europe and back again or double the roaming rates. Most people don’t want to turn off their voicemail which means that the carrier charges you at least double for these calls. When I was in Africa, I once got nailed with $15 voicemails -- $5 to call Africa, $5 to forward the call back to the States, and $5 to retrieve the message. I was hit with these charges even when my phone was shut off because I had registered on the Tanzania network and carriers generally hold on to your registration.

Riiing coupled with callbackworld has changed my roaming rates hugely. I used to buy prepaid SIMs for the major countries I visited. I found that despite the slight inconvenience of the callback, this approach is worth it.

I also use a Nokia E61 (not an E62) as my Blackberry (connect) device. It has built in wifi and a voip client. Where I am in a wifi zone, I can make free calls. It is also possible to receive free calls, but that requires more tinkering if you want to always be reached at one number.

By the way, checkout prepaidgsm.net. It is a forum which specializes in roaming on the cheap. Prepaidgsm was favorably cited in a recent EU report criticizing the rates charged for international roaming.
--Dubai Stu

CNET: Top 6 phones for business users

» What are the top 6 phones for business users? | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com: "CNET.com the editors posted their Top 6 phones for business users. The top 6 candidates are the Palm Treo 700p, Cingular 8525, T-Mobile Dash, Nextel i930 by Motorola, Sprint PPC-6700, and the Nokia E62."

Duracell all charged up to juice the Nano | CRAVE : The CNET Gadget Blog

Duracell all charged up to juice the Nano | CRAVE : The CNET Gadget Blog: "The company says PowerFM is the only iPod accessory that will provide extra juice for your iPod, allow you to transmit your tunes to any FM radio, and protect your Nano with the included silicone case (it fits over both the accessory and your Nano). According to the manufacturer, it 'more than doubles' the run-time of the Nano. Unfortunately, it only fits first-generation Nanos.

Duracell's triple-threat accessory is supposed to be a bargain at $79.99, but when you figure that the silicone case probably costs about 50 cents to make, we think $50 is what the thing should cost"

Review: Linksys CIT310 Phone for Yahoo Messenger

Review: Linksys CIT310 Phone for Yahoo Messenger: "This dual-mode cordless phone provides Yahoo! Messenger fans with the ability to make free PC-to-PC calls to other Yahoo! Messenger users, low-cost PSTN dialing when subscribing to Yahoo! Phone Out (PC-to-Phone calling) service, as well as inbound dialing for a monthly fee of around $2.49/month. Add in the fact that this is a multi-handset DECT phone with excellent standby & talk time (better than WiFi) plus you can connect it to your home PSTN -- then certainly the Linksys CIT310 is a tempting home phone system replacement.

Inevitably, the comparisons will be made with similar dual-mode Skype phone products such as the RTX DualPhone, Linksys CIT300, and others. Skype certainly is the top dog in consumer VoIP, however there are millions of Yahoo Messenger IM users that could be converted to VoIP. This phone bundles some cool Yahoo-specific features (weather, local listings), but really if Yahoo wants to take on the top dog Skype in VoIP, then Yahoo needs to add their strength - namely IM into the CIT310's feature-set. Without it, users may decide to go with a Skype phone simply because of Skype's dominance in VoIP even if Yahoo's CIT310 has equal if not better voice quality and even a few extra features thrown in. "

Cloudveil :: Neve Pullover

Cloudveil :: Neve Pullover: "Polartec Thermal Pro® fabric traps heat, dries quickly and presents a distinguished impression in mixed company. Power Stretch® binding trues the fit, while a pullover style reflects a purist approach to morning layering. A deep reverso zip and a single chest pocket add an extra element of good alpine style."

