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
- border checkpoints
- Banks and ATMs
Friday, February 08, 2008
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:
Some initial comments:
Friday, February 01, 2008
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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.
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.
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).
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).
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, October 05, 2007
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 |
Friday, July 27, 2007
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.
A comparison is the kind of thing that would be useful in the site's product description.
Monday, June 11, 2007
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.
Mentioned by Stan Sesser in the WSJ, 9 Jun 07. Berlin also has a free bike tour.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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."
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
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."
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."
Monday, May 21, 2007
Visualizing the ‘Power Struggle’ in Wikipedia
Visualizing the ‘Power Struggle’ in Wikipedia
Top 20 Most Hotly Revised Articles
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
Sunday, May 20, 2007
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
Compares traffic features such as on Garmin nüvi [nuvi[ 660 and 680
Monday, May 14, 2007
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."
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