MSN Messenger cordless phone with UNIDEN

Wow, this could be a trend setter for this year and coming year. The VoIP cordless phone that make people cheap or even free call and now it free people from the PCs too. This product, WIN 1200, a 5.8GHz digital cordless phone, integrates Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony with a landline, enabling consumers to experience next-generation technology throughout the home while providing an easy-to-use and convenient way to stay connected. With the WIN 1200, customers will have three calling choices with the solution: free PC-to-PC calling through Windows Live Messenger allowing users to place and receive voice calls; MCI Web Calling offering Windows Live Messenger users a low-cost PC-to-phone outbound calling option; and traditional landline phone service.

Uniden WIN 1200 will price at $99.99. Eventhough, this is not a WiFi enable, but it still a good to have for home or SOHO use. But I prefer the wifi device much more, so I could carry around outside as well.

NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi Phone

At CES 2006, one new gadget that caugth attention from a lot people is NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi Phone. This is only the prototype and plan to release in Q1 of 2006. Most of you knows about Skype already. I will do a short briefly about here. Skype is a software and services to enable to talk with anyone over internet (aka VoIP, Voice over IP) for free, given the other side also has Skype installed. Also the premium service will let you call anyone in this world regardless she/he has Skype or internet or not. They just call to the real telephone line.

This NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi Phone changes that, freeing you to walk around untetheered anywhere withing a WiFi network to which to have access, while you talk to other Skype users worldwide. It is pre-loaded with Skype and ready to use with a wireless network out of the box. Anyone can use an intuitive on-screen menu that lets you see who is online and available to talk. Same great interface Skype users are used to manage their Skype contacts.

No price available yet.

Koh Samui new IT centers

Koh Samui, the peaceful island, has a new IT center named IT Complex Samui. This is a new buiding expansion from this old one. It starts the construction today. The project will have total space approximately 8000sqm. These will be office space, retail shopping area, heliport, car park. For more information, you could contact them 0-77458000.

Oh, have I told you that they do have a free wifi hotspot in the area, too.

Intel new logo

It's leap year and Intel hopes to leap it's products ahead competitors. This year we will see a fantastic new CPUs coming from Intel and AMD. One that I am anxiously waiting is the new Centrino DUO. This is a dual core CPUs or put it simple way is your new notebook will have 2 cpus. This will have more power to run multiple simultaneous software applications.

The Centrino still my choice of cpu when buying notebook because it's performance and more important is battery life. When carry notebook, the cpu power is not such that important especially when you don't have enought battery to run it.

Fiber to Home 100Mbps to your house

Fiber To The Home, a company that rent EGAT fiber optics network will provide free 3 months trial broadband internet access. The first areas that the service will cover are Bangkok business district area such as, Silom, Sukhumvit, Asoke and in the area of northern part of Bangkok. They plan to cover the major provinces outside of Bangkok as well, some area that have been mentioned are Chiang Mai, Phuket, Cholburi.

This broadband services will provide a new trend of Triple Play, which is Voice, Data and Video. The bandwidth of such services will require a considerable amount. Fiber To The Home plan to offer as much as 100 Mbps to any connection. If you interested and live in the areas that services will offer, you could contact them at 02-665-9111 extention 701 and 702.

Bangkok Hotel with Internet access

Nowadays, all major chained Hotels in Bangkok and major cities like Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai are all offering internet to their guests either wired or wireless. These internet access could be accessible from your own room. This is not common when you go outside to smaller cities. In small hotel one that provided way to connect to internet inside the hotel is considerably as a very good. When there is no internet access inside hotel, you have choice to go out and seek for Internet Cafe per se.

Many internet cafe that operate are doing business from kid who using the pc to play Lan Game or Online Game. Such the place like that you will not find much comfort and privacy. But, it still do the works.

There are a few good Internet Cafe that I have seen outside Bangkok. It is the TOT good net which I saw it when I went to Khon Khan. The place are bright and clean. There are a little more room than other internet cafe which help protect our privacy from eye peeking. In Bangkok, you will find more and more of True internet cafe. The speed is very fast. They advertise that speed up to 4Mbps.

Wifi Hot Spot start slowly to cover other province outside Bangkok.

Need help with your computer

If you need help with your computer, please post questions by click on the comment button.

Cheap SONY notebook

From time to time, SONY Thailand will have a special clearance sales. I am not sure that the items are used or the shop demo item or refurbish. However, the price is very attractive. Let see for example the SONY Vaio VGN-U8G price at 32,000 Baht (800 USD) compare it with the retail at about 70,000 Baht when it launched. You could find more detail at SONY clearance page.

Computer and gadget shopping

In Bangkok, the best place wellknown for computer and gadget shoping are Pantip Plaza and Fortune Town. Both have hundred of small shops and some chain-stored larger shops. In small shop, the price could be bargained.

If you are tourists, you could redeem the VAT (Value Added Tax or sales tax) when you purchase goods in participation shops. How to know that shop participation with VAT refund. The easy way is those shops will have label "VAT REFUND FOR TOURISTS" or a logo.

How to get Broadband Internet access

Some people wonder how to get the Broadband Internet access here in Thailand. The most easiest and viable is going with ADSL. Most of ADSL price is about 600 Baht per month with unlimited usage. To get ADSL ISP will be determined mostly by your Telephone provider.

In Thailand most people will get either one of these 3 telephone providers.
1. TOT
2. True
3. TT&T

All of these 3 offers ADSL Internet access services. You could have option to use other ISP as well, if you prefer. But sometimes price will be a little higher than stick with Telephone provider.

