Last Walk-About

Recently I was on a final walkabout of Saigon and caught the following sights:

New hanging planters installed along Dong Khoi street outside of the Sheraton Hotel.  

Sorta typifies Vietnam in this time and place - it's great that folks put up some pretty hanging planters, which gets watered from municipal water trucks from time to time, but if you look closely you'll notice that they stripped the tree of its bark in a quite violent manner just to install the mounting brackets.  And no obvious attempts to close up the wound with some physical barrier to prevent insects from getting at the wood.  

Two steps forward, two steps back.  Don't be surprised to see some sickly trees on this stretch of road in the near future.

  

Roadway medians here are immaculately cultivated, and this is one of the reasons why.  If you drive around in the mornings, you'll see teams of people hand cutting, weeding, and watering all the government owned greenery.  Once in a while, you'll see a gas operated weedwacker, but otherwise everything else is done manually.     

I've finally found the Apple-certified store - Future World, on NTMK in D3.  Of course it was accidental, as I wasn't going around looking for it.  

 Compared to Hanoi, you don't see much in the way of food vendors on the streets of Saigon, other than the Banh Trang ladies that is.  My theory is that it is because of the office lunch delivery business that goes on in Saigon.  

You see stacks and stacks of these trays delivered every mid-day to all sorts of businesses.  Even the xe-om guys in Saigon eat their lunch via these delivered lunch trays.  A complete meal - which in Vietnam means rice, veg, meat, soup and something pickled - for 10-15k delivered drives away a lot of street vendor competition.  

Taking the Bloom Off the iPhone

Lately, the pictures on this blog, which are mainly from an iPhone, has gotten slightly better because I figured out that the "bloom" that I got from photos, such as this one, was due to the UV coating flaking off the plastic iPhone's lens.

One solution is to completely remove the UV coating, using this method discussed on the Macrumors forum.

I haven't been able to remove all of the coating, so the picture quality hasn't gone back to its initial stage, but it definitely has improved a bit.    

iPhone 3G - Will It Sell?

The forthcoming 3G iPhone will be a hit in the US, with the new low $199 subsidized price and all, but I wonder if it will be a popular grey-market option here.

The iPhone 1.0 is pretty darn popular here in Vietnam - one sees all ages of local folks pulling it out these days.  Will the  3G be as popular?  Will the 1.0 fall off the list of trendy things to own?

Perhaps the 1.0 phone will retain a higher level of "cool" in Vietnam vis-a-vis the States because of the culture of new (that exists everywhere) is tempered by the culture of expensive here.  With the US price drop, on the grey market here, the 3G phones should cost about 1/2 of what the 1.0 iPhones cost ($850 when it was $499 in the US, about $600 when it came down to $399 and unlocking was less cumbersome).

While newer + cheaper generally means greater demand, sometimes cheaper means less demand here, due to the down market connotations.  Phones like the Vertus and the Mobiado are used here because they make a certain statement.  

It'll be interesting to see how this dynamic will play itself out.  The fact that the 1.0 and the 3G will be visually distinguishable will help one gauge this scenario.      

iPhone 3G

The new iPhone 3G (aka the iPhone 2.0) was released via an announcement today - new features, new lower prices, what's not to love?  Oh, right, you still can't buy it officially in Vietnam.  

The iPhone is mainly sold locked to a carrier elsewhere in the world - Vietnam doesn't do subsidized, carrier-locked phones, so it's a no-go.  Plus it's such a small market, the grey-market importers will take care of the domestic needs.  

Being in Vietnam, the new 3G features are unnecessary - they are only in the 3G testing phase here - and the enterprise features are likewise useless.  A robust enterprise solution here means using computers *without* unlicensed software.  And the GPS is based off cell tower triangulation (I think), so another unsupported feature.  

What I am looking forward to is contacts searching.  Thankfully, the 2.0 software can update on the 1.0 phone.  

Even with all the 2.0 features that are pointless here in Vietnam, you can be sure that there will be many folks in the coming months sporting the white 3G phone - the black 3G ones will not have the requisite cachet.  Apple marketing knows how to cater to the lux-consumers.    

Fring on the iPhone

I've used Fring on a Nokia before to get Skype, but now they just released a client for the iPhone. 

It's a bit of a work-around, as you need to join up to another network, but Fring allows you to IM and voice chat with all the major providers - AOL, Yahoo, Google Chat and GTalk, etc., along with Skype.  No need to wait for version 2.0 of the iPhone.  Nice.  

iPhone Hates Vietnam

Playing around with an OTB iPhone (that would be an out-of-the-box for the acronym challenged), I discovered that when you enter a contact on the phone, you cannot choose Vietnam as the country location of your contact.

