TechFold - Bold tech & web commentary

Off to Bangladesh!

Were on our way shortly to Bangladesh - leaving within hours! A bit of nerves building, but I think were pretty well set up. Were flying “Biman” - the Bangladesh national carrier - from Singapore direct. Its actually a four hour flight - the distances around Asia can be deceiving (or the planes are slow!). We’ll arrive likely around 1:00AM, when we’ll (hopefully) get picked up by our B&B - the Green House. Were splurging - will be around 40-50 USD per night, but the airport pickup makes it worth it. Additionally, it comes recommended by another volunteer who just shipped out to Rayenda (the town where our volunteer group is based) - apparently the b&b staff were instrumental in getting transporation, mobile internet access, and everything else - so we don’t mind paying a bit for the help.

So - Saturday, we’ll figure out how quickly we can get on the road for Rayenda. We’ll do the first leg of the journey (24 hours!) on a Rocket Steamer - which is essentially like the Paddlewheel queen with private sleeper cabins. When we get into our transfer point the next day, its either a bus or a tramp steamer to get to our final destination. Then - a 20 minute walk across town, and were home for the next two months! That walk should be interesting - apparently foreigners attract large crowds wherever they go once you’re outside of Dhaka. However disconcerting the crowds may be at first, they’re just friendly and curious, and apparently one becomes used to them very quickly.

Below is a map of Bangladesh - see Barisal? Apparently Rayenda (which is too small at 50,000 people to show up on the map) is somewhere around there:

View Larger Map

The weather in Rayenda is surprisingly cool - it seems to be topping out around 25 in the day, going down to 10 at night. Believe it or not, I’ve actually packed long johns to sleep in - not ordinarily something one packs for south east Asia!

Anyway - if you’d like to know more about what we’ll be up to in Bangladesh, you can read all about it on the Hands On Disaster Response website, and check out their Flickr stream.

Alrighty - there’s packing to finish, so I’m off - next writing from Bangladesh!

bangladesh, dhaka, hodr volunteering

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Hello from Singapore!

Sometime when I was in the air, Microsoft got all crazy and made a bid for Yahoo - insanity. I haven’t had a chance to read up on it yet, but I’m still astounded that Ballmer actually pulled the trigger.

Anyway - Singapore is gorgeous - yes, Zoli, its pretty familiar, but just different enough to be exciting (Little India was great last night), and a nice transition for us asia-neophytes. Next destination at the end of the week will be Melaka (resort town) in Malaysia, then its off to the wilds of Bangladesh…

You can follow along on our Flickr photostream, btw! Enjoy

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

ON THE ROAD

Were leaving tomorrow AM early for Vancouver, and Victoria to visit family, and will be there for a few days before heading to Singapore - so don’t expect regular content updates here for quite some time!

namaste,

–Rod.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

FOSS software replacements for the expensive stuff you’re used to

I’m unemployed - by choice, mind you, but unemployed nonetheless. So when choosing software with which to provision my laptop for my upcoming year-long travel-tech-blogging adventure (8 days left…), I’ve been picking FOSS options every step of the way.

Microsoft Office -> OpenOffice
Photoshop -> Paint.net

…well, um, actually, that’s it so far as everything else I use is cloud (gmail etc.). Still - its really nice to have alternatives like the two above to choose from.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Sun buys MySQL: all upside for coporate markets

Wow - Sun bagged MySQL (more, more, more , more, full wrapup). As painful as it is to see a fave get snapped up, assuming that Sun allows the sbu some level of autonomy, this is all upside. I know my blue chip soon-to-be-former employer wouldn’t touch MySQL for a production system (say what you will about that policy), but certainly would touch a low cost DB off of Sun’s product shelf.

For big enterprise stuff, behemoth status carries a lot of decision-making weight, and Sun certainly has that. From a legal liability perspective (someone to sue), a business continuity perspective (Sun will be around), and a support and stability perspective, putting MySQL inside a Sun wrapper makes it an option for the first time.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Another Test Post - ignore it too

Here’s another test post for your non-enjoyment. Apologies.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Test post - please ignore

This is a test post - please ignore it.

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

2pad: Anti-social Photo-sharing Innovation

2pad is an Israeli photo & video-sharing startup that offers a somewhat unique take on the traditional features that define online photo sites. See their guided tour here.

The primary difference is that 2pad assumes that you don’t want to share your photos or videos with anyone - they are private until you explicitly invite someone (from your 2pad contacts or via email) to see specific media or galleries that you give them permission to view. Its directly contrary to what one expects from a photo-sharing service in this day of social everything; to those used to Flickr’s freewheeling sharing/searching/licensing, it may seem retrograde, but I’m willing to bet that there’s a decent-sized group of Hartwellian photographers and social neophytes out there that would find 2pad’s privacy defaults comforting.

While the site itself offers the gamut of ordinary photo tools (sign up, galleries, uploads, etc.), most basic transactions are funneled through email. For example, adding a photo to your account is as simple as emailing 2pad@2pad.com. Your attached image is added to your account, the subject is taken to be a gallery designation, and the any body text in your email is taken to be a description of the photo. Its simple and elegant - and more or less identical to Flickr’s equivalent feature.

Here’s an email that I sent 2pad:

And here’s good ol’ “Blue Hills” in my 2pad account:

If you don’t have a 2pad account, your first email will get you a reply with a link to follow. When you do so, you’ll start at a gallery page featuring the first photo that you attached to your first email, and an introductory video. After you skip through the video, you’ll be prompted to select a password, and then you’re done.

2pad also apparently has a business plan. Free accounts start with a usable amount of storage, though video addicts will find it very cramped, and its very expensive and limited compared to Flickr Pro.

So - in a nutshell, it seems like a solid me-too entry, and the streamlined email-based usage model and restrictive default privacy settings will no doubt appeal to nervous-about-the-social neophyte niches. Overall though, 2pad doesn’t differentiate enough to justify its steep price premiums.

2pad, flickr photos

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

More Ranting on Blognation: Poor advertising

Sorry, I can’t help myself tonite - I don’t mean to be double posting on sordid BlogNation. That being said: It would seem to me that the business purpose of organizing bloggers into country-oriented verticals (as BlogNation did, for instance, at BlogNation Canada) would be to sell nationally focused advertising to keep food on the blogger’s tables and make everyone happy. Have a look at this screengrab from ca.blognation:

Capital! An advert for “Footy247″ which directs the reader to a blog at http://www.footy247.co.uk/. FYI: The only people in Canada who know what “Footy” is are British ex-pats. Our football comes with pads and is played with a helmet on.

There’s basically nothing redeeming that can be said about this ad. If Footy247 is paying for it, they’re getting scammed on zero-relevance impressions. If its BlogNation’s attempt to fill remnant inventory, it would be better if they didn’t because all this does is detract from the experience.

advertising blognation

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Samsung P2 on the Time “Top 10 Gadgets” list

Good job Samsung - you’re getting some press! Now get your act together in the retail channel.

retail, samsung time

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!