Computers: February 2005 Archives

I've temporarily disabled the ability to post new comments to all of the blogs hosted on redefine. The comment spam is getting pretty bad, and I need some time to regroup on a technical level, and come up with a different anti-spam solution other than a blacklist. I think that like Carl before me, I'm going to go with TypeKey. This appears to require MovableType 3.x, however, which requires both money, and time, since I can't use the FreeBSD ports collection to install it. Hmmm...

-Andy.

Great stuff on wired.com today: "Hide Your IPod, Here Comes Bill". I read this article with a high degree of amusement. As the Microsoft machine marches on, taking over market after market, it is nice to see them stymied, as evidenced by their own employees. Microsoft employees tend to be a smart lot -- so if they are buying iPods in droves, then it seems like management should try and figure out why, instead of simply banning the practice.

From what I've read about the "PlaysForSure" program, it seems like Microsoft has solved a lot of the reasons why non-iPod mp3 players have sucked on Windows. So eventually, with this software in place, the non-iPods may start to take over the market (just like wintel PCs before them). But for right now, Microsoft has got nuthin'.

But meanwhile, the machine continues to march. I had a quick look at Microsoft's new "MSN Search" the other day, and at first glance, it appears to be a total Google rip-off -- at least from a UI perspective. It looks like the search results that it is returning still aren't as complete as Google's. But how long will it be before Microsoft can out-Google Google?

sigh.

-Andy.

I wanted to have good Internet access while traveling abroad, both to keep on top of work, but also to keep in touch with my friends and family (and TV). Based upon the information that I had from other EDS employees who had gone to Germany, T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots were plentiful, but expensive. In fact, it is 2 euros for every 15 minutes -- 8 euros an hour. Computing the exchange rate is left as an exercise to the reader -- but suffice it to say, this is quite expensive. I did some research, however, and found that accounts on the T-Mobile HotSpot system in the USA can be used on T-Mobile HotSpots in Europe. The advantage, of course, is that in America (being the gluttons that we are), you can buy an "all you can eat plan" for a flat monthly fee. So, before leaving for Germany, I added T-Mobile's HotSpot service to my cell phone plan.

My first week in Germany, I was staying at a hotel that didn't have T-Mobile. The Wifi in the hotel was served by Swisscom, and there was no roaming agreement between Swisscom and T-Mobile. So, I didn't really try to use the T-Mobile service in Europe until last Friday, when I was at Frankfurt airport, waiting to go to England. And of course, it didn't work.

Over the weekend in London, I tried it twice more (both times at Heathrow), and was not successful in getting my account to work. So, I returned to Germany, tired and frustrated by the fact that my T-Mobile HotSpot account wasn't working. My second week in Germany, I am staying at a different hotel which is served by T-Mobile. So, I spent an hour on Sunday evening on the phone with T-Mobile, trying to resolve the situation.

I think that T-Mobile is just like any multi-national company. From the outside, it looks like one homogenous entity. However, internally, due to regional laws and other political reasons, it is really many different sub-companies. The support website for the T-Mobile HotSpot in Germany listed two different phone numbers. In addition, the website advertises that the support personnel speaks German, English, and Turkish. When I called the first number, the person told me (in broken English) that the english-speaking support personnel are only in Monday through Friday.

So, at that point, I was skunked. But luckily, I picked up a T-Mobile brochure when I was in London. That had the support number for T-Mobile UK. I called them up, and the helpful scotsman who answered wasn't able to help me, but he was able to give me the phone number for T-Mobile HotSpot support in the USA. Once connect to T-Mobile USA, I found that my account was locked?

Why was it locked you might ask? Because I reported my cell phone lost, and asked that my account be on hold. When I did this, I assumed that they would lock the cell phone account, but leave the WiFi account. But no, that isn't how T-Mobile works. I have one account, and they have one giant lock, and that is how it goes. So, I had to establish a new, separate account that was WiFi-only, in order to get on the 'net. Sheesh.

The lesson: never lose your cell phone. It really sucks.

-Andy.