Ali Ebrahim on web standards, software developement, technology, politics and law.
You know how in the US you see all these advertisements targeted to kids that read: “Say No to Drugs” or “Say No to Alcohol”? Well, the Chinese have a different philosophy: This sign was seen outside a bar near my university. The picture was taken on my Nokia 6600 phone.
You know how in the US you see all these advertisements targeted to kids that read: “Say No to Drugs” or “Say No to Alcohol”? Well, the Chinese have a different philosophy:
This sign was seen outside a bar near my university. The picture was taken on my Nokia 6600 phone.
你好，今天我去医院因为我要给我的大学一个 health certificate . 然后我来家吃饭.正在我用 Firefox 谢这个 post . 现在我没有很多的朋友为我美上课.
你好，今天我去医院因为我要给我的大学一个 health certificate . 然后我来家吃饭.正在我用 Firefox 谢这个 post . 现在我没有很多的朋友为我美上课.
I purchased a new router on Sunday. As luck would have it, the router interface was also in Chinese as well! Luckily I’ve tinkered around with routers enough that this didn’t really set me back during initial setup. However, at the end of the day I got tired of trying to decipher (guess) the Chinese … Continue reading “new router”
I purchased a new router on Sunday. As luck would have it, the router interface was also in Chinese as well! Luckily I’ve tinkered around with routers enough that this didn’t really set me back during initial setup. However, at the end of the day I got tired of trying to decipher (guess) the Chinese eqivalents of IPSec, PPTP, UPnP, and log messages, so I caved in and flashed it with firmware from the D-Link UK website (my DI-604 is a hardware revision D1 model, which only D-Link Europe and China support). Now my router is happily operating in English mode. I would have preferred a Linksys BEFSR41, but it was a good 65% more expensive than the DI-604, which was only CN¥480.
A friend sent me a link to another friend’s post about protesters at the RNC who are being arrested by the NYPD for doing pretty much nothing. It’s worth a look, since none of the major news outlets are picking up on it. I know I’m in China and the police here are known for … Continue reading “protesters in new york at the RNC”
A friend sent me a link to another friend’s post about protesters at the RNC who are being arrested by the NYPD for doing pretty much nothing. It’s worth a look, since none of the major news outlets are picking up on it. I know I’m in China and the police here are known for being somewhat totalitarian, but it’s not like the American police are much better.
My first class at BLCU is tomorrow at 9:30am in Building Number 1. Looking forward to it. Right now I’m about to head over to the hospital to get my ‘alien health certificate’ that says I’m not a mental patient and don’t have any nasty diseases. Then, at some point in the next few days … Continue reading “first class tomorrow”
My first class at BLCU is tomorrow at 9:30am in Building Number 1. Looking forward to it. Right now I’m about to head over to the hospital to get my ‘alien health certificate’ that says I’m not a mental patient and don’t have any nasty diseases. Then, at some point in the next few days I’ll need to get my ‘alien residence permit’.
It’s been over a month since I last posted anything to my blog. Posting after so long seems somewhat weird, because so much has happened since July 22. So here’s the short version of events: July 30-August 4: Visit New Jersey. August 6: Leave Chicago permanently and return home to Hong Kong. August 7: Reach … Continue reading “lots of changes”
It’s been over a month since I last posted anything to my blog. Posting after so long seems somewhat weird, because so much has happened since July 22. So here’s the short version of events:
July 30-August 4: Visit New Jersey.
August 6: Leave Chicago permanently and return home to Hong Kong.
August 7: Reach Hong Kong.
August 13-18: Go to Singapore to visit my brother and his family. My fiancee flies down from Kolkata, India and joins me in Singapore.
August 18: My fiancee and I fly to Hong Kong for a short visit (she returned on August 28 to Kolkata).
August 25: I fly to Beijing, China to start a 10-month Manadarin course at the Beijing Language & Culture University.
All of these things have kept me very busy, and away from Mozilla/Firefox. In fact, I think I went a whole month without logging into Bugzilla. That must be some sort of a personal record.
Anyway, now I’m located in Beijing for the next ten months or so. My first impressions of Beijing are very positive. China is far more developed than I imagined, and Beijing is a very cosmopolitan city, even more so I think than Chicago, where I spent my last four years.
