Last Month Begins

Mom and Dad went back home today. Dad, still giddy like a kid about roaming, didn't waste the chance to call my aunt from Amsterdam with my brother's Hungarian SMS. The simple modern comodities and pleasures. For most Costa Ricans, the idea of using the roaming service is a bit hard to imagine, as so far the service has been quite out of reach, with high prices hard to calculate and a steep deposit that could go up in smoke in a five minute call. For an European, roaming is a pricy but affordable thing you use more often than you'd think about. Then again, moving across borders for Europeans is far easier, not to mention that the Regulation on that matter constantly demands operators to lower more and more the roaming fees, and with local fees quite high already, the difference between roaming and local calls isn't all that big.

Our life gets slowly back on the old track, and probably I'd be able to get back on track with the second List of 13. There are other things to get in motion, planning what I'm taking back, and reading as many books as I can so less books must be moved this time on other time.

I finished reading "Holy Fools" by Joanne Harris - the writer was recommended to me by my friend Trish - and I must admit, I liked it. Now, shall I risk and read another book? I'm wondering about it, so I'll probably get a sample of another of the books for my Kindle. Why am I so adamant? Because Ms Harris' style is so transparent, so light, so breezy I don't know if what I love is the topic or the style. I'm not very prone to like stories about circuses or gypsies, actors or clowns, butI like stories that involve magic, witches and monastries. Was it the magic of the writer or the spell of the type of plot? I'm still wondering. But be it as it may, I think I'll go with Lollipop Shoes to make up my mind. :-)

What's next? I'm thinking about a book that tries to reconstruct the journals of Empress Sissi, but then I recently bought a book about the Dunkan Diet (got curious), and a book of spells. It's the same book I have seen in Costa Rica, at the Librería Internacional. This time around - it seems - the book got a better hold on me, and since I had a bonus for a bookstore purchase (one that I can't use online), I thought "why not?". The book of the Dunkan Diet couldn't be ordered online (by some mysterious reason), and since the price on it wasn't enought to use the bonus, I grabbed the spell book and bought it. It made me feel giddy. It was like indulging in a guilty pleasure not everybody understands. Have you ever got, lent or read a book you don't have any particular reason to read, a book that might seem weird, unreasonable, or "WTF" in any sense, and you still get it just because you want to know about it? Well, this book is that for me. :-)

There's a huge pile of books I've here and which I'd like to read before I go back, so I don't have to carry them over. This means that I'll have to go over my plans for teh next List of 13 and make sure I don't include any "every week" activity, so I get more time to read. Remember that post about making time to your hobbies? Well, I'm taking that bull by the horns! Wish me luck!

We've got IPTV, Internet and Landline Phone!

Tomorrow starts a Long Weekend here. Tomorrow is a holiday - my first holiday! ^_^ even if I'm still not working to enjoy it more fully - and so the State has decided to make Friday a sort of "holiday" too, but one that must be replaced, which means that people will have to work the next Saturday to replace the day left out of work. In this sense, maybe it's a blessing that I'm still not working! (You see? God knows very well, how to do things in such a way that they work better for all of us.) I'm taking this chance to go up to Mezőkövesd, where Marcsi Mama lives, and spend three days with them. My boyfriend isn't coming because he does have to work, as his line of work pretty much picks up when most of people have time to be out enjoying themselves.

This will be the first time since December that we don't sleep together, but are apart. He already pouted, but he knows I want to spend some time with Marcsi, and talk our heads out on the many matters we have to talk about. (And probably get comfortably drunk of János Papa's pálinka ^_^)

Today we've got our services finally connected. Our broadband Internet, which comes in friendly wireless form too, so my adorable Kindle can be hooked to it at home, so I can download all the samples I want, at once!!! AT ONCE!!! That's like the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Were I THAT superstitious, I would say that it's a sign from God that the job that's coming for me would be far more awesome than what I initially would imagine it to be. But, let's not read signs into everything ^_^.

Ever since the IPTV came in, I haven't turned off the TV. It doesn't matter if I'm in the kitchen, or in the bathroom washing my awesome, brand new Benetton and NaraCamicie clothes (yes, I fell to temptation again, but the pieces are FABULOUS! and I finally have a lovely camel trenchcoat too!), or at the workroom writing letters to my friends. I'm finally able to enjoy the programs, and the MANY programs of all of my MANY channels either just by listening to them or by actually sitting before the TV and watching it. No more stupid programs I don't want to see, no more feeling like I've no choice, and it's either what's on TV or no TV.

