Technology Thailand

Where Thais and technology clash

by Jesada Chandraprasert, Thailand

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The day the Zunes stood still

Jan 1, 2009 11:24

What appears to be a software glitch has plagued Zune users in a major way. A glitch related to drivers for the internal clock has caused Zune 30s all over the world to freeze this past Tuesday and early Wednesday. According to Web site Zune.net, this problem is affecting only older Zune 30 models.

The remedy? Read more »

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Cold turkey holiday

Dec 27, 2008 21:12

No the title does not refer to a sad, bad Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. As it's been a while since my last post here and this neglect of duty has been eating me up inside. No, I have not been sick or incarcerated. I had taken about a month off from work, this time notifying my colleagues to contact me on my mobile only in case of emergencies, as I will not likely be lingering on IM as I would normally do.�

These past few weeks has been daddy day care time for myself and my baby. With his mother at work, it's been full on for daddy from 9-5 every day. Being kept busy with diapers, bottles and baby food has done to me what being broke, threatened by my loved ones, heck, even power outages have not been able to do. I've been off the Internet for nearly 2 weeks now. It's been quite a new experience. I switched off my push email and disabled IM�from my phone. Withdrawal was not as bad as I had feared. I was not thumbing the "Mail" button or scrolling through my messages aimlessly. But instead replaced my addiction with something else more fulfilling.��I've actually made day trips far and near with my baby taking precious pictures of his first reactions to seeing an aquarium, his first sight of an airplane taking off, his first taste of ice cream, and other unforgettable moments. Heck, I didn't even post to Flickr or Twitter as I would normally do.

Tomorrow is the start of my 4-day road trip to Phrae with the whole family. With space at a premium there is no room for all the goodies I'd normally take with me. I've rethought my plans for "geek on the go" gear and have decided to continue with trying to stay in the tangible world rather than the digital one. So, it'll be the Acer Aspire One and my Nokia E90 (in case there is a REAL emergency at the office and of course for my duties here at CNET Asia's blogs) and no MacBook or other redundant gadgets.

Wish me luck! And I hope that no one is around to read this as it's being posted because you should be out enjoying this festive season!

(Belated) Merry Christmas and a smashing New Year to all!

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A week with the Acer Aspire One 3G

Dec 19, 2008 01:17

After blogging about True Move's new promo for the Acer Aspire One 3G, I just couldn't help myself. I had planned on making a switch to True Move for their more favorable data rates but their lack of EDGE held me back. However, they've recently upgraded their network in my area so EDGE is finally available. I am currently using AIS's 3GSM service and find the speed quite satisfying. However, after going over where I am most of the day, I realized that I'm either at a)home or�b)the office for most of the day, giving me access to high speed Internet. Other places like malls and cafes often have a True Wi-Fi hotspot nearby. Well, the switch started to make sense even more. Then they throw in this deal with Acer and I was sold.

The Package
True Move and Acer are offering free EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi access to anyone who purchases an Acer Aspire One 3G from an authorised dealer. One of the terms stated on their website is that the purchase must be made through the consumer financial service company AEON and payment would be spread over 18 months at 0% interest. A good plan to sell Acers, get more people on the True Move network and get more people to apply for an AEON account opening up more doors for future hire purchases. I was able to find more than one shop willing to forgo the financing requirement and still offer a voucher for the free Internet access to anyone who paid through any other means.

The Aspire One 3G is valued at just over 24,000 baht (about US$695). The cost of the package is about 22,000 baht plus an "entry fee" of 2,000 baht bringing the total to par.

The cost of an unlimited Wi-Fi and EDGE/GPRS plan from True Move is normally about 450 baht. At 18 months, this works out to 8,100 baht if you were to subscribe to this service alone. So in reality, you're saving� 8,100 baht and getting an Aspire One 3G on hire purchase at 0% interest.