HTC Hermes TyTN - Cingular 8525

>Cingular MediaRoom - News Releases: "first UMTS/HSDPA-enabled PDA in North America -- the Cingular 8525 Pocket PC"

HTC Hermes / HTC TyTN / O2 XDA trion / T-Mobile MDA Vario II / Vodafone 1605 VPA Compact III / Orange SPV M3100 / Dopod CHT 9000 / Dopod 838 Pro / hTc Z / Qtek 9600 / iMate JasJam / Cingular 8525 / Swissom XPA v1605 / SoftBank X01HT / UTStarcom 6800 / Vodafone PDA 1605

"Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA-enabled BroadbandConnect service is based on the global standard and natural 3G evolutionary path for GSM providers. BroadbandConnect is currently available in the U.S. in 134 markets (with populations of more than 100,000 surrounding more than 50 major metropolitan cities. The company said it will continue to expand coverage to additional markets in and around major metropolitan cities in the coming months. Internationally, there are currently 142 UMTS networks in 61 countries and 72 HSDPA networks.

BroadbandConnect provides average downlink data speeds between 400-700Kbps (kilobits per second) with bursts to more than a Mbps (megabit per second) and uplink speeds to 384Kbps. When traveling outside the BroadbandConnect coverage area, the Cingular 8525 seamlessly enables service on Cingular's EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) network, available in more than 13,000 cities and towns and in areas along more than 40,000 miles of highways."

GSSFAQ - Google Spreadsheets FAQ

GSSFAQ - Google Spreadsheets FAQ : "unofficial Google Spreadsheets frequently asked questions site"
Display day of week
=CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(A1), "Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday","Sunday")

Case of Bad Spyware Infestation

Security - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com: "I thought about reformatting, but the couple couldn't afford to erase the sensitive information they had on their clients. They had never even made a backup. The situation was getting pretty sticky at this point--antivirus programs were not even installing from a disk. I somehow managed to get my hands on CWShredder and HijackThis and started aiming at those pesky things. CWShredder removed 16 variations of the Cool Web Search Trojan, about 60 files total. HijackThis appeared to remove more of the spyware, but the files kept regenerating. I rebooted and managed to get Ad Aware SE installed, a minor miracle."

Motorola KRZR K1 mobile phone

Motorola MOTOKRZR K1: "SUMMARY OF FEATURES:
• Ultra-slim form factor
• Hi-quality imaging via 2MP digital camera with 8x digital zoom, and image editing
• Premium video capabilities: video capture and playback MPEG4 (15 fps CIF); audio/video streaming (3GPP)***; video progressive download***; record up to 25 minutes of video on embedded memory
• Integrated Stereo Bluetooth wireless technology connectivity for hands-free convenience**
• Enhanced phonebook with new contact fields: URL, IM, Postal Address, Birthday, and other information
• MicroSD slot for optional upgradeable memory
• EDGE for high speed data access (class 12)
• Rich, pre-loaded J2ME games, screen savers
• Downloadable themes, ringer tones, images, animations***
• Midi, MP3, AAC, AAC+ enhanced music player for listening to your favorite music on-the-go
• PIM functionality with Picture Caller ID***
• Voice memo, enhanced predictive text and enhanced voice recognition for easy, hands-free connectivity"

Sony Ericsson Stereo Bluetooth Headset HBH-DS970

Overview - - Mobile phone - Sony Ericsson Stereo Bluetooth™ Headset HBH-DS970 -
"Turn your mobile phone into a true music player by wirelessly playing tunes through your cordless Stereo Bluetooth™ Headset HBH-DS970. Not only will your music be streamed in superb quality sound to your headphones, but when a call comes in, after a quick glance at the display hanging around your neck, the music mutes and you can use the buttons on the earpiece to take or reject the call."

Profiles required in remote device/phone:
BT handsfree or BT headset
BT advanced audio distribution
BT audio/video remote control profile

$106

Nokia N73 phone

Mobile Phones - Nokia N73: "Nokia N73 3.0mp Camera Quadband GSM Phone"
quadband GSM; candy bar; 3.2MP camera; Symbian S60; Bluetooth 2.0; office apps; USB 2.0; miniSD; MP3/WMA

Web 2.0 Tools and School

Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1: "three parts to the “Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0″ series: part one covering tools; part two covering office applications; and in part three, real cases of Web 2.0 used in classrooms around the world."

