bkkguy

"No farang - no job - I die" is all well and good as a sign but what does he do about it? too many tuk-tuk and taxi drivers in tourist areas specialise in biting the hand that feeds them - they can't see beyond getting a rip-off fare today, the fact that ripped-off tourists don't tend to return seems to escape them! bkkguy

have you tried using the mobile number transfer system in Thailand? it seems to be quite straightforward, but I have yet to actually transfer a number! which version of the Galaxy II did you get? as I understand it the models offered here, depending on which shop/vendor you buy from, are tri-band not quad band as some of the overseas models are - i.e. either (2G) GSM 850/1800/1900 and (3G) HSDPA 850/1900/2100 OR (2G) GSM 900/1800/1900 and (3G) HSDPA 900/1900/2100 but not (2G) GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and (3G) HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100 though some forum posters elsewhere suggest all models have the hardware to support quad-band 3G 850/900/1900/2100 but only some models have the software that will allow 850 or 900 to be enabled if it is current disabled! TOT and CAT are supposedly negotiating mutual roaming access on their respective 2100 networks for themselves and their resellers, the current True Move 3G is 850 but their new service is 800 (which I think only old CDMA phones support) but will also allow access to the TOT/CAT 2100 network, and the current AIS "test" network is 900 and the new network is 900 (for GSM ADVANCE SIMs and some new SIMs but not sure about 1 2 Call SIMs) but they will also allow access to TOT/CAT 2100 network - but neither True nor AIS not TOT/CAT have revealed details of what frequencies will be available in what areas! COMMART X-Gen opened today in Bangkok - hopefully there will be some announcements! of course the rest of the world is going 4G already ... bkkguy

As I understand it - and it is a very confusing subject at present - the situation in Pattaya is: - True Move currently claims to cover most of Pattaya and Jomtien with their 850 MHz 3G network and have a number of pre- and post-paid packages including "unlimited" 3G data (in reality 5GB/month at 3G then throttled to 2G speed) bundled with unlimited 2G and unlimited Wi-Fi, they claim realistic speeds are 1-3Mb/s (they make the same claim for Bangkok and my experience is close to this). This however is about to be obsoleted by True's new network expected to be announced within the next 1-2 weeks - True is about to annoumce their Real Move 800 Mhz/2100 Mhz 3G network packages which should cover Pattaya and Jomtien but what frequencies in what areas and what prices etc not yet announced - AIS is about to announce their 900 MHz/2100 MHz 3G network packages which may or may not cover Pattaya and Jomtien initially but should by the end of the year but what frequencies in what areas and what prices etc not yet announced I don't know if any of the other service providers in Pattaya are offering 3G in Pattaya yet. I would love to hear any other reliable information on other offereings in Pattaya but more interestingly Bangkok/nationwide bkkguy

they also had syphilis and bubonic plague first as well - sometimes it is better to be behind the curve, at least they sorted out most of the bugs before the Android update for the original Galaxy was released here! two stands at Power Mall Electronica 2011 at Siam Paragon where taking pre-orders earlier this week but only one would give an expected release date - and that was the last day of the exhibition so yes I am not holding my breath! one thing you cant do with the Samsung yet - "Opena" beer bottle opener case for iPhone! Mae West would turn in her grave if she found out that it was a mobile phone and not a gun in the offending pocket, particularly since we are too busy fantasising over the phone to be pleased to see her anyway - but I do like to see size queens fighting over fractions of an inch! bkkguy

last I heard it is due for release in Thailand mid-July bkkguy

I know better than to go down that path again, the threads you refer to are: Peace Talks Posting of news articles these posts include links to the Bangkok Post's Republishing Policy (and most news web sites have a similar policy posted) and the U.S. Copyright Office's definition of "Fair Use" along with a lot of other information and miss-information and as I have nothing new to add to the debate I will leave it to individual posters and the moderators to make their own decision on the topic bkkguy

the same way they do most other things - hack the systems of the companies that provide the security devices. RSA, which provides SecurID devices to may banks, large businesses and government departments around the world, had its systems compromised in March Caution urged in wake of RSA security breach bkkguy

