I have personally spent a couple of years traveling and the gadgets I most used were a 12 inch powerbook and a GSM mobile phone. The laptop was great and being the 12 inch was pretty light. Internet cafes can be uncomfortable, spyware infested dives. Having your own laptop means you can at least try and be secure. The phone is also good. Just buy a SIM card in each country you are traveling through and the price becomes pretty reasonable. They can be a godsend for booking places while you are on the moved and can save you time hiking from hostel to hostel.
Security can also be an issue but if you have your own room you can normally leave the laptop in there. Try and find a good hiding place for it. Also make sure you get a good daypack that has a laptop section in it but doesn't look like a laptop bag.
Oh and a camera. Take whatever you feel comfortable with. An SLR is great if you love taking photos but can be a hassle to carry. I personally have a great camera on my phone (Nokia N73) and by girfriend carries the SLR.
This would be great for buses. Instead of having traffic cops giving people tickets for driving/parking in bus lanes the bus driver could just snap pictures of the offending vehicles. When the driver got back to the base the photos could be uploaded and instant fines sent off to the offenders.
They charge a 50c transaction fee which is pretty steep, especially when you are only paying $3.50 for the actual parking. Having the system txt you when your parking is almost up and email receipts is a great idea which I wish they would implement here.
Most real web analytics services use page tagging to measure unique browsers. IP address analysis is just not valid. Real analytics packages screan out spiders and other non human traffic as well. Of course even page tagging with cookies is not totally fool proof - 2 people could use the the same computer with the same login and one person may use a different computer at home and at work but it is better than any other method for measurement.
Note: If you want to see how page tagging works the easiest way is to check out Google Analytics.
But if you're stuck somewhere with an internet connection and Microsoft Word files to edit but no word processor, ajaxWrite might save your tail.
My friend emailed himself a document at his work which he saved in OpenDocument format only to find he could not open it in Word. ajaxWrite saved him from making a 1 hour round trip home to get it converted. It may not be Word but it does have its uses.
Vodafone New Zealand has this already. It costs $3.50NZD per track and you only have access to the song on that particular mobile. Lose your mobile and you lose the song. You can't transfer it to a PC either./b
Vodafone just released their Simply phone. I just got one for my mum and even she can use it. This is her third mobile phone and the only one that she has been able to use properly.
Simply the technology they use. Most people want to download information so it is more efficient to have bigger download channels than uploads. The telcos only have som much bandwidth to play with and they paid a lot of money for it.
AFAIK The other 3G system W-CDMA has better upload speeds but slower downloads (Until HSDA arrives later this year in trials).
-------- As an aside EV-DO is also know as EVolution - Download Only in the WCDMA camp for its crap uplink speed.
Surely it is only a matter of time before they install keybaord AND screen loggers? After all they could install a customised version of VNC and record the screen whenever the user visits 'interesting' sites such as a list of banking sites, etc. With a broadband connection and large hard drives the user really isn't going to notice the software. This would get the phisher past the onscreen challenge issue.
Boring becasue you just drive acround test paterns looking for problems and not actually fixing them. I just got back from a day testing the new 3G network in NZ and all you do is make sure the test equipment doesn't crash, log the data and fire it off to head office at the end of the day.
Nobody seems to get what mobile sites are for. They are for relevant, timely information that you need at the point of business. Generic sites which are designed for the PC just don't work on small devices in the field. What we need is application designers who can design for small screens, low bandwidth, on/offline use. These contraints simply do not apply in the PC space as much as the mobile space.
Your example of weather and sports scores are great examples of relevant information that you would want on a mobile device. Now that you know the information that you want you just have to design the interface that makes this info available on a mobile device. This may not even be in website form. For example sports scores could probably be handled by SMS./b
Yep. Linspire is working on an enterprise version of CNR so you will be able to deploy applications in a corporate network. For lock down there is the KDE Kiosk framework which is being worked on.
If reporting security problems does not get easier for so-called white hat hackers, then there is a very good chance that problems will not be reported until it is far too late.
Well actually your a Grey Hat hacker. White Hats are actually authorized to try and crack networks and usually get paid for it.
Slashdot Mirror
I have personally spent a couple of years traveling and the gadgets I most used were a 12 inch powerbook and a GSM mobile phone. The laptop was great and being the 12 inch was pretty light. Internet cafes can be uncomfortable, spyware infested dives. Having your own laptop means you can at least try and be secure. The phone is also good. Just buy a SIM card in each country you are traveling through and the price becomes pretty reasonable. They can be a godsend for booking places while you are on the moved and can save you time hiking from hostel to hostel.
Security can also be an issue but if you have your own room you can normally leave the laptop in there. Try and find a good hiding place for it. Also make sure you get a good daypack that has a laptop section in it but doesn't look like a laptop bag.
