Speaking the language
PRISCILLA and I want to send some A4-size photo prints to Mauritius and have bought hard-back envelopes for this purpose. But, based on what we have seen before, we are not convinced that the postmen in Mauritius will be obliged by the “PLEASE DO NOT BEND” labels on them. (Sadly, lack of professionalism is fast becoming a characteristic of the mauritian workforce.)
Inspired by this graffiti, I am thinking of adding my own touch to the envelopes, something along the line of “PA PLIYE SA, TA KOSON” (hover to translate), but Pris thinks it would be a bad idea.
Eddy.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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What went wrong with Nomad
NOMAD was a very good idea and marketable product. At least, on paper. But, in practice, there was a BIG snag…
In Mauritius, most houses are built with 6-inch thick concrete blocks with flat re-inforced concrete roofs supported by re-inforced concrete columns and beams. Windows and doors are fitted with anti-theft steel bars. That’s a lot of metal for radio signals to get past, especially the kind used in WiMax.
And so, the teeny-weeny antenna on the Nomad WiMax modem was not up to the task, which resulted in poor Internet connection for the users. From Nomad Support page:
If your Rabbit Modem’s connection light is blinking red, this means that the signal is not strong enough to connect to the Nomad Wireless Network. To improve the reception of your Rabbit Modem you should try the following:
a. Try changing the orientation of the Rabbit Modem. Changing the angle at which the Rabbit Modem is sitting in can be just as effective as moving the modem to a new position.
b. Move your Rabbit Modem as close as possible to a window and place the modem on an elevated shelf. The further your Rabbit Modem is indoors and away from windows, the weaker the signal may become. Signals may become too weak if they have to penetrate through concrete or metal walls, as well as steel roofs. Note: Glazed windows may contain high levels of metal, which may obstruct signal.
c. If (a) does not work, test your Rabbit Modem in different rooms of your home or building. If the signal becomes a constant red, orange or green color (as opposed to flashinng red), then you are receiving signal in that particular location. In this case, we recommend that you place your Rabbit Modem in that location and extend CAT 5 fibre cable to your computer’s location. Alternatively, we recommend that you re-locate your computer as close as possible to the position where the Rabbit Modem receives a constant signal.
Emtel watched and learned as Nomad tried to cope with the avalanche of abuse from unhappy customers, then launched a better WiMax service to complement their already excellent 3G/HSDPA service.
How does it work?
Emtel Wimax offers a fixed wireless connection for subscribers. The service is offered through an external antenna which is connected to an indoor unit through an Ethernet cable. The external antenna is wirelessly connected to an Emtel Wimax base station.
From the indoor unit, the customer has the possibility to make his own network using a router. A wired or wireless network can be created depending on the type of router used.
Theirs includes an outdoor antenna and an indoor unit to which users connect their computers. Same technology, better implementation and happier customers.
Nomad, watch and learn.
Eddy.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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Technological Mauritius, according to the BBC
MAURITIUS is not as retarded technologically as some would want us to think.
Proof? These two short video highlights of technology and connectivity in Mauritius from the BBC.
But, there is a caveat, it seems. The average mauritian not holidaying at the Taj Exotica would be hard-pressed to get connected with the same ease.
Eddy.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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Bank holiday Monday facts
FACT 1: It is more economical to order 6×4 prints from a digital printer than to print them at home.
Fact 2: It is more economical to buy a decent photo printer and accessories to make larger prints (A4 and above) at home than to order them from a digital printer.
Fact 3: I bought a Canon iP4500 photo printer today.
Fact 4: I also bought a Wii today and already have a Wii shoulder.
Eddy.
Popularity: 3% [?]
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Romeo and Juliet
THIS has to be today’s best lead in the papers if, for a moment, we forget the misery caused by the rivalry.
Tels des Roméo et Juliette des temps modernes, deux amoureux sont à l’origine de beaucoup de désordres à Vallée-des-Prêtres.
Who said romance was dead?
Popularity: 3% [?]
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My take on Fair Use Policy
AVINASH has started a discussion about the new Fair Use Policy clause in Orange contracts and what it means for users. Here is my opinion.
Sidenote:
I have suffered Remote Desktop sessions with one-second latency while working in Mauritius for over a month, so I am not particularly happy about the state of Internet connectivity on the island. But, I feel a dose of reality needs to be prescribed to those who are calling for what can only be called the lynching of Orange.
Working with a latency of one second means that it takes that long for every click or keystroke to register on the remote desktop. Count how many seconds there are in an eight-hour day, and you will get a rough idea of how little work can be done in that time. Of course, I had to compensate with twelve-hour days.
The fair use policy is meant to bring fairness to all customers. Fairness means that all users should benefit equally from the service, but most of the time it suffers because it’s everyone’s their own amongst users. It is unavoidable that one user downloading continuously will penalise other users due to contention and the physical limit of the network. In such cases, the ISP has no other choice but to apply its fair use policy.
Fair use policy is not a policy for the users, but rather one for the ISP. In other words, fair use policy is self-policing on the part of the ISP, and its mention in the contract is just a notice of how the ISP will enforce it.
Yes, Orange are still a quasi-monopoly. Yes, their fair use policy is not doing much for quality of service. But, this is how they operate and what you’ve agreed to by signing the contract. If you are not satisfied, you can break the agreement, claim compensation for bad service, and what else. You can claim that Orange should not take any more customers if they do not have the capacity, but Orange need the economy of scale to keep their costs low. Are you prepared to pay much more for a better service? If yes, then go ahead, there is already a product called “leased line” that will suit you just fine.
As someone pointed out, unless you are prepared to mount a class action lawsuit against them, it does not do much to keep ranting. And, for a class action lawsuit to even germinate, you’d have to get over your self-interest. But then, would it not be easier to be considerate towards Joe Bloggs, down the road, who cannot download these important PDF files for his university application because others on the same exchange are leeching manga?
Eddy.
I am immune to flame.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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What is OOP all about?
42 is the answer to the question What is the meaning of life? Apparently.
What is the meaning of OOP? has its own answer. So, here I present the answer to all your OOP questions. Granted it’s a long and, sometimes, obscure answer, but it is the only one any OO programmer will ever need.
Popularity: 5% [?]
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Latest preview of Envy Code R Preview 7
(Click on the image to view it in its full glory.)
This is the latest pre-release of the Envy Code R Preview 7 font, generously provided by its author Damien Guard. It is my favourite font for coding thanks to its clarity and legibility.
In this latest version, the font is even better thanks to the reduced height and optimisation of some glyphs, such as the comma sign. The only minor hindrances I can see in this release are the bold “m” glyph appears blotched and the bold “i” glyph is biased to the left. In the previous versions (see below), the bold “i” was alright while the “m” was too thin.
The release of Preview 7 is due any time soon now according to Damien. I hope he has time to fix the bold “m” and bold “i” before then. It would bring the font one step closer to being perfect.
Watch out Pragmata!
Popularity: 8% [?]
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For lack of a better title…
It is said that east-asians excel at mathematics. Personally, I think they make awesome engineers, judging from the feats in reverse-engineering going on in China. Could the same be said about their programming skills as well?
Maybe, if we are to judge from the list of finalists to the 2008 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. The names of participants from the top US universities are mostly “chinese”.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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