maybe I am just too much of a geek but I thought Google's launch of a new Gmail option was the best of this year's crop: Gmail Motion - now you can control Gmail with your body and even after reading it I am still not sure that the article about the new TSA 'Self-Pat-Down' Program is really a joke! bkkguy

files with an extension of .rar are not video files, they are actually a type of archive, similar to .zip files most modern browsers, ftp clients, torrent clients etc should have no problems downloading .rar files but your problem is probably not how to download them - once downloaded you then need to extaract the actual files you want from the archive before you can use them many of the common archive management utilities can extract files from rar archives, try 7-Zip (free, works with most archive formats including rar, zip, tar, gz) or google for other archive utilities that read rar archives, eg WinZip, WinRar etc if the rar archive contains video or other media files then once you extract them from the archive you should be able to play them using the media player of your choice bkkguy

this is quite a linguistic can of worms you and the Straits Times have opened here. To quote more fully from the article: this perhaps needs to be cross-linked to all the discussions asking is 'falung' a neutral or derogatory term - and I would love to hear the opinion of the Straits Times translator/linguistic advisor on this! this I think is a classic example of using the term in a "non-neutral" or derogatory way - a member of an institution like the Thai Parliment should not be using the term "falung" to refer to "Westerners" or "foreigners" in any official staement!

so join the fight against Apple allowing the Exodus app promoting gay "cures" Controversial 'gay-cure' app sparks calls for Apple removal bkkguy

Given I don't own anything from Armani, Bulgari or Rolex and most of the 2nd floor rent boys know that by now and know that my email address is noreply@buffalomediesendmoneynow.com so they are more likely to continue making unflattering comparisons between the hardness and blackness of my heart and other parts of my anatomy rather than pressing me to buy them fe-shun!

you say we can't trust Japanese officials - so who can we trust? Chinese officials? Indian officials? Thai officials? these countries all need power and where looking to the nuclear option, and is Europe or the US any better? I think the only thing that is clear at the moment is that most if not all countries are still fundamentally unable to implement nuclear power and mange nuclear waste in a safe enough fashion and throwing huge amounts of money at the problem over a long period of time has not really improved the situation! there are other option than nuclear and coal - including reducing demand - and perhaps we should be throwing more money at these options rather than arguing that "Clearly the world requires Nuclear power" bkkguy

what does "Middle Class Gay venues/bars" really mean in the west, in Asia and in Thailand? What venues would you class as "middle class gay" in New York? London? Sydney? Singapore? Hong Kong? Bangkok? in most cities I know the "A-list" gays are a fairly closed circle usually found at private dinners and functions and sometimes using high-class exclusive escorts and occasionally "slumming it" at some upmarket (read expensive rather than sophisticted) discos and bars and even saunas but as likely to be seen at upmarket fashionable venues that do not identify as "gay" Thailand is I think the same only more so! I know one wealthy falung gay in Bangkok who has circulated a bit in the "A-List" gay private scene here and has heard of (but never visited/used) the high-class escorts and host bars. His is in his 60's and was a bit bored with the middle-aged and older Thais he encountered. The only youngish "middle class" gay Thai I know personally is mid-30's and in the closet as he runs the family business and is too paranoid to go out here - he travels overseas on business regularly and has his fun there! if you are just looking for "local Thai" type venues then Bangkok is littered with saunas (some more "luxurious" than others), and Ramkamhang, Sarisin, RCA and Mor Chit areas have a selection of bars and discos (again some more "upmarket" than others) but I do not realistically expect to see a large range of "middle class" "gay" venues here - it is just not part of the culture! bkkguy