Bangkok Airport Hotels -- Grand Come Inn

Cheap Hotel/hostel - Thailand Forum: "The Grand Inn Come Hotel is about 10 kms (6.2 Miles) from Suvarnabhumi Bangkok International Airport.

Superior room THB 1050"

Belkin TuneStage II: Play iPod thru home stereo

Play Your iPod® Through Your Home-Entertainment System with the Belkin TuneStage® II for iPod: "October 11, 2006 - The Belkin TuneStage II for iPod turns your iPod into the ultimate remote control so you can play the music from your iPod through your home stereo wirelessly via Bluetooth technology. Navigate your playlists, search for artists or individual songs, and adjust the volume—all through the iPod click wheel, from over 30 feet away. With a transmitter connected to your iPod and a receiver wired to your system...

• Features Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR [(Enhanced Data Rate), offering three times the bandwidth of conventional Bluetooth protocols] for superior performance
• Transmits from up to 33 ft. away
• Provides up to 7 hours of playtime on a fully charged iPod
• Features iPod charging capability via USB, with included cable"

Implement WPA2-Personal wireless security on a Windows XP SP2-based computer

Implement WPA2-Personal wireless security on a Windows XP SP2-based computer: "I've been running the DWL-3200AP in WPA2-PSK mode on my network, and it has been performing well. While you won't find this particular access point on the shelves in retail outlets, stores such as Circuit City are distributing them by mail order from their Web sites. If you're running a home office or are a high-end residential user, I recommend this access point because it has a 'guest mode' that employs wireless virtual LAN (VLAN) technology. With this technology, you can set up a separate, non-encrypted service set identifier (SSID) on the same device that is totally isolated from your own network."

United Airlines Operational Upgrades: Gate Agent's Perspective

This Flyertalk post talks about how operational upgrades are granted at the gate.

Status and fare paid are key when there's time to do it by policy.
technorati tags: travel

New York: JFK to city without Airtrain

MTA Q10 bus connects with A and E subway lines. Leaves from JFK Terminal 4. Approximate travel time: 34 minutes to A; 44 minutes to E. 24 hour service. 10-15 minutes headway during weekdays; somewhat less frequest on weekends.

If payment is by Metrocard, free transfer to subway.
technorati tags: travel | New York

Tony Wheeler's List of Interesting Hotels, 3 Oct 05

Includes:

• Hotel Bougainvillier, Phnom Penh, Cambodia – US$49. Right on the waterfront
• Hengshan Moller Villa, Shanghai, China – US$93. The eccentric building which fronts the hotel was the home of a pre-WW II Swedish businessman and although the new block is nondescript and the service is haphazard the location is good, there’s free broadband internet and the prices are reasonable.

Also, kinda pricey for my taste in Ubud:
Komaneka Suites & Komaneka Resort, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia – US$200. Komaneka Suites overlooks a valley just outside the artist village of Ubud while Komaneka Resort is right on the Monkey Forest Road in the village. The more expensive rooms even have their own plunge pools, they’re both delightful.
technorati tags: travel | asia | shanghai | bali | cambodia

Less Visited Khymer Temples, Part 3 of 3

3 April 06 -- Monday
Nang Rong, Thailand (South Isaan)

(Ok, after a l-o-n-g break, I'll finish up the Thai temples part of this report and do the remaining trip segments, overland to and through Cambodia and back to Bangkok, piecemeal.)

Current location: Honey Inn , 8/1 Soi Sri Koon, Nang Rong, Buriram, 31110 Thailand; Honey_inn_thai@hotmail.com (mail checked once per week); Telephone: 0-4462-2825 (+66 44 622 825 int'l)
Mobile: 0-1075-9972 (+66 1 075 9972 int'l); Lat 14.629/Lon 102.799

Agenda for today:

• visit Phnom Rung, as well as the nearby Muang Tam, Khymer temple sites
• decide whether to leave Nang Rong on an afternoon bus for Khorat/Phimai or stay another night.