The guy that came to install the services had also installed the service to other two homes in this same floor, and marvelled at how big our apartment is. I looked around and though I know it's not as small as my boyfriend thinks it is, it's not all that big either. The installer mentioned that the other two flats he worked on are sensibly smaller than ours. It seems also that their  installed services are also more reduced, as he was amazed to discover that we actually have the largest package available, plus an added pack (because I can't live without HBO, mind you). I still didn't like that the guy was too informal and thought it was very funny to try and flirt with me. And here I thought that the macho impulse was a bad habit proper of the Tropic. How wrong I was...

Other than that, though I haven't still sat down to pick up on my creative writing - even though I've a started novel and another in project - I do have finally found the inner peace and time I need to reply to my penpals. It's good, you know, to really be able to sit down calmly at the desk with a glass of coke or a tea and write to your friends, put on some music, let the TV go on in the background and lose yourself in the handwritten words and the world your friend and you create with some sheets of paper and pens curling into the most amazing shared thoughts.

I've time. For the first time in many, many years, I can feel it: I've time. And it feels good.

Internet: charged by volume or time?

Recently, articles and remarks in the telecommunications industry point toward a change in the way the Internet service is being charged to the customers.After a boombastic liberalization of the hours you spent connected to the web, and the load you accessed on it, where flat rates lead the trend (in a lot of places, but not all, mind you), the speech is coming loud and clear, waging all kinds of unseeming reasons for a change towards volume charging. What does it means? It means that instead of paying, lets say $19.95 a month to AT&T's DSL Basic, whatever you download, at a given bandwidth 768/128 Kbps (first value is the downloading speed and the second the uploading one), the proposal is that you pay for each KB, MB or GB you download or upload.

The first reason for it, the nice one, is that the number of computers, handsets and whatnots hooking on the net, with quite high download and upload demands are putting a significant strain to the networks and installed equipment, and so a "rationalization" of it's use is needed. The second reason nobody has ever mentioned, and really, I believe nobody will, therefore this one comes out of my "pretty conspiracy-theory messed head", is that perhaps someone has seen the potential of skimming that this way of charging right now has. Work with me for a moment, would you? Think of this: when the internet was blooming, and blooming in earnest, sites weren't all that sophisticated, and people really just used the internet from their computers at home, hooked to it with cables, and well, many prefered to use the "cheaper" or "free" options such as using the internet at the office or at school, or at the local library. Cybercafes had their boom there, with all their hard-to-get, virus-poluted units.

The internet was important already in our lives, but we could live without it through a weekend, or until we've got home, until we came back from vacations or until the library opened again. If our internet service got too expensive we terminated the contract and sated our need for the web in other places, and it wasn't the end of the world. There were a few techno-geeks who could connect their PDA's to the hotspots and check their e-mails, but that wasn't the norm. So, in order to boots the consume of the Internet, operators decided to flat rate. Great idea. ^_^

People saw that that was good and started using more of it. It didn't matter how many hours a day you sat in front of the net, you would pay the same every month, so why not take advantage of it? Technology soon pushed it up, with better resolution and heavier pictures, sounds, videos and sites. Applications appeared and cluttered the cyberspace with better tricks, neater presentation and more Kbs you would ever imagine. The Internet jumped from the desktops and laptops confined to the office and home, to be everywhere. Internet met you at the coffeeshop, entertained you while you sipped your Frappaccino. It walks with you down the boulevard, keeps you company on the bus. The cyberworld evolved and reached everywhere, and soon you were blogging from the airport, tweeting from the taxi, Skyping while you go shopping, Facebooking as you wait for the elevator, checking your e-mails on the bathroom, reading the news in the movie before the film starts, perhaps googling the name of the director at the end of it because the movie was so freaking good you want to see more from the same genius. You decided to go beyond, buy yourself an e-reader, and now you download your favorite books in e-book format from anywhere. Get home, buy a load and leave it on your nightstand downloading. Like fresh bread, you wake up with an nice rack of fresh books to read. The internet got everywhere, and size didn't matter anymore, and after years of this, we've got used to it, invited it in our lives, made it more a part of it. And now operators want to change the rules.