I would have said the DJ downstairs crowd will love it - the upstairs crowd is usually typical Isan farm/rent boys! and I think the dream team models on the cover and inside look like plastic blow-up dolls or a photoshop disaster! my "gig" (gik? kik?) loves it! he used to like 2Magazine for the pictures but the articles where mostly in English - not his strong point - so this is much more accessible! but I despair that "gay lifestyle" seems to be as readily equated to fashion and sex here as it is in the west - are we gays really so shallow? and their web site is still not working! bkkguy

in the early days True used to supply ADSL modems that connected to a (Windows) PC via a USB port and the Windows-based software and drivers managed the ADSL login and line connection etc and if you used Apple they either did not support it at all or supplied rip-off priced hardware for it - though all Apple hardware in those days was by definition rip-off priced these days ADSL Modems and routers are commodity items available at any computer store and True does not seem to care what brand/model you use or what you connect to it. The ADSL modem now handles the login and connection so any Apple desktop or notebook with an Ethernet port should be able to connect as easily as a Windows machine, you should even be able to connect an Airport in theory but I will leave that to another Apple user to confirm! as far as True v's others, I am fairly lucky - I am in an old building (but recently rewired internally) and have a fairly new (True) telephone line and am close to a new generation exchange so I get fairly good performance on True's 14 Mb/1 Mb package (except at peak times when international links are saturated) - but your mileage may vary depending on your line and exchange and route to True's international links (eg connections from Pattaya to Bangkok or through some of True's internal routers for cheaper packages are often saturated before the international links!) but I still think True is better the eg 3BB or KSC if you have Mac hardware and an iPad then I am surprised you are ruling out an iPhone - if you use AppleMail and MobileMe then the iPhone is the obvious choice if you want email on your phone, on the other hand Blackberry and Android are much better talking to MS Exchange if that is what you use for business! what you want to do/need to do on the internet on your phone (rather than your iPad)? if not much then you may not need a smartphone at all! bkkguy

Apple's next new product is iPancreas? bkkguy

keep drinking the Kool-Aid while Apple's marketing success, brand loyalty and fanboi base may be the envy of most of their competitors there is nothing magic about Apple's products, it is their lack of market share that makes such claims easy to make! like all companies that design, assemble and have sub-contractors manufacture components, Apple have had in the past and will continue to have hardware quality issues. however as they have a very limited product range and typically less than 15% of market share in any market they are in, problems with 2-3% of their components is fairly insignificant compared with the same 2-3% for their competitors with 5-10 times the number of products and significantly higher market share! similarly there is no magic protecting Apple's operating systems and software - there have been, there are, and there will continue to be significant security issues with OS X and iOS, just as there are with Windows and Linux, but again if you are a malware or virus author are you going to attack a product with 10% market share or 70% market share? but look for this to change as smartphones, including the iPhone, become the easier and thus more attractive attack point for corporate networks! I love my HP 13" Windows Vista notebook and my Samsung Galaxy S Android phone as useful business tools and they are better value for money for me and more useful than an iPhone 4 or a MacBook, but that is a personal opinion and I don't think Samsung or HP are any more perfect than Apple is - perhaps because of a lack of Kool-Aid from these suppliers! I would also love a tablet to play with, so an iPad 2 could still be my first Apple purchase because the competitor products available now or on the horizon for this year are just so disappointing, but my philosophical objections to Apple's business model may still prevail because their media content subscription issues may end up blocking much of the content I want access to on a tablet! and Thailand's lack of real 3G connections is also a problem! bkkguy

if you still need convincing that you need the new iPad 2 then this is great review video: iPad 2 review at thenextweb.com bkkguy

or there is the new Crowne Plaza Lumpini Park on Rama 4 between Silom and Suriwong (used to be Pan Pacific) bkkguy