Oh and a camera. Take whatever you feel comfortable with. An SLR is great if you love taking photos but can be a hassle to carry. I personally have a great camera on my phone (Nokia N73) and by girfriend carries the SLR.
This would be great for buses. Instead of having traffic cops giving people tickets for driving/parking in bus lanes the bus driver could just snap pictures of the offending vehicles. When the driver got back to the base the photos could be uploaded and instant fines sent off to the offenders.
We have had TXT-a-Park for a while here in NZ - http://www.vodafone.co.nz/promos/txt-a-park/txt_a_ park.jsp?item=txt_a_park
They charge a 50c transaction fee which is pretty steep, especially when you are only paying $3.50 for the actual parking. Having the system txt you when your parking is almost up and email receipts is a great idea which I wish they would implement here.
Most real web analytics services use page tagging to measure unique browsers. IP address analysis is just not valid. Real analytics packages screan out spiders and other non human traffic as well. Of course even page tagging with cookies is not totally fool proof - 2 people could use the the same computer with the same login and one person may use a different computer at home and at work but it is better than any other method for measurement.
Note: If you want to see how page tagging works the easiest way is to check out Google Analytics.
Because he is in an office enviroment which doesn't allow you to install software.
But if you're stuck somewhere with an internet connection and Microsoft Word files to edit but no word processor, ajaxWrite might save your tail.
My friend emailed himself a document at his work which he saved in OpenDocument format only to find he could not open it in Word. ajaxWrite saved him from making a 1 hour round trip home to get it converted. It may not be Word but it does have its uses.
Vodafone New Zealand has this already. It costs $3.50NZD per track and you only have access to the song on that particular mobile. Lose your mobile and you lose the song. You can't transfer it to a PC either. /b
My favorite at the moment is Hoyts New Zealand which has this as the first term:
This site is made available solely for access from places in Australia and to users ordinarily resident in Australia.
Now I wonder why they would want to ban users from New Zealand from accessing movies times for movies showing in New Zealand...
I wonder if they were giving away free beer as well?
Vodafone just released their Simply phone. I just got one for my mum and even she can use it. This is her third mobile phone and the only one that she has been able to use properly.
Simply the technology they use. Most people want to download information so it is more efficient to have bigger download channels than uploads. The telcos only have som much bandwidth to play with and they paid a lot of money for it.
AFAIK The other 3G system W-CDMA has better upload speeds but slower downloads (Until HSDA arrives later this year in trials).
--------
As an aside EV-DO is also know as EVolution - Download Only in the WCDMA camp for its crap uplink speed.
If it had been released before sarge that would have delayed satge until sometime in 2008 with all the extra testing to make sure it was stable...
I especially like the 4 Starbucks which litter the area from Borders to Islington Station. /b
PS: If you want good coffee go to Tinderbox on Upper Street
Surely it is only a matter of time before they install keybaord AND screen loggers? After all they could install a customised version of VNC and record the screen whenever the user visits 'interesting' sites such as a list of banking sites, etc. With a broadband connection and large hard drives the user really isn't going to notice the software. This would get the phisher past the onscreen challenge issue.
Boring becasue you just drive acround test paterns looking for problems and not actually fixing them. I just got back from a day testing the new 3G network in NZ and all you do is make sure the test equipment doesn't crash, log the data and fire it off to head office at the end of the day.
And the pay ain't that great!
Nobody seems to get what mobile sites are for. They are for relevant, timely information that you need at the point of business. Generic sites which are designed for the PC just don't work on small devices in the field. What we need is application designers who can design for small screens, low bandwidth, on/offline use. These contraints simply do not apply in the PC space as much as the mobile space.
/b
Your example of weather and sports scores are great examples of relevant information that you would want on a mobile device. Now that you know the information that you want you just have to design the interface that makes this info available on a mobile device. This may not even be in website form. For example sports scores could probably be handled by SMS.
I know he 'started' the whole thing and iPodder is the software I use...But I find his podcast really boring. I deleted the feed after 2 shows.
Exactly...So here a couple that I like:
Doesn't that come built in with Windows?
Did all the stand bunnies run for cover shouting 'Stalker Nerd Alert!'?
I thought all sysadmins wore black tshirts and listened to death metal.
I think they have a duopoly with a company called "default".
Yep. Linspire is working on an enterprise version of CNR so you will be able to deploy applications in a corporate network. For lock down there is the KDE Kiosk framework which is being worked on.
Around 40-80NZD an hour.
If reporting security problems does not get easier for so-called white hat hackers, then there is a very good chance that problems will not be reported until it is far too late.
Well actually your a Grey Hat hacker. White Hats are actually authorized to try and crack networks and usually get paid for it.