gharknes

I can see a point five years or less in the future when slow, power consuming hard disks are replaced with flash memory. Hard disks being used mostly as backups.

Already this year there will be hybrid HDDs from Seagate and Samsung on the market - a HDD with a flash based cache.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/...5400_psd_hybrid

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/index.htm

well not sure there would be an improvemnt in size as the memory would have to be cooled if driven hard, only advantage would maybe be reliabilty.....no moving parts

Funny I tried getting some discussion on this a couple of months ago - still...

Your 3 options are :

Post Office - I have the card but no experience with them - they seem to be more overseas living friendly than Nationwide - they will post replacement cards overseas

Lombard Direct - I have the card and it is no longer available - thats not to say it is not possible to get one if you know who and how to ask - no internet bamking

Nationwide - the default (just dont claim your bank charges back from them as they will give you a settlement and close accounts as you are in breach of their unfair terms and conditions - this is a required off-this-topic rant but useful to know for people who depend on Nationwide - as they have the only debit card with fee free non UK atm use)

Anyone who has experience of using the Post Office card (particularly in Thailand ), please share...

If you want to keep abreast of credit card developments/offerrings in this area then moneysavingexpert.org is your friend..

..............Nationwide - the default (just dont claim your bank charges back from them as they will give you a settlement and close accounts as you are in breach of their unfair terms and conditions.............

can you explain what you mean by this statement, I don't understand

As the writer anticipated, following similar moves over the last few weeks and days, K.Tarisa intervened the moment the BOT staff opened their doors !

See below high and low in last ten minutes (copied and pasted from forex live website)

36.01 34.93

Evidence of massive BOT intervention

Opinion :Why do they not lower interest rates drastically as K.Sontee Limtongkun suggested. ie to 2%pa. ?

No need then to intervene and just about everyone in the country would benefit (except savers).

This has to be K.Tarisa's next move, as tonight after the BOT closes, the baht will again rise to 34.90.

NB Above writer's own interpretation of events ......nothing confirmed officially yet !

OOPS....sorry in fact .the baht fell 110 satang did not rise 110 satang, the aim being for the baht to fall !

...............the baht will again rise to 34.90..................

I'm confused, if the baht drops from 36 to 34 surely the baht has dropped and not risen i.e. dropped in value against other currencies ???

OK maybe I'm stupid, if you wanted a retirement visa you need to have money in a Thai bank account, so to get a Thai bank accout someone said you need a work permit, isn't this a contradiction and all the above is correct then it would be impossible to get a retirement visa, I am assuming a multiple type O is a visitors visa and would still not be enough to open a Thai bank account.

What do you think would make your computer better?

For me I just can't stand the slow startup and shutdown when turning my computer on and when shutting it down.

In addition, the slow reaction of CD/DVD drives when opening and closing including those on dvd players for TVs just wastes time again. Finally the giant CPUs for home computers take up too much space. I would like to see the CPUs brought down to the size of a small book. So Microsoft and Apple get to it. have you got any ideas?

I'm sure things will get better; it is only a matter of time.

I don't think things will get that much smaller but if you compare size versus performance - they do a lot more per cubic inch than they did 5 10 20 30 years ago, 30 years ago you'd have needed something the size of an apartment block to manage the same workload as a modern cpu...............in fact it may not have been possible regardless of size, it is quite amazing what they can cram into such a small space, I remember my first Hardrive was 10mb and it was the size of a shoe box, even with todays technology there are sacrifices when you start to reduce in size, power consumption and cooling probably being the main ones, if you introduced some kind off nitrogen cooling integrated onto the chips then they could probably be reduced significantly in size but would also cost a fortune, did you know that if you removed the heatsink and fan assembly from a CPU it would shut down in a few seconds due to overheating even from a cold start

Another very unfortunate accident. From the wording it sounds like they might have drowned if the bus crashed into water, anyone know about that? I cant imagine some kind of speedy hellicopter rescue as mentioned, "Rushed". Ambulances and First Aid/Responder in general here is just horrible, there are some great docters and hospitals if you can live long enough to get there, this plays a major role in the high death counts on highway accidents.