In talking to the expat Canadian and German fellow guests last night, I got their thoughts on traveling out to Phnom Rung and the nearby Muang Tam temple sites. One had gone that day by a combination of bus and mototaxi; the other by hired mototaxi. There was a third option of hiring a moto from the guesthouse and driving out to the sites myself.

The bus/mototaxi combination seemed ok, but time consuming. And, frankly, after spending what seemed like half my life on the bus yesterday coming from Kantaralak, spending a lot of time that day on local buses and, of course, waiting for local buses at the roadside bus shelters in the April heat, didn't appeal to me all that much.

The idea of hiring a mototaxi with driver sounded ok, as I had done in Kantaralok to get to Preah Vihear, but, if it seemed reasonable to navigate to the sites myself, well, why bother with the extra overhead of a driver? Hiring the mototaxi/driver in Kantaralak worked out ok, but, having seen how riding was done in the more rural parts of Thailand, it didn't seem all that daunting to ride there myself. After all, I didn't kill myself when I hired the moto in Lao and facilities here in Nang Rong were much better. (For instance, there was a hospital just a block away. I guess I'm trying to provide some of the "traveler tradeoffs" I weigh when on the road.)

Ok, Thailand is "drive on the left," which didn't thrill me, but, while there was traffic, it wasn't all that bad. The larger vehicles didn't seem to actively try to nail you as you drove and, once outside the more built up areas, traffic dwindled to nothing.

It turned out that, in addition to the map in the pages of Lonely Planet Thailand that I had brought, the guesthouse manager, Mrs. Phanna, had a strip map showing the route. Thailand highway signage is pretty good, with highway numbers clearly marked, so I didn't have a lot of concerns about getting lost. The best plan, then, seemed to be to hire a moto from the guesthouse (B250/day, including helmet, but gas extra).

Mrs. Phanna, whipped up breakfast including eggs, which I generally never eat unless it seems to be expected of me, as here; endless toast and jam; a basket of peel-it-yourself mango, and as much coffee as you could drink. B40. It was quite nice sitting at the dining table without feeling extremely pressed to link up with a driver and get going. Based on the previous two days experiences, I had already missed the best light, which was at dawn when the sites weren't open anyway, so I might as well cool it a bit and get going when things felt right. I wasn't going to be that late anyway out to the sites and, if it was roasting by the time I returned, well, that's life. I filled up my water bottle from the cooler (free water from the cooler, or you could get bottles), got my day pack, and I was ready to head out.

There were several motos to choose from, all of which seemed to have working brakes, so I took the one with the most gas (checked visually). I managed not to make a repeat performance of my incompetence in Pakxe, Lao in getting the moto started, once I got some assistance in finding the choke. The road in the immediate area of the guesthouse was pretty quiet, so I had a minute to get oriented, make adjustments, and work out the bugs before I got to the main road. At the main road, after turning left, east, the strategy was pretty simple--hug the shoulder and maneuver carefully around large objects, such as local buses.

After leaving the main part of town behind, just a couple of km, I was heading east on Highway 24, which, though a main east-west artery in this part of Thailand, wasn't all that heavily traveled. Just right for a marginally competent moto rider. After perhaps 12km, I saw signs for my next turn, onto Highway 2117 at the village of Ta Ko, and turned right, south, at a traffic light. Exactly at the intersection it got a bit busy with buses arriving, loading, and departing near the intersection, but after that it became quieter than Highway 24. Around 5km on 2117, I came to a well marked T-junction where I turned left, east, onto Highway 2221, marked on the guesthouse map as the village of Don Nong Nee.

Another 5km or so, past a Thai military Airborne training site, the road to Phnom Rung continues up a hill. After a couple of km one comes to a couple of back gates to the site, spaced about a km apart, but don't stop at these. A bit further and there is a large developed area, a bit obscured, on the right and a smaller one on the left. If you continue on 100m or so , you come to the entrance for the parking area on the right. There are the usual vendors, though much more geared for local Thai people than foreigners. I parked among a bunch of other motos and, after a couple of moments thought, left my helmet on the moto, as others had done.