Now, let me ask you one simple question: do you know how heavy this blog you are reading is? Do you know how you can check how heavy is? Because it's not only the letters and the links, but the pictures too. And what about the eventual video that appears here and there? Do you know how many Kbs are we talking about? Personally, I have no idea. And from here, what's the weight in Kbps of the sites you visit usually? How do you know how heavy they are? Most of us don't know. What is more, most of us have no idea how many Gbs we use in a month, or how to measure them. There's no counter, nor our operators put a counter anywhere for us to control that.

Now, before you click you should know how heavy the given site will be, and whether you can afford it or not. Kiss good-bye the $19.95/month you loved, you've got used to, because now there is no more. Think twice before refreshing your site because, yes, that's another download. And when the bills hit the proverbial fan, you'd be forced to either go bankrupt paying the internet that used to be affordable, or rescind your contract, and sell your fancy iPhone for a phone that does what phones are supposed to do: calls and sms. Cybercafes, and any place and option that opens up the chance to surf without regarding the volume downloaded or uploaded will rise again.

This way of charging, naturally will bring the number of visitors to different sites down, which would mean that advertizing in many of them would stop being an attractive business. Sites that bloom thanks to constant visitors and continued presence, as well as the use and download of apps will plumet. After all, it's not only a matter of buying the app, perhaps even giving away the rights over your personal data, but also paying the Kbs it weights. And well, for those staying online, advertizing, no matter how annoying, wouldn't be free anymore. Nope, they will be paying for every Kb those banners, pop-ups and flashy things weight.

I'm no engineer, so I don't know what kind of Ragnarok the current system is doing to the net, but I am an economist working in this Industry and I know what the proposed charging method could do. I also know that there are other ways to tackle the matter.

Some articles I read before all this started to take these proportions, said that it happened that certain companies (non mentioned in the articles) had no idea how much the flat rate was really costing them, nor had any idea how to measure it. In my personal opinion, that shouldn't be all that problematic, assuming they have an ordered, correct account of the costs associated with the service. If they don't, flat rate or per Kb, they won't know how much it costs, so no, this change is no solution, unless, of course, what they want is to skim the service fat and then leave a useless carcass, pulling people back to the time when we all watched TV, shopped in stores, communicated through phones and snailmail and read paper books.

Modern Mobile Manners (or the lack of them)

As you all should know by now, I work in the telecommunications industry. It's six years already that my wage is paid (at least partly, I believe) by the phone and internet users (the other part would be paid by the taxpayers, as I am a public employee). That pretty much would mean, that the more you use your phone and its applications, added value services, the better for me. Your today's sms is my tomorrow's Swatch watch. The increase in the usage, the growth in the number of customers are all good for the business, but I wonder, is it good for people? To be honest, my answer is on a solid NO.

The mobile phone irrupted into the modern life and didn't brought a handbook of manners with it. Manuals explain people how to turn on the phone, how to send an SMS, make a call, take a picture, but it doesn't include a segment about "How to behave when you are around people" and using the phone. Then again, not like people today would actually read the manual.

Sometime ago, I met with an acquintance of mine to have a coffee. He was dating a friend of mine, of whom I was quite protective, particularly since this guy was older than my friend. This guy and I were meeting to talk over certain things that were going on regarding our shared group of friends, and I was pretty much there to make sure my friend didn't got hurt in the process. In other words, it wasn't just "chat over coffee" or "gossip over coffee", but rather a serious conversation over coffee. This guy put his phone over the table, from which I assumed that maybe he was waiting for a very important call, or he didn't trust his pockets and were afraid of the phone falling out. Then, through the conversation he kept looking at this phone, which was really unpleasant. Really, if he was so busy or so involved in something else, we could have rescheduled.

Then a message came and he, without even excusing himself, grabbed the phone, read the sms, answered it and started sending other sms while waiting for the answer of the first one. Then a call came in and he answered it, laughed, had a great time, greeted old friends, and their kids, gossiped about guys they knew, who were seen where doing what or whom. All the while I started freezing because we sat at the balcony, my coke was gone and my pie over. And this was a man who praised himself about being conscious, refined, glamorous and always attentive to manners and chavalry.