Im completely over riding buses here and have been for some time, At least the trains are somwhat limeted to slower speeds and fewer high impact collisions by the shaky old tracks and small numbers of them on the rails.

perhaps special advanced driving courses might be in order for bus drivers, very sad indeed

I do my visa runs on my bike because I just don't trust the drivers..............they take risks I wouldn't take

if proffessional bodies like banks Lawyers accountants etc etc where to be infected with a backdoor trojan who knows what the outcome could be

this is pretty serios

I wonder where tyhe credit card fraudsters got all those pin numbers ???????????

Reboot the router and the problem goes away. For a while. Then they find me again....

sounds to me something is requesting these intrusions from your system, have you stuff like google toolbar installed, I removed it because they made me update it without my consent.........I don't like that, your ISP will connect to you periodically

load a program called neotrace and it will identify the IP address of the intruder using the "whois" database

Probably time for an LCD replacement. Although a TV repair shop could probably get it going for another year or so cheaper. As said likely cold solder joint and very common after a few years use. Swift kick (slap) usually gets them working for awhile.

Don't go inside it.

Concur

Same advice I got when , in a previous life ,

I used to deal in computers and such.

I was told there are some very high

voltages floating about under the covers.

I once had 220v up one arm and down

the other.

Never fancied finding out what a four

digit jolt felt like.

well 5 digit actually and you don't need to actually touch anything - it will find you

6 years ia a reasonable time for a CRT monitor, time to replace it

Why don't you take it back to where you bought it from?

my guess would be the screen plug has come loose, it's a plug that takes the signal from the main board to the display, should be just a matter of opening and reseating, unfortunately if you take it somewhere they will simply charge you for a new screen regardless of what it was, possible bill of 5-6000baht, if you where near me I would take a look for you,.

Would you buy this Dell in UK or get laptop in Phuket (moving permanently at end of the month). Would use it for emails etc, no gaming.

AMD TurionTM 64 Mobile Technology MK-36

Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition

512MB 533MHz DDR SDRAM

15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800)

60GB SATA Hard Drive (5,400rpm)

Memory - To 1024MB (From 512MB)

Due to End 17/01/2007.

FREE 36 Months McAfee Security Centre

Due to End 31/01/2007.

Save £50 (Inc vat)

Due to End 31/01/2007

£448 (30900)

This one is also on offer and could upgrade screen size for £30

Mobile AMD Sempron TM Processor 3500+

Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition

512MB 533MHz DDR SDRAM

14.1" Wide XGA screen

60GB Hard Drive (5,400rpm)

FREE 36 Months McAfee Security Centre

Due to End 31/01/2007

£349 (24081)

Not bothered about warranty, am told if laptop goes almost impossible to repair anyway.

everything you mention is prety much standard kit on a budget laptop, good value is when you are also getting a high end graphics card and UXGA panel, these are the items that cost big money

Plus he can easily pick up the MAC addresses of *your* equipment when it connects to the access point (and then use them on his own).

how is this possible if he cannot get access to my network, even if he could he needs admin level to my router to see MAC addresses

please continue I am very interested in this......cheers

My question to you is - why you think using a MAC filter is next to useless, my understanding is that the MAC address is unique to each ethernet/wireless card and cannot be changed,

It is unique to the networking card but the operating system can easily override the address value - see here

http://www.nthelp.com/NT6/change_mac_w2k.htm

yes ok but if you have filtering set only to allow certain MAC addresses then it doesn't matter what they change it too ??

The most secure method for keeping out DSL freeloaders is to use MAC filtering .

By the way, that is just not true...

The most secure method is to disable wireless.

The second most secure is to use WPA.

The third is to turn on WEP, which is about as effective as MAC-filtering in that it only keeps out naive and lazy users.

It is even more trivial to change the MAC address than it is to run a WEP cracking utility. And if you can monitor the network, because of cracking WEP or because no WEP was used, you can just watch until you see what valid MACs have been used, and then set your own MAC to be one of those. Depending on when you do this, the victim may or may not notice problems with their network connection.