Technologically speaking, Beijing is light years ahead of the US. Cellphone providers here are deploying 3G networks capable of sending data at 384kbps down/64kbps up, and GPRS is already in widespread use. The hotel I stayed at for a few nights before moving into my permanent place was the unquestionably best hotel I’ve ever stayed at. Everything was computerised, from the TV controls, to the room lights, to the air conditioning, to calling a valet. And it was all accessible from a central control panel next to the bed. It had to be seen to be believed. I haven’t seen anything like it in either the US or Hong Kong.
The only complaints that I have about internet connectivity are that firstly that it is rather slow, and secondly is that it is censored (though not as heavily as I had imagined). For example, sites such as BBC News and Google Cache are completely inaccessible. I’m sure there are more examples.
Thankfully, I still have VPN access to the University of Chicago (at least until February, after which I’ll need a new VPN provider). Since VPN access is not blocked, I have effectively unrestricted internet access by tunneling to uchicago.edu. I’m glad I’m able to use VPN, else having restricted internet would be somewhat of a bummer. My Vonage box also works here, which is nice, because calls between anywhere in the world and the US are far cheaper than between anywhere in the world and China. I had to buy a new phone to use with it, since using my American wireless phone which was not type-approved for China would probably be the quickest way to annoy the police here, since I’d be broadcasting RF on restricted frequencies.
I’m hoping now that I’m somewhat settled into my new place in Beijing and that my net connection is working (albeit slowly) and unrestricted (thanks to VPN) that I’ll be able to spend some time catching up on my Firefox QA stuff.
It looks like Microsoft is hosting a new IEBlog over on their new MSDN Blogs site (thanks to mine for the heads up). It’ll probably be worth following and seeing what they have to say. Certainly not daily reading, but probably something to check out every now and then. I’m hopeful (though not very optimistic) … Continue reading “internet explorer blog”
It looks like Microsoft is hosting a new IEBlog over on their new MSDN Blogs site (thanks to mine for the heads up). It’ll probably be worth following and seeing what they have to say. Certainly not daily reading, but probably something to check out every now and then. I’m hopeful (though not very optimistic) that we’ll see some good debate there. Right now most of the comments over there are just mindless IE-bashing, which isn’t very conducive to getting any real use out of the blog. If this sounds like something you’ve done, consider leaving thoughtful comments instead.
Also, there is an Internet Explorer Feedback Wiki hosted on Channel 9. There are some useful links on there, but surprisingly, the site seems to have a somewhat ‘IE-sucks’ kind of vibe. Odd for an MSDN wiki.
All in all I’m happy that Microsoft is trying to become more open with its development efforts. It’s headed in the right direction. However, it remains to be seen how committed they are to it, and whether or not it translates into any real changes.
Watch Bush and Kerry duke it out! Warning: Flash Player required. Thanks to Chris Thomas for this most excellent link. UPDATE: They’ve added a really annoying interstilial video ad. It now takes about a minute before you can even start viewing the actual flash applet.
Watch Bush and Kerry duke it out! Warning: Flash Player required. Thanks to Chris Thomas for this most excellent link.
UPDATE: They’ve added a really annoying interstilial video ad. It now takes about a minute before you can even start viewing the actual flash applet.
It’s about two weeks too late for me, but the most important bug blocking Eudora to Thunderbird migration (bug 3157) has been fixed! This is excellent news for anyone out there using Eudora who’s ready to ditch it. I believe that the University of Chicago may be considering deploying Thunderbird (and Firefox) in the future, … Continue reading “eudora to thunderbird migration getting better”
It’s about two weeks too late for me, but the most important bug blocking Eudora to Thunderbird migration (bug 3157) has been fixed! This is excellent news for anyone out there using Eudora who’s ready to ditch it. I believe that the University of Chicago may be considering deploying Thunderbird (and Firefox) in the future, and their current userbase is primarily using Eudora. The fact that this bug is now fixed removes a big blocker for them. Attachment names are also now converted properly, which is also a very positive development (bug 242953).