Phnom Rung
There's a small visitor center with an interesting model showing both Phnom Rung and the nearby Muang Tam sites. Ye Olde Ticket Booth was a bit beyond. I didn't write down the price, but the guidebook says B40, which sounds about right. Same price for Thai people and foreigners, I believe.

Once again I'll take some of the details of the description of the site from Michael Freeman's book A Guide to Khmer Temples in Thailand and Laos. The site is located atop a 383m inactive volcano, 190km to the west of Preah Vihear. The site has been extensively restored and has much less of the tumbled down effect of the usual Khymer sites. The site is oriented east-west, with the entrance at the east.

At the modern entrance to Phnom Rung is a cross shaped terrace measuring 40m north-south and 30m east-west. This is followed by a 160m causeway paved in pock-marked, laterite stone.


At the end of the first causeway is a terrace with naga, serpent, balustrades. From here a staircase leads to the sanctuary. At the top of the stairs is a terrace with four artificial ponds. There is a second naga bridge on this terrace. I wouldn't have known it except for the description in Freeman's book, but a very interesting feature of the balustrades is that the naga at the ends are actually being disgorged by a makara, a marine monster. The body of the makara then forms the remaining part of the body of the balustrade.

The terrace leads to the eastern gopura, or entry tower, which in turn leads to a series of doorways through the enclosure to the sanctuary. There are elaborate carvings on the pediments and lintels. It really helps to have a guidebook that describes the details (plug for Freeman's book or equivalent.) The sanctuary has a magnificent tower with elaborate carvings. For those who have seen the towers in poor, eroded condition at Angkor, it's revealing to see the decorative details of the Phnom Rung tower.

After a couple of hours I left Phnom Rung and headed to Muang Tam, the "Lower City," which is about 8km away. One leaves Phnom Rung the opposite direction from arrival, turning right from the parking lot and heading down the hill, hoping that the brakes were in good shape. After 3km, turn right following the sign for Muang Tam, which is 5km further on, south of a large 1150m x 400m baray, basin. Parking is across the road at the visitor center where there are also some vendor booths, toilet, and a restaurant.

I went to the ticket booth across the road, B40, I believe, and talked for a minute to the ticket vendor and some Thai police that were hanging around the booth eating some typical, unidentifiable Thai sweet snack, which they offered me (and which I took). Then, somewhat to my surprise, the police officer in charge of the small detail wanted to sit in the shade and talk a bit. It turned out that they were traffic officers. He offered me another snack and asked me how I got out there. Well, here I am with no driver's license, on a moto from the guesthouse thinking, what should I say. So, I told him I came out on a moto, which surprised him. He told me to watch out because there were a lot of accidents on motos, etc. etc. I assured him I was careful, etc. etc. We sat there and ate snacks and talked about nothing for a while. His English was a lot better than my Thai, but eventually things wound down and I excused myself to see the temple. Nice guys.

Muang Tam Temple

Muang Tam, which, like Phnom Rung, has been restored, is a very unlike other Khymer sites. It has an outer enclosure with four gopura, entry towers, at north, south, east, and west. Inside the outer enclosure are four L-shaped ponds surrounding an inner enclosure. Within the inner enclosure are five brick towers, arranged in a front row of three and a back row of two. Also within the inner enclosure are two "libraries."

The ponds are a very attractive, defining feature of the temple, adding to an air of serenity, though the site is quite close to modern dwellings. At the time of my visit there were, perhaps, five other people at the site, a nice contrast to the hordes at Angkor sites or even the lesser crowds I encountered that morning at Phnom Rung.

After leaving the temple I walked back across the street to look for some lunch. There's an ok outdoor restaurant with the usual Thai selections and, I believe, an English menu. In any event, ordering was no big deal. For B77 I had shrimp with mixed veg, rice, and bottled water. Somewhat amusingly, or alarmingly, depending on your perspective in this time of concerns about avian flu, were the number of chickens, along with a few ducks, that were running around the area. At one point a customer who went to the cashier to pick up some take out grabbed a chicken that was in his way and tossed it to the side.