I share my wireless with a few people in my condo, after adding one of these guys and recording his details I notice 2 new additions - he must have passed on the wep key to a friend....naughty

so I excluded his MAC address using MAC filter, haven't seen him since

My question to you is - why you think using a MAC filter is next to useless, my understanding is that the MAC address is unique to each ethernet/wireless card and cannot be changed, yes you could change the card but I then excluded that one also, I understand that I can use the include filter and just list all the lgit users but I had a problem with that feature on my modem

Why do you consider MAC filtering insecure ?

I could care less if they lock him up and throw away the key forever regardless of his age. They may be fun to ride, but the danger and noise that they bring to everyone else around them is not worth the price to a civilized society. I despise jetskis, the self centered people that ride them and the danger and noise pollution they bring to beaches all over the world. I think that jetskis have only one valid use in our society and that is for the use by emergency personel. Even in swimming areas that are roped off, many times jetskiers ignore the buoys. Most people go out to the beach to enjoy peace and tranquility and not to listen to the noise of jetskis. Unfortunately mine is only a small voice in the wilderness as the manufacturers and jetski lobby have a lot of money, are extremely powerful and know how to use that power to influence legislation. Pattaya beach is a prime example of stupidity by mixing sunbathers, boats, jetskis, and swimmers(if someone likes to swim in pollution). Now that I have vented my ranting and raving for the day--I wish everyone a great day.

ah right, lock people up throw away the key for annoying your peace and tranquility, lets intoduce the death penalty for all the noise makers in Thailand, including buses trucks harleys cars discos late night beer bars .................................... are you for real

I think you conveniently forgot that he killed someone with his jetski but perhaps that does not bother you ?? I guess I have this old fashioned concept that people are responsible for their actions and must be willing to pay the consequences. I just happen to believe that those consequences should be expecially harsh on people that wind up killing someone while doing something that serves no useflul purpose and knowingly endangers the lives of innocent peoples around them.

How on earth do you know he killed someone, what if said chinese person was also on a jet ski and drove into the 15yo lad, maybe the lady was driving (bad reporting I know) so she killed someone, accidents happen, lock him up and throw away the key ?????????? I just think your comments are harsh, all because jet ski's ruin your tranquility, how;s your tarnquility on beach road or walking street ? lock'em all up and throw away the key

We come to live in Thailand next month.

I am looking to get a new laptop. Have seen Dell Inspiration 9400 (2*1.83) etc in the UK price about £750 but guess will drop after xmas.

Whats the availability in Thailand of this or simular please?. Can you shop online? What is the price comparrison please?

Wondering wether to buy in the Uk

Thanks

Dell only sells to businesses in Thailand. Buy it in the UK if you want the Dell.

Other than that, prices are generally comparable in Thailand and tend to go up/down dependent on currency exchange rates more than anything else. So if you compare the price here to the price in pounds in the UK, sometimes the UK will be cheaper, sometimes Thailand. Only exception is Apple/Mac where you are always better off buying back home.

For a sample of prices, check www.Acer.co.th - any Acer dealer will get you the list prices there or better (not much better though, we are talking a few thousand baht max.

I would personally recommend thinkpads at this time:

http://www-8.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/th/noteboo...nkpad/z-series/

I have had 3 Acers over the years - the quality of the budget line is basically crap, business is a lot better but still not as rock-solid as I would have expected. Thanks to my experience with a budget TravelMate 4600 I can say that service in Thailand is excellent to outstanding though

I still would prefer better quality at the end of the day....

things i look for when buying a laptop apart from CPU memory etc

screen size and capability, and very important ........ graphics card and upgradability

one limiting factor with laptops and keeping up with the latest software releases ............graphics ability

an onboard integrated intel graphics card simply doesn't cut it..........very budget system and limited use, after a year all, but useless