You have Indonesia and Singapore, but not other ASEAN countries, such as Thailand.  I guess the same is true for South America, where you are limited to Mexico (which is in North America), Argentina and Brazil.  

I understand that the phones are not meant to be supported in these omitted countries, but this omission means that Apple doesn't think you should have friends in these countries either.  

There are hacks to fix this, I am sure, but it should be standard.  Good thing for me, I'm a xenophobe.   

vCard to CSV Converter

One of the downsides to migrating to OS X for work is in its handling of contacts, and particularly, using your contacts to create a mail merge.  

To be sure, one can use Entourage (part of the MS Office suite), but I do not like Entourage for my mail mainly because of backup concerns, its integration with my phone, and mail merge doesn't work all that great with the interface anyhow.

Effective mail merge for me means exporting a batch of contacts to an Excel file.  

To do this with Address Book contacts, one builds out a group, export the group's vCard and then find a third party vCard to CSV conversion tool.  Tools such as A-to-G (Address Book to Gmail) and Address Book to CSV Exporter do not work, despite their names, because their CSV format is designed for Gmail imports, and not for an Excel based mail merge.

What works better is this online vCard to LDIF/CSV Converter.  It is by no means perfect, and you will have to manually import the created CSV file into Excel, as the automatic import creates a lot of errors.  

But going through this multi-step tango is still quicker than retyping data in Excel.  Someone should figure out an easier way to skin this cat, but for now this works.  

GPRS on the iPhone in Vietnam

The iPhone is freaking ubiquitous up in here - with here being Vietnam, natch. I can't believe I still get google hits to this blog looking for it. Go to Saigon Nezumi for iPhone stuff, 'cause he knows more than me.

But since you're here, I may as well give you something useful. Such as info on how to set up EDGE (i.e. GPRS) service in Vietnam. If you're half patient (or decent) with Google, you would find this page which tells you how to do it.

Basically navigate to Settings>General>Network>EDGE and change the APN / Username / Password fields thusly:

For Mobifone: m-wap / mms / mms
For Vinaphone: m3-world / mms / mms
For Viettel: v-internet / de trong / de trong

As the info states, to use GPRS, your number must have the GPRS service "turned on" - this means post-paid service, requiring a post-paid contract.

Somehow, after a very short Stateside visit, my post-paid mobile number is now dead, so I cannot test the settings above. As I mentioned previously, competent office help is difficult to find up in here.

Skype Tools

Living overseas means lots of Skype time.  I think I've spent over $50 in Skype credit calling to the US in the past three months - that is a lot, considering that computer-to-computer calls are free.  

Recently, what I wanted to do is to call up our home in the US in the middle of the night, get Skype to automatically answer, and get it to automatically transmit video back.

Sorta like the "DIY Home Security System" hack from these 25 Tips to Improve Your Skype Experience from VoIP News.  Of course, it is pretty easy to set up a new Skype user, put yourself in the contact list, set to auto answer and auto video out in the Skype Preferences. 

But the trick really is to have two Skype accounts running concurrently on one computer - that way, on your "normal" account, you do not auto answer with a video out.  

Some Googling led to this Applescript (OS X) called Peek-O-Matic.  This script, by Andreas Schuderer - allows for two concurrent Skype sessions for different users.  One can be the "home security user" and the other the "normal" user.  Handy little tool, it is.  The version on the site, v0.4 is for Leopard.  Ask for v0.3 if you are running OS X 10.4.

Finally, if you have the bandwidth and the hardware, here is how to improve Skype's video quality on OS X.    

OLPC Suxors

There was a mild pissing contest with a commentator on Saigon Nezumi (a techy, HCMC-world view blog) about the OLPC (apparently calling some professor a pointy headed, ivory tower dwelling nitwit is offensive to a person *other* than said nitwit and his immediate family).

Anyhow, courtesy of Fake Steve Jobs, I read this piece by a UofC law prof - Eric Posner, who was sired by Richard Posner, yeah, that one - poo-poo'ing the OLPC project. And by UofC I mean Chicago, not California.. you know, the good school with the dour, pointy headed folks.

A nice money quote (pun intended):

The profit incentive will encourage entrepreneurs to develop yet cheaper and better laptops.

The latest and greatest tech hit of late 2007 is the new Asus Eee laptop - that thing is like $250-400 USD, depending on the configuration. And it's useable enough that I'm considering picking one up to use as a business PDA - unfortunately I'm concerned that I am not as well versed in computers as I need to be to handle the Eee (it runs an "easy" Linux package).