You know, I'd love to say that it's only that guy (and I'm happy that my friend didn't end up with him), but truth is that everyday more and more people take up on these bad manners. Sure, you can be waiting for an important call, but Honey, you are not Obama, you are not waiting EVERY SECOND for an important call. Then, the people you are with, physically, have more priority than whomever is calling you on the phone. You made an appointment, you both had to take from your time, you've mead each other take time from other activities, so please show some respect for that other person or other people and silence your phone (all of them can be silenced) and put it away. Don't take the call, don't take the SMS, but if it is so imperative MAKE IT QUICK! And excuse yourself with the person you are with. If possible, tell the person on the other end that you'll return the call in twenty minutes, one hour, as soon as possible, or whatever works for you.

However, if an SMS or a call is so important to you, make yourself and others a favor, and don't make appointments. There's nothing as upsetting as being with someone that's not with you but with his or her phone. It makes you want to continue the conversation through SMS, or just pack up and tell the eager user:

"You know what? Call me when you have time."

And at the end, if you can't pay attention to the person you are with, why do you are with him or her in the first place? Why do you make an appointment if you are going to delve the entire time on your phone?

Mid-Range Mobile Phones

For those who read Wireless News (a.k.a. none of you... probably) you probably came today across an article about Samsung launching to the market a mid-range phone. First I was confused. What's that "mid-range"? Like these won't work on the upper ends of the radio spectrum or something? That would be nuts, forgive me to say, but then again, I'm only an economist, what would I know about the usage of the spectrum? So I went digging in the matter, thinking that maybe, if it was too technical I'll just book it as "one of those things I'm not supposed to know about, therefore I won't waste my time and my pretty head on it".

So I went to this really tiny article to find out that the "mid-range" means "no high end, high tech" little crime-bait. Ohhh, talking of the "phones that do the basic". It has been a while since I heard about them. Do you remember when the sole function of your phone was to do "calls"? And that was all it did. You kept your activities and appointments in your PDA or filofax or agenda, or in a tiny notepad or maybe in your head. You took pictures with your camera, kept your numbers and contacts in your address book (or your filofax, PDA or agenda), listened to your music on your walkman, diskman or mp3player (or iPod, iTouch or any similiar thing), and used the Internet with your computer, whether it was a laptop, a notebook, netbook or a desktop. Actually, there was a time back then, when you didn't knew who was calling you until your caller identified itself. And there were no ringtones, only one annoying bell ring.

Today your phone does everything (allegedly), which could seem very convenient, only it's not. At least I don't really like it. For instance, I insist in keeping my PDA and my mobile separated. After all, I wouldn't really like to lose my phone or run low on the battery and suddenly be left with no access to my info. Or having to juggle around when I want to give someone a number I have in my telephone, or arrange appointments through the phone when I have to write them down IN my phone. Absolutely inconvenient.

On the other hand is that we do are getting used to have a lot of things crammed into our phones. SMS, MMS, EDGE, Bluetooth (maybe even infrared), a camera for photos and video, a memory card, mp3player (specially since many phone's batteries last longer than those of mp3players), and so on. Personally I'd love to have an mp3recorder that goes up to 2 hours, so I could record a few meetings, but then again, there are convenient mp3players for that. Once an ancient acquintance of mine, who praised herself about being rational and "frugal", said she needed a phone that did the "absolute basic", nothing fancy, just take pictures and video, SMS, MMS, make calls and that's it. (The mp3player was an understatement.) But is that really "basic mobile phone" functions? What do we think of our mobiles? What do we expect them to do?

The proposal from Samsung is model that will go under the name s3100 (probably closer in look to the one to the right, the 3110) aimed for a market that seeks an affordable handset that does the job and offers good quality. The offer does seem strange, almost refreshing in a world ruled now by the choking competition for the newest, coolest succesor of the legendary iPhone. All the possible candidates line up, shamelessly looking more and more like the king they want to overthrow. Palm Pre, Nokia's N97, just to mention two of the many. Because, really, where have we gotten today, that we are downloading 65 thousand different apps into our phones and profiles and Hyne knows what else? It's like we are still kids that need to pile up every corner of the universe with toys to keep us amused, to keep us from getting bored, because we can't really pay attention to the real life (unless it's being broadcasted through a reality show and it has nothing to do with us).