To return to Nang Rong from Muang Tam, one could retrace the way to Phnom Rung and then along Highways 2221 and 2117 to 24, or take Highway 2075 west to Lahan Sai and then Highway 348 north to Nang Rong at the 24/348 junction. I decided to take the brute force approach of retracing my steps, which I thought might also allow me to better understand the back gates to Phnom Rung. It was a pleasant, straightforward ride.

I had plenty of gas and decided to wait until I got to Nang Rong proper before filling it up. Once off Highway 2221 and heading north on Highway 2117 traffic came to a standstill as some sort of village celebration in a parade of pickup trucks came south with people waving and singing. The nice thing about riding a moto is that you can take your time and just stop and enjoy the scene.

Back on Highway 24 and in Nang Rong I pulled into a gas station. Once again, as in Lao, it was full service with two attendants helping me. I checked the gas and found, to my surprise, that I didn't really need any. Though the gauge showed about 2/3 full, it seemed about 3/4 full, plenty in that heat. So, once again, I guess the gas gauge was broken. I decided to tell Mrs Phanna, the guesthouse manager, and offer to settle up when I paid my bill. I got back to the guesthouse in about one hour from Muang Tam.

By the time I got back, I wasn't ready to hop on another bus to Khorat/Phimai, so I decided to stay another night in Nang Rong.

That night the expat Canadian and German guys and I were joined at dinner by a middle aged French couple as well as a German girl and her companion. Once again the dinner was great, especially for B100, with 4 or 5 courses.

After dinner the plan was to walk up to the 7/11 on the main road for some ice cream with the Canadian and German guys. After a while, including checking email at the local LAN gaming/cheap high speed Internet place, I ended up back at the guesthouse, helped myself to some beer from the refrigerator, read for a while, and zonked out.

So ends the tale of traveling to see the less visited Khymer temples in Laos and Thailand. I didn't make it to Phimai on this trip, which was a major omission. The rest of the trip was travel to Siem Reap overland, then to Snookyville by way of Phnom Penh; by boat, truck, and minibus to Trat; and bus to Bangkok. I'll cover those segments separately.
technorati tags: travel | thailand |

Thailand tightens visa rules for US long term "tourists"

Thailand tightens visa rules for tourists to cut illegal workers - Forbes.com: "From October [2006], tourists from the designated countries [41 countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the US],can still enter Thailand without visas and stay for up to 30 days, but their entry stamps will be renewable twice at most for a maximum stay of 90 days.

Tourists who stayed for 90 days must leave the kingdom for at least 90 days before being permitted to re-enter Thailand..."

Doesn't affect me, but lots of long term expats will have a big problem.

Crack the case and upgrade a laptop to 802.11 abg

How to upgrade a laptop to 802.11 abg for $30 by ZDNet's George Ou -- Learn how to upgrade your laptop internal wireless adapter to support 802.11 b/g and 802.11a for $30. No need for expensive and bulky Cardbus adapters that ruin the form of your laptop. Follow this step-by-step guide to install your own Intel2915ABG 802.11 a/b/g adapter."

One problem is that IBM apparently blocks use of non-IBM cards. The article gives a software workaround.

Thai Lao Border Crossings Added

The usual not quite informative announcement about additional ways to cross between Thailand and Lao:
MCOT : TNA English News :: "LAOS, Aug 26 (TNA) - Thailand and ... (Lao PDR) have agreed ... to upgrade a temporary border crossing point in Thailand's northern Uttaradit Province to permanent status, as well as to open two temporary border points in the country's northeastern region a bid to boost blateral tourism.
...
Under the agreement, both sides will upgrade the temporary border crossing in Uttaradit's Baan Kok District to permanent status.

Two more border crossing points in the northeastern provinces of Nakhon Phanom and Amnat Charoen will also be opened."