They’re planning on shipping preview versions of Thunderbird and Firefox to students this September as optional unsupported software. They’re likely to be shipping Thunderbird 0.7.2/0.7.1 and Firefox 0.9.2/0.9.1 on their connectivity package CD. Unfortunately they won’t have the fix I mentioned, but when they redeploy in September 2005, the fix will be in, and I’m hopeful that Thunderbird/Firefox will replace Eudora/Mozilla as their officially supported applications. They’re certainly evaluating this possibility.
Thunderbird is an excellent email client, but before it’s really ready for primetime adoption, it also needs to be excellent at importing mail/addresses from other email clients. I’m glad to see that it’s getting there.
So I’m trying to call my fiancee in India over my Vonage phone, and I get the following message from the Indian local-end of the VOIP call: “This facility is not available on your telephone. [Insert Hindi version of previous statement]. [Insert Bengali version of previous statement].” No matter how much I keep trying, it … Continue reading “vonage tech support madness”
So I’m trying to call my fiancee in India over my Vonage phone, and I get the following message from the Indian local-end of the VOIP call:
“This facility is not available on your telephone. [Insert Hindi version of previous statement]. [Insert Bengali version of previous statement].”
No matter how much I keep trying, it still happens. It’s not the first time either. But this time I was annoyed enough to call Vonage and ask them to please fix the problem.
My tech support conversation went something like this:
TS: Hi, what can I do for you today?
Me: Hi, I’m having a problem calling certain mobile numbers in India, I’m getting a message from your Indian local end provider saying that “This facility is not available from your telephone”.
TS: Sorry, we don’t provide voicemail in India.
Me: Yes, I know, it has nothing to do with voicemail. The message is from your local provider in India.
TS: I’m getting a lot of static right now on your end [probably because I’m downloading something while I’m on the phone], I’m going to push a new firmware out to you. I think that will solve your problem and your calls won’t get dropped.
Me: No, that won’t help me. What happens is that when I place a call from here, it gets routed to India, and in India, a local call gets placed from your VOIP provider to the number I want to call. That last step is failing. You can push me a new firmware if you want, but it certainly won’t help me solve my problem. Usually this happens at night or during the early morning, and when it happens it happens for hours at a time and I can’t get through.
TS: [It dawns on him that I might actually be having a real issue.] What times does this happen? It sounds like you’re trying to connect at peak usage times.
Me: It happens usually very early morning, like 2:00AM or so through the late morning. It seems unlikely that you’re getting a lot of calls placed at 2:00AM Central.
TS: Well, it’s probably a peak usage time issue.
Me: That’s possible. But it’s not acceptable to me that just because it’s a peak usage time, my phone calls should not go through. When I place a call, I expect that it will go through. Whether or not it is a peak usage time and you have the appropriate call capacity is an issue for your technical staff, not for me.
TS: [Is quiet for a few seconds.] I’m going to escalate this to our Tier 3 tech people, hold on a minute so I can get you your ticket number.
Me: [Waits.]
TS: Can I get the number you’re trying to call?
Me: 9198313xxxxx
TS: You mean 0119198313xxxxx?
Me: Yes. [Obviously.]
TS: Your ticket number is xxxxxx.
Me: Thanks.
TS: [Seems like he’s waiting for me to say something, but then says:] Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Me: No, that’s all. Thanks.
TS: Bye, sir.
Me: Bye.
I’m somewhat hopeful that my issue might actually get resolved, but it would be nice if these tech support people didn’t treat us like idiots when we call in with a real problem. I thought it was pretty obvious what the problem was, but yet before he took me seriously, he tried to tell me:
a) They don’t have voicemail in India. Well duh…
b) He’d push a firmware update to me. This is going to help how?
c) It’s a peak usage time. Sorry, not my problem. That’s what I’m paying them to deal with.
And after that, I had to explain to him what the problem was. Nice reversal of roles there.
In all fairness, aside from this one issue I’m having with calling my fiancee in India (which as you can imagine is a big deal to me), I’m very happy with their service. The line quality is good, and I’ve not had any other problems. If any of you are planning on signing up for Vonage (yeah I know, my post is a shining review 😉 ) please do let me know, and I can refer you. We’ll both get a month free.
