I’m amazed by how hard it is to get GPRS when you’re traveling. Prepaid GSM cards don’t seem to support it unless you subscribe to some special service, and even then it’s crippingly expensive (altho not as expensive as roaming). I know 3G is going to replace this intermediate technology sometime, but given the popularity… Read More »
Looking for something else on the Net I stumbled upon this five-year-old piece from Jonathan Rowe in Washington Monthly, Reach Out And Annoy Someone. Some good stuff in there, but I particularly liked some stuff he wrote about Hong Kong, about the ‘lonely bubble’ of the cellphone user in public: And what does that suggest… Read More »
I don’t like working in the office. I’m there now, trying to do a column, and all I get is lots of people yelling on the phone, in their cubicles, in my cubicle. I can’t believe that once I used to write stories in an open-plan newsroom. I suppose it’s a skill worth working on,… Read More »
My old colleague Nick Cumming-Bruce writes in today’s IHT on Thailand’s demand that prepaid cellphone users register before they get a SIM card as police continue on the trail of cellphone terrorists. Interesting piece: the basic idea is that you must hand over your name and address before getting a phone number as a measure… Read More »
This week in the Asian Wall Street Journal/WSJ.com (sub only) I write about keyboards. One little gadget I’ve taken a shine to in this area is the Bluetooth Smart Keyboard, made by an apparently anonymous company somewhere in China: As I mentioned in the column, it’s not great, but it’s surprising what they’ve managed to… Read More »