So what does this refreshing S3100 has to offer?

The phone adores a music player, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.1 for wireless connections to accessories such as headsets, USB 2.0 port and a microSDHC slot to boost the internal memory. The screen is of 240 x 320 pixels. The handset also has a built in camera but the resolution is unknown at the moment. The price and release date are not yet revealed.

Wireless News

... And that, my friend, is what's called "mid-range" today. Simplicity is over, convergence is on board for as long as it can get in our way.

Pre

Forbes has good writers and bad writers. Mr. Brian Caufield is, without doubt, an enjoyable writer. Ms. Elizabeth Woyke is the total opposite. For yesterday's issue, she wrote an article about the Palm Pre. The Palm Pre is basically Palm's proposal to get back into the smartphone and smart device market. Naturally, you'd like to read in an acticle like this about the features of this proposal. Okay, maybe there's a reason for not hearing about this, because Forbes is not PC Magazine or some Telecomm magazine, so okay, I get it. Then maybe we could hear about how much money was invested, who are the sponsors, with which mobile operator does it has a contract, which technology does it support, more detail about the market is targets, specifics about the design and the concept about the Pre, oh, and please, include a picture, if possible?

Ms. Woyke seemingly got her jollies talking about "organic" and "Zen" and how the device was designed to look like a "found precious" thing. Dude, it does look like a "found" thing: a found, common-looking phone. Not even the colors were discussed, but she rather had found going over and over rattling like a teen "gossip-girl" with diminished communication skills, babbling a lot and saying nothing. Hell-loooow! Is there anyone in the editiorial department? Or is Ms. Woke banging the editor?

Oh, lemme guess: you'd like to know what that ugly picture has to do with anything? Yeah, so do I. That's the picture Forbes attached to the article. Neat, huh?

Oh well, I'll throw you a bone, so you are happy: MAJOR SUPERNATURAL SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE SPOILERS!

I thought I was going to be so depressed after yesterday, when the final episode of the fourth season of Supernatural was going to be broadcasted by Warner Channel. I was sure and positive that Sam was going to die, and had to be killed by Dean. I was bawling ahead of time. First of all, yes, I was right, Lilith was the last seal, and the one"lifted from men and twisted to evil"was Sam (easy guess, really), but Sammy didn't die (yay!!!! ^_^), Dean didn't have to kill'im and they are back together again ^_^. Add to it, the end of the season was a full fledged promise of a fifth season.

Hang on there, boys!!!! ^_^

A Whole Lot of Unamusing Crap

So I'm trying to stablish some kind of connection with my boyfriend, which proves to be incredibly difficult and all thanks to my job. Namely, the enterprise I work for. The rest of the world has International SMS service, we have too. WITH SIX COUNTRIES! Oh, no, I'm mistaken. Sorry, my fault. ^_^ We can send SMS to the U.S. but only to T-Mobile users. Wonder if I can send an sms to President Obama... Then I can send sms to Panama, but only to Cable&Wireless users. I can send sms to Mexico, to mobile clients of Telcel. I can send sms to Nicaragua, to users of Movistar, AND I can send sms to El Salvador to users of DUgicel (not DIgiciel, though I've never heard of DUgicel before) and Claro. ^_^ My mistake. Six operators, five countries.

Since my boyfriend has an account in HUNGARY, a country not included among the lucky ones, and add to it, with Vodafone, well, I can't send him an sms, nor receive one from him for that matter. So I'm trying with the regular deal of web messaging, BUT either I use up the 20/month alotted by Vodafone or I try some other way. Hn. Lets try with my operator. So I enter Pannon, open my Pannononline account ... and the fucking system can't send me one motherfucking code to get it going? Dude! I'm a client! Make it work insofactly! (The word doesn't exist. "Insofactly" is the English translation-version I used in a story of mine when translating the mis-said "ipso facto" in the Costa Rican slang. We say (when we want to appear red neck) "insofactamente". It's rather fun! ^_^ Ipso Facto, to my knowledge, means "immediately", or at least we use it in that sense.)

-- Holy shit. I forgot I was writing in English and went on and on in Hungarian. Hell. What pisses me the most is that I was actually using quite some sophisticated words. T_T Life can be a bitch, and then sometimes acts like a complete whore.