For me the savings adds up even more now that I do not have to pay upwards of 2,000 baht in data + minutes + extras for my main number. I've now reworked my plan so that I have to only spend about 300 baht. I'm saving about 500 baht in total each month.

In the box
The packaging is as minimal as the computer itself. A box a tad bigger than a large shoebox holds all the goodies in its belly. My package contained the Acer Aspire One, a 6-cell battery, leather case, power brick, supplement driver cd for the 3G modem, Kaspersky AntiVirus with one-year subscription and documentation.

The Machine
I chose the black because all the other colors don't yell out macho like black does. As you can see in the picture below, this thing is a fingerprint magnet.

Ample sized keyboard and a suitable screen. The Webcam is just above the screen.

Unfortunately, the 3G module is for the 2100MHz band. The good news is that this is the top-of-the-line model. It has the same basic configuration as the other models with 1GB of RAM, a 120GB HDD and a 6-cell battery. I have been able to get 4-6 hours run time with 3G or Wi-Fi on (not both).�Physically it looks the same as any other Aspire One model save for the little circular bump on the bottom shell to accomodate the harddisk. The SIM card slot is located behind the battery.

The software
With Windows XP Home preinstalled with minimal crapware, its ready to go out of the box. It also comes with a trial edition of Office 2007. It was interesting that mine came with McAfee Antivirus preinstalled as well.� The 3G modem shares the same physical switch as the Wi-Fi, left slide for 3G, right slide for Wi-Fi. The 3G modem is controlled by Acer's own 3G Connection Manager application. It has facilities for sending and receiving text messages as well but it does not do voice calls.

The opinion
Vs my UMPCs
I found the performance and battery life to be very impressive coming from the world of UMPCs, more specifically the OQO and Asus R2H.

Vs MacBook
Performance and features are geared towards different usage situations. MacBooks are more multimedia and "full blown"�user types. The Aspire One is definitely geared towards the road warrior who does not need to be doing any photo or video editing. It holds its own with most software (iTunes didn't stutter on playback). Office documents didn't make it sweat even a bit.

The deal maker features
I am now carrying this machine everywhere I go. I used to pack my OQO 01+ for urgent work in my geek bag and�leave my MacBook�in my car incase I need something more powerful to work with. However, since putting my hands on the Aspire One 3G, these two previusly mentioned devices have not left home.�Whats more important is that I've never had to bring along the charger for the Aspire One. I just slide it into its leather case and that's it. It's small and light enought to carry around like a book.

More importantly is the ability to get connected over Wi-Fi or over EDGE when needed. What bugged me most about mobile computing (when a PDA just won't suffice) is that by mating your computer to your cellphone, you risk draining the batteries on both devices, making even an emergency call to say "I can't get online" nearly impossible. With a built in modem, I can save the phone battery for the phone and not have to worry about appearing to "fall off the face of the earth" when both batteries go dead.

I think that True Move are learning in their dealings with Apple in getting the iPhone 3G in their stall. They've come up with a hardware + service package that complement each other in a "pay only once" type deal, which even goes a step beyond what Apple has achieved with the iPhone and its expensive cost of ownership.

Now if they can put a rush on their 3G plans, then that would surely give the big 2 some real competition for the #1 spot in Thailand.

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True Move making waves with iPhone & Acer Aspire One promos

Dec 8, 2008 12:53

Despite being a bit behind in network coverage in most areas of the country, True Move has a commendable network of Wi-Fi hotspots covering most cities and malls countrywide. True Move has bundled these two connectivity options into some tempting packages which looks to take the wind out of Dtac and AIS' sails. �
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Geek on the go

Dec 5, 2008 01:55

Now that December is officially here, it's once again time to hit the road for a family trip. This year, a trip to the province of Prae for my niece's wedding. Normally we'd hire a van and I'd have to carry a plethora of spare batteries and a portable charger to make sure my tunes or movies last the whole trip. But this year with baby, we're taking the family car, which means I'll be doing the driving, meaning I'll have to repack my geek go bag.
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