I believe in community work and non-profits, and am fortunate enough to be able to afford to walk the talk, but it generally makes less sense when non-profits attempt to fill space already occupied by market participants.. maybe that's why I'm not too keen on KOTO.

Where is the HCMC Apple Store?

So I happen to be down in HCMC and I happen to need to price some hardware - trying to see if I should pay the premium here or hand carry stuff back from the States.  As an aside, it's gosh darn warm here in HCMC.  The city is all strung up with lights (more on that later), but it's still too freakin' hot to fully get into the holiday spirit.  I miss the Hanoi weather, and I never thought I would say that about Hanoi.

Anyhow, I dropped by the big local electronics store in D1, Nguyen Kim.  Relatively impressive - not exactly like Best Buy, more like a Circuit City (oops, that place just went into bankruptcy..), but shockingly their computer department doesn't sell any sort of hubs or routers.  Either that or I failed to communicate with the sales staff.

So I headed to the much ballyhooed FPT owned, Apple Authorized Reseller store.  Got the address and phone number off the web and the local news accounts from earlier this year.  And I walked.. and I walked.. and I can't find the place.  Then I called.  Both numbers, and no one answered.  What the heck is up with that?  Everyone and their mother has an iPhone down here in HCMC, yet the FPT Apple store can't keep a location for 6 months?  Or it moved and failed to forward the phone number?  Short FPT stock already.  Oh yeah, the Vietnam market doesn't allow shorting yet.  Dangnabbit!

First Unlocked IPhone in Vietnam

So who's going to have the first one around these parts and add to this list of unlocked Apple iphones outside the US? A funny blogger dude just came back from the States with a couple, but I couldn't get my hands on it, unfortunately.

Unlock that sucker and sell it, man. Or just give it to me. I'll return it once the novelty wears thin.

IPhone In Vietnam

Apple's Iphone is currently offered on sale in Vietnam, Saigon to be exact.

Of course because the phone is only being sold in the States and locked to an AT&T SIM card, this "overseas version" is just an Iphone without the phone part. Unfortunately one cannot stick any plain old SIM in there and make calls.

So if you want an Iphone that is basically Apple's best Ipod + a wifi internet device, then head off to Saigon. And bring about $1300 USD.

More Switching News

Some more Apple-centric info for myself:

• place to buy Apple hw in Hanoi: FPT at 1A Yet Kieu Street, Hoan Kiem, 84-4-9420886
• if you run dual monitors, you'll want this freeware gadget, DejaMenu, which allows for hotkey menus on the "daughter" screen.
  
• in Excel, the windows F2 key is replaced by Ctrl-U
  

Five Reasons Why Apple iPhone Will Fail

As the hubbub of Apple's iPhone previewing dies down, folks are looking a bit beyond the snazzy interface. After inital interest on my part, here are five reasons why Apple will not be the company phone:

1. Cannot buy "unlocked" phones and hacks to unlock will be tamped down by boots from Cupertino - monopoly is not just a Redmond thing;
2. Won't sell to Europe till Q42007, Asia till 2008 - largest phone markets will snap up Nokia and HTC catchup models instead;
3. No 3G - just (the) EDGE, in 2008? I've always disliked U2;
4. You can't install software on it - no Skype for you (or Office, Outlook);
5. Non-user-replaceable battery - only meant for power(ed-by-USB cable) users.

That's a short run down of why I believe the iPhone, in its current specification, is not culturally sensitive to the business sector, a group that has an appetite for expensive communication devices. P.S. RIMM closed at 133 today.

Compressed Consumption

The countdown to our trip has begun, sorta. We're still really busy sorting out things - from selling possessions to wrapping up work engagements to finding serfs for our kingdom – therefore we're not really counting down yet.

One of the things we've done in preparation is exercising our credit cards. We've basically compressed 9 months to a year of shopping for durable goods into a month. If it fits into our luggage, we're considering buying it here, even though prices may be lower overseas. There is something to be said for the peace of mind knowing you'll have (mostly) what you want, instead of hoping that we can find it in Vietnam.

Yes, one can find practically anything in Vietnam, but (a) will it fit, (b) how's the quality and (c) how convenient is it for us to hunt it down? Consider these purchases our last little participations in the US economy for a while.

One thing I would like to buy is this Apple iPhone, just announced at MacWorld today. This morning I’m reading live blogging of the conference and this thing sounds promising, though I’m not fully versed on smartphone user requirements.

Very recently, we’ve become “switchers” in the Apple parlance, and I must admit that Apple’s solutions are very elegant. Maybe in the upcoming months, we’ll move more towards the hipster side of the technology divide.