My one personal experience with Bumrungrad was a while ago when I was an in-patient at BNH (Bangkok Nursing Home) intensive care ward. I need a diagnostic procedure that BNH could not do but Bumrungrad had the machine. not being a Bumrungrad patient, access to the machine was limited to "out of hours" so I was dragged from my BNH ICU bed at 5:00 AM and transported to Bumrungrad in their "patient transport van" (lets not glorify this by calling it an ambulance!). I had a very bad reaction to the die injected for the procedure and spent most of the time there throwing up. barely awake and still throwing up I was then wheeled on a gurney to the reception at Bumrungrad and told to stay conscious and get my hand steady enough to convincingly sign a credit card charge slip else I would not be allowed back into the "patient transport van" for transfer back to BNH - BNH had at least previously advised me to keep a credit card clutched in my shaking hand else I would never get out of Bumrungrad! if Bumrungrad can't even arrange to do inter-hospital billing with a hospital like BNH then pity help you if you arrive there as a medical emergency without an Amex Gold Card or a top rate medical insurance policy clearly attached to your unconscious body! while they clearly have some very well trained and qualified doctors, most stories I have heard from ex Bumrungrad patients have usually been about miss-diagnosis, medication problems, over-servicing and overcharging - but then people usually don't comment on good service in a hospital! and BNH is not much better as far as over-servicing goes! bkkguy

Google Translator's accuracy is very dependent on the size and quality of the corpus of documents in both languages it has access to - hence English/European and European/European translations tend to be fairly good, Latin American countries with local languages close enough to European Spanish and Portuguese are also fairly well handled however Thai/English translations tend to be fairly poor for anything apart from very basic sentences bkkguy

in Oz they are called "Budgie smugglers" though none of these guys look like they have even a baby budgerigar hidden away! the Singapore national dive team looked better in their "flag" swimsuits! bkkguy

I thought it was karaoke from about 11:00 then late nite disco from whenever the dj station/god exodus arrived! bkkguy

there are a number of cheap video converter programs ($20-$50) that will convert just about any movie to an iPad compatible format and they require little technical knowledge to use to move the movies on to the iPad (if you have enough space) you will need the USB thingy or a file transfer utility that will work over Wi-Fi, the USB thingy may also allow you to play the movies off the external USB hard disk directly - but you would need to confirm that with an iPad owner (I am deliberately being non-technical here but can be more specific if you require) if you want to access the Internet you need to subscribe to a data plan in Thailand or roam on a data plan from your home country (very expensive), if all you want to do is watch movies you already etc have then no true move offers an "unlimited" GPRS/EDGE/WiFi/3G plan (some conditions apply) for 650 Baht a month, 3G coverage is marketed as "under development" but coverage in many areas in Bangkok and Pattaya/Jomtien is fairly good with speeds of 1-3 Mb/s - this is a 850Mhz network which I think the iPads sold here support true, dtac and tot (and tot resellers) currently offer limited 3G on 850 MHz networks, true has wider coverage, ais has very limited coverage on 900 MHz; all new networks will be 2100 MHz and should be available sometime in the next 10 years! I think the iPads sold here support 850 and 21000 MHz so should work with existing (except AIS?) and new 3G networks in Thailand if you buy a Wi-Fi only iPad then yes, if you buy a Wi-Fi and 3G iPad then no you could also buy a Mi-Fi (about 5,000 Baht from iFox or true in Thailand) and put your 3G SIM in that and connect your Wi-Fi only iPad to your Mi-Fi you will not be able to see a lot of the ads on many sites (such a disappointment!), but many sites (eg youtube) offer flash alternatives automatically when you access with an iPad, it may be a "serious" problem for some sites but it depends on the type of sites you usually view hotmail is accessed via a web browser so should work with the Safari browser on the iPad or there should be a free or cheap app to access your hotmail account Word will not run on the iPad but there should be a free or cheap app to open or edit Word or Excel etc documents on the iPad (but the iPad is not really meant to replace you desktop so do you really need this?) similarly there should be a free or cheap app to access Yahoo Messenger on the iPad the Galaxy Tab and Xoom (Android Fryo and Honeycomb based devices) show up some of the limitations of the iPad but are not priced competitively enough, but the second generation iPad coming soon will address some of these issues, the HP offering has a lot to prove because it it webOS based, but there will be many Android based and other devices out in the next year that may or may nor give the iPad a scare to some extent the decision is philosophical - if you like Apple's "walled garden" approach you will always choose the iPad, if you want more flexibility you will choose an Android device, if you are a Windows or webOS fan you will choose you will chose a device supporting this! Micheal and a few others here actually have and use iPads here in Thailand so they should be able to provide more specific information bkkguy