What's needed are details about:

• the exact places one might cross
• whether Lao visa on arrival will be available for non-Thai.

technorati tags: travel | thailand | laos

A9 Search Hosed?

For about the last 20 hours (?), search using A9 yields a nice diagnostic message like this:

Did you mean: language "quote quote quote quote" a9 search

There are no web results for this query.

We'll see if submitting feedback does any good (or if it's just me). For now, back to Google.

Edited to add: ok, now back to normal.

Pre-Pasted Disposable Toothbrushes

Here's a dentist oriented site with prepasted toothbrushes.

Figure $.15/each including shipping and tax. Minimum lot is 144, though.

Sri Lanka Airport Transport (Transfer)

Airport transport between the CMB airport to Colombo can be arranged in advance to try to avoid the arrival area chaos.

Airport Express (PVT) LTD.
+94 11 555-5050 or 011 555-5050 in Sri Lanka
R2000/per person, one way, (though this should be verified).
(Skype call to SL is US.148/minute)

This recommendation is based on a ride from Colombo to CMD in Nov 03. Service availablility and rate checked by phone Aug 06.
technorati tags: travel | Sri Lanka

Vietnam Telecomm Investment in Cambodia

A report titled A new way of development of Vietnamese telecom enterprises discusses Vietnamese investment in telecomm in Cambodia:
"The military-run telecom corporation, Viettel, is applying to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for a licence to invest US $1 million in a project in Cambodia. If approved, this will be the first project invested abroad in the telecom service field by a domestic company, opening a new way of development for Vietnamese telecom businesses. ...

Viettel plans to provide VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) telephone services throughout Cambodia. To begin with, in April, Viettel established Viettel Cambodia Pte Ltd headquartered in Phnom Penh to seek the Cambodia telecom market.

Viettel also plans to supply mobile phone and internet services in Cambodia and Laos and co-ordinated with Cambodian partners to install two international on-land optic cable networks to Cambodia."

It would be interesting to know the routes of the fiber optic cable and whether it will be installed in trenches or aerially on power poles and transmission towers.
technorati tags: cambodia | vietnam

Extreme Sports Camcorder with Wireless Lens -- Samsung SC-X210WL

Samsung has annnounced a hands free camcorder with an outboard, wireless lens, the: SC-X210WL/XAA: "sports camcorder with wireless lens
Here's the feature set:
--ultra-compact camcorder
--wireless weather resistant external clip-on auxiliary lens for hands-free operation up to 15 feet away from base
--1GB of built-in memory lets you record up to 34 minutes of high quality MPEG4 --SD/MMC slot
--2' LCD screen
--10x optical/100x digital zoom,
--680K pixel CCD
--electronic image stabilization
--MP3/webcam/voice recorder/data storage.

Available in September, 2006 for US$680. Samsung hosts a site to view and post videos.

Vietnam Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

"Liquid" in the Flyertalk forums reports FYI - Location of Vietnamese Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar: "...the Embassy of Vietnam in Yangon, Myanmar has moved. The address is:

70-72 Thanlwin Road
Bahan Township
Yangon, Myanmar
Tel: 511305"

Current as of July, 2006.

technorati tags: travel | vietnam | myanmar | burma

Second Thai-Lao bridge to be opened in December, 2006

The People's Daily reports, from a Xinhua source: People's Daily Online -- Second Thai-Lao bridge to be opened in December:
"The second bridge linking Thailand and Laos across the Mekong River will be opened in December, Laos' Radio Vientiane announced on Friday.

Construction on the bridge, linking Mukdaharn province in northeastern Thailand to Laos' southern province Suvannakhet, began in December 2003, and will be completed by this December, the radio reported.

The project, which costs about 69 million U.S. dollars, was partly financed by the Japanese government and half by the Lao government.

It will be the second bridge to link Thailand and Laos across the Mekong River, which is the common border of the two countries.

The first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge was completed with Australian assistance in the early 1990s, linking the Lao capital Vientiane with Nong Khai province in northeastern Thailand."
technorati tags: thailand | laos