Whore. That word reminds me so terribly much about this individual I used to know, Ivan, who behaves himself like the biggest whore since the begining of times, and YET he has the NERV of pointing fingers and spreading the word on his "friends" that they are such big whore, fucking around with anything that stands still long enough.

Just made ANOTHER blog using the word "insofacto". It's contagious.

I'm done for today. I think I'll talk with Mile, maybe ditch today's class and get the fuck outta here, take a long bath, watch Supernatural dubbed in Hungarian and then read some novel in French. I need time to reach within myself and set things in the proper motion.

I should watch what kind of things I take from Li.

BTW, you know something? My boyfriend is handsome. ^_^

MEME-siada

Yes, I was just about to sit down and write this entry in Spanish, but I think I better not. Kari and I have discovered the joys of Skype, and the relief it would mean for our budgets, though then again, there's this "I really should get working" thing going on. Ain't so funny to go talking with my BF and have the boss barge in, and suddenly have the poor BF sitting and listening through a micro-meeting in Spanish, of which he understands nothing, which is good, because it's otherwise, work related, but still. It's time for "commitment". At the office Skype goes only on text-sending, and when I'm at home of off work, we can talk all he wants.

Fuck, I woke up today at 5 am to chat with him. That's unhealthy as hell.

Stuff at the office is rolling around just fine. I'm working on my brief, and boy, if I have stuff to say! Which is the problem, because I'm really making a major effort to keep the document under 20 pages, hopefully not breaking above the 18 and if I can make it under 17 it would be dandy. However, that 17 is like an opium dream that would hardly come true. So, I'm trimming my words and my analysis to the basic blocks to make it still on 18. The things you have to do for those mentally handicapped.

Kari... gosh, he's kind of starting to get to my nerves. I really, really can't spend the whole day talking to him and trying out sites and web-sms stuff. I really do have to work. It gets me thinking. I know he loves me, I know he misses me and the whole shebang, but shouldn't we just... act 30 instead of 13? It's downing to me, and maybe its a moment of sudden panic, that... things might be rushing to far ahead. Things are not getting out of hand yet, so we'll just talk it over. Yeah, we'll do that.

Anyway, I saw this cool MEME at Dragonfly's blog, and I've decided to copy it. Basically, you post the image of what you have as wallpaper in your computer. Good thing, in my case, is that Omi, Nagi and Igor have the same wallpaper. I'm a bit "obsessive" with things like that. ^_^ So here we go:


It's from some site of goodies, from the UK, called Poison Ivy. I dunno why, but I love it. If I could properly reproduce it, I'd like to make it into wallpaper and post it at my place... for I am seriously thinking about soon enough getting "my place".

Aesthetic, Really

It's not that I'm negative or anything, but the idea of the Ericsson Tower Tube being "aesthetical" and making people happy for having one in their community... Sure, it looks like some kind of Ritzenhoff flower vase... without the flowers. Allegedly it will fit urban and rural environments. Really. Oh, and they come in different colors. Truth to be told, they look to me like big chimneys, which they are, which are said to "ugly up" the scenary in many industrial places. I find some rather lovely, truth to be told, but only because I've seen them in Hungary and that's excuse enough for me to like them and love them. Then again, given the function they have to have and the inconveniences with the existing towers, which are prone to damage and theft, I'd say this is a nice improvement. But really, who will love something like this in their neighbouthood just for the way it looks? France would be positivelly offended if they've tried to replace the Eiffel Tower by one of these Sandell Towers. The only people that could be happy, I believe, where, maybe a gay community, if you get them one of these towers, cock-shaped, painted in the gay flag colors and with a big sign that would say: "DARE TO DREAM BIG".

Now, if I were an operator, with enough money, I do would install these towers, and make a hell of a publicity to my clients about them: environmental, less polution, easier on the eye, and give away cell-phone pendants with the different forms, sell small models, vases shaped as the towers, penholders with a pen... shaped as the ETT (Ericsson Tower Tube), and make them an icon, until people are totally identified with the towers and love them and think they are the greatest think in town, and celebrities would make a line to held a concert or a photoshooting with them.

But then again, that's that *I* would do, and really, what the fuck do I know about merchandising and selling image, right? Silly, little economist. I should stick to my numbers.