The performance or speed of ADSL in Thailand is ok. Sometimes when connect to web sites that are outside of Thailand will be slower than it should be. But things're getting better, and hopefully that the next few years we will not see any different speed to connect either domestic sites or internation sites.

Small and Beauty Digital Camera

This new SONY Cyber-shot® DSC-N1 Digital CameraDSC-N1 is about the same size as a deck of playing cards and incorporates a high-performance, 8-megapixel digital camera, with a large, 3-inch, touch-screen LCD.

What I like:
Large LCD
Faster shot, the lag time of shooting picture is less than the old SONY model.

Feature

Sony’s DSC-N1 opens a new world of shooting and sharing, with 8.1 megapixel performance and internal memory that holds up to 500 VGA images for pocket album viewing anywhere, anytime. A huge 3.0" LCD Monitor with Clear Photo LCD Plus technology provides touch-screen convenience for controlling camera functions and searching thumbnail images -- and Free Spot AF lets you focus on a subject by just touching it on screen. Also features Slide Show capability, Carl Zeiss® 3X Optical/6X Digital zoom, 26 MB internal memory for capturing images in-camera, and high-stamina Lithium Ion rechargeable battery.
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Carry Hundreds of VGA Images in Your PocketThe DSC-N1 combines compact design, 8.1 megapixel performance and pocket album function for sharing an entire collection of digital photos with family, friends, clients and co-workers.
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8.1 Megapixel Super HAD™ CCDOver 8 million pixels provide incredible high-resolution detail and definition -- and Sony’s advanced 1/1.8” Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and reducing noise.
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Carl Zeiss® 3X Optical/6X Digital Zoom3X Optical Zoom helps the DSC-N1 bring distant subjects closer and lets you frame shots for better composition; Sony’s precision 6X Digital Zoom lets you enlarge image areas without jagged edges.
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High-Capacity Internal MemoryYou can store and share up to 500 photo images at VGA resolution -- and images can be viewed as thumbnails so you can easily search your photo archive by date/year.
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Slide Show with MusicThe DSC-N1 lets you combine images in Slide Show sequence, adding any of 4 transition effects (simple, nostalgic, stylish or active) plus 4 kinds of background music -- or viewing your Slide Show without music.
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Huge 3.0” LCD MonitorA monitor big enough to make all your images come alive, with convenient touch-screen operation of camera functions as well as thumbnail image viewing for searching and editing photos. Sony’s Clear Photo LCD Plus design reduces reflection from the LCD surface for excellent visibility outdoors -- and wide-angle viewing makes it easy to sharing images with a group of friends or family.
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Touch-Screen “Paint” FunctionYou can easily stamp information and trace letters or drawings over your photo images using the stylus supplied with the DSC-N1 -- and your decorated images will be saved in VGA format without affecting your original photos.
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Free Spot AFIn addition to normal autofocus mode, the DSC-N1 lets you focus on a subject by just touching it on your LCD monitor -- a fast and simple way to adjust focus for complex scenes or moving subjects.
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26 MB Internal MemoryYou can capture images in-camera, without using a flash memory card -- or use optional Memory Stick Duo™ media for ultra-compact, high-capacity shooting and recording.
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Lithium Ion Rechargeable BatteryA high-stamina NP-BG1 Lithium Ion battery lets the DSC-N1 shoot up to 300 images, giving you plenty of power when traveling or shooting on location.
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Quick Hookup to PC and TVThe optional UC-TNA Cyber-shot Station™ cradle provides USB connector for PC hookup and TV connector for viewing images on large screens -- so when your DSC-N1 comes home, hookup can be quick and simple.

Visit SONY site for detail specification.

You could order it here.

PDA WiFi road worrier

Just come across and have hand on with this Pocket PC from HP, HP iPAQ rx1950 Pocket PC. This PDA is using the new Microsoft® Windows Mobile™ Version 5.0 software. If you using any kind of organizer or day planner, you might want to try the electronic version of what PDA offered. PDA build in Calendar, Contact, Mail Box and some small version of Microsoft Office which you could view most of Microsoft Office on the go. This version also have PDF viewer.

I love this PDA for it style. It's very small and feel comfortable to hold and carry around. The screen display is so great with the feature to display either Portriat mode or Landscape mode. The Landscape mode is awesome when viewing the Internet and web sites. With WiFi, I could view my email, browse web sites in any place that have Wifi Hotspot. I also could use this to control my PC at work and at home given that you have a right infrasture set up in place.

Pricing is around 12,000 Baht which you might find it at 11,000 Baht if you do shopping.

For hardware specific, please visit HP site.
For Microsoft Windows Mobile version 5.0, please visit Microsoft Windows Mobile site.

How to get Internet Access in Thailand

Many people depend on Internet access either for business or for leisure. Here in Thailand, you will have many options.

1. Dial-up Internet Access 56Kbps
2. Broadband ADSL 128Kbps - 2Mbps
3. Less welknown Cable Internet Access. This is not a recommend option and it's service is offered in Bangkok area only.
4. Lease-line. This is not a recommend option for SOHO and home users. It is pricy.

While on the road, you have other options as well.
1. Public internet cafe
2. Internet access via mocile phone either Mobile data (slow, about 20Kbps), GPRS (about 40Kbps), Edge (about 120Kbps), and CDMA (about 120+Kbps)
3. Public Wifi hotspot. One provider that offers many hotspot cover most of place in Bangkok is TRUE Wifi.