Dell have great spec machines with state of the art graphics engines

I could care less if they lock him up and throw away the key forever regardless of his age. They may be fun to ride, but the danger and noise that they bring to everyone else around them is not worth the price to a civilized society. I despise jetskis, the self centered people that ride them and the danger and noise pollution they bring to beaches all over the world. I think that jetskis have only one valid use in our society and that is for the use by emergency personel. Even in swimming areas that are roped off, many times jetskiers ignore the buoys. Most people go out to the beach to enjoy peace and tranquility and not to listen to the noise of jetskis. Unfortunately mine is only a small voice in the wilderness as the manufacturers and jetski lobby have a lot of money, are extremely powerful and know how to use that power to influence legislation. Pattaya beach is a prime example of stupidity by mixing sunbathers, boats, jetskis, and swimmers(if someone likes to swim in pollution). Now that I have vented my ranting and raving for the day--I wish everyone a great day.

ah right, lock people up throw away the key for annoying your peace and tranquility, lets intoduce the death penalty for all the noise makers in Thailand, including buses trucks harleys cars discos late night beer bars .................................... are you for real

The 15 year old Kristian Hesselblad went out on the rented jetski as the days before on January 3. His parents, Susanne & Hugo Hesselblad, loose sight of their son just to find out moments later that Kristian Hesselblad is involved in an accident with a Chinese couple, where a 23 year old Chinese male is wounded fatally.

Am I missing something? Where does it mention anything about swimming areas? My first assumption was that it was a collision between 2 Jet Skis. It says he is involved in an accident with a "couple".

It could be either possibility I guess, but the article is not specific enough. Also, why does it take 6 weeks for an autopsy?

No matter, it is a tragic incident for all involved.

well i made the assumption it was a swimmer he hit as they are taking legal action, I don't see a case to answer if both parties where on jet ski's, blame 50/50 how can it be anything else, there are no trafic regulations or rules when on a jet ski, if i see someone else on a ski I stay well away from them.

new tactic used on beach road to dupe customers - dressing and acting like respectable Thai tourists

haven't you heard about this ????

So his arm wasn't blown off at the shoulder as had been reported earlier in the thread.

at least he wasn't able to drive home and kill someone else, I'll bet he was driving this night too

sorry Sam and family for your loss

so sad

There should be designated jet ski areas. Preferably away from swimming spots.

Any beaches I go to have areas for swimmers where jet ski's are not allowed, the question here is

Does this place have them

and if so

Was the 15yo boy riding in a safe zone or where the chinese family bathing outside the zone

Accidents like these are totally avoidable with a little common sense, I have used jet ski's many times and find it difficult to believe how these accidents happen, i can understand maybe two friends on Jet ski's messing around and having a collision but to hit a bather is beyond me unless the rider is totally wreckless and showing off close to swimmers.

Tragic indeed

plasma displays, computers, TV's and many other electroc devices are similary priced to the UK and often are cheaper

why is this one item twice the price, not an unreasonable question to ask, haven;t seen the answer yet except go buy it somewhere else.

just my observation

seems to me that this whole thing has been aimed at thaksin and the reclaimation of funds from shin corp sale and to recover 100% ownership back to thailand

a few hints have been dropped.

I have read most of the posts and I may be wrong but has the switch on the electic outlet been mentioned, in Thailand there isn't any !! very useful if you want to pull out the plug, scares me every time...

I saw this kind of plug outlet with switches in a Clipsal catalog in an electrical supply shop in Chiang Mai. Double plug or single. They were marked as new items. The shop owner said he could order them from Bkk for delivery in 2 days.

if earthing is not easy in your home you can earth to the water supply in most cases as long as the earth is connected to a metal part of the water supply, i.e a copper pipe

I rent a condo, I could buy if i want, my friends who are buying or have bought ask me ! why don't I buy

Answer..............I don't buy because the Thai authorities can change to rules any time they like...and oftern do, there is political instability here even when it's suposed stable, no way would i buy anything, rent it simpple cheap and safe.

Also as I have said before, putting money in a thai bank account is also risky, I know it has to be done to meet retiremnt regulations but why shouldn't money in a foreign account be staisfactory