PMK

Did you mean http://www.anonymizer.com? I believe that is blocked out of Thailand and there is no such site as www.anonymiser.com - not at the moment - perhaps there used to be. Torpark works but it is really slow.

Peter

If you do not want people to see where you are,

or do not want you ISP to see what you are reading and where,

then you should use Total Net Shield (www.anonymiser.com)

Then outsiders will see the ip address of the anonymiser

and your local isp will only see an encrypted data stream in and out

Yes, that is my understanding. If you don't make changes, or only minor ones, then the plans are pre-approved for building but the foundation would have to be suitable for the type of land the house is built on. The office is called OOR BOR TOR in Thai.

Eastender, if you post your area someone will probably know where the office is. The plans are free. They are also available on the Internet. I don't have the link handy. It has been posted here before. Probably someone else will post it to this thread or PM me if you want it and I will dig it up.

Peter

Excuse my ignorance, but is there a local office one can go to to get plans?

Also am I right in thinking plans need to be 'authorised' and so presumably if you get/buy them from a local office then they're already authorised?

Hi,

I have an older DLink DCS-900 webcam. I want to automatically upload images to a web site (not display the images on a web page, but upload captures to a site on a regular schedule). The camera does not have VFW drivers available - not from Dlink and it seems like the software specifically designed to do this like Conquer Cam requires them. Is there a generic driver or other software that'll do this by picking up the images from the built in web server in the camera, or some other workaround?

Thanks,

Peter

Personally I am bit cautious about that, especially if they all trace back to the same email address that you used to register for the forum. Of course you don't want to use the same password on all of them.

It is a common sense thing really. Just think about all your posts. Are there any on one forum that are specific enough to pin down the area, if not the exact locaton you live at? Have you made some enemies on another forum using the same name? Call me paranoid, but I would not like to be in that position and as the expression goes, even paranoids have enemies!

Peter

I visit a few different forums. So far I have used but one name, Thaibebop. Well, I found some others I wanted to be apart of and I wondered, is there a danger to spearding one name around too much as far as posting in forums?

Thanks

Thaibebop

Hi,

My wife picked up a house design from the OO BOR TOR. The plan show a budgeted price of 1.9 million baht. This surprised me, because it is close to the size and style of our current house which we bought for 850,000 baht about 12 years ago - I don't think construction costs have doubled in that time but I could be wrong. Is anyone familiar with what this price actually is? Could it be the maximum permissible rather than a typical price?

Also, we will eventually be looking for an architect to modify a sample plan or create one to our specifications and get it approved for construction. Any recommendations in the Pattaya/Sattahip area?

Thanks,

Peter

So how do you like your plasma TV?

Peter

Actually it is a problem with UBC also. The MPEG compression they use creates a lot of artificating and definition loss in the playback. For a long time the moire patterns I saw (especially a blue sky or water) I blamed on my TV but after getting a new (42" Plasma) the patterns are still there.

There is nothing mechanical in a RAID controller. Run manufacturer's diagnostic software on the hard drive.

Peter

I am getting a very high pitched, high frequency noise when ever my hard disk accesses. Last week I put in a new motherboard, could this be the RAID controller built into the motherboard or the hard disk itself?

What are the current thoughts on plasma TVs like this Beovision 4

Thanks,

Peter

A side issue, but I was told many years ago that P.I.H. (not Bangkok Pattaya Hospital) had a 'gold card' that they gave out to Thai residents (including expats) only which entitled holders to discounts. I asked them about it and was not really given a straight answer.

OK, Noel - You've been here a long time too. I am sure you know this, but may I gently remind you, clear, straight answers are rare in Thailand at any time in and in any situation.

We can speculate on why - personally I think Thais are afraid to make a mistake. Also, nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors at another level so in fact they may not really know. Then there is the 'why bother' attitude. I mean, it is not their hospital - why stick their neck out? Nobody is going to come down on them for not giving the straight and clear answer that you are asking for. I've encountered that many, many times here and much more so than in the west, where it happens also, but not like here. If this is really, really, important to you, I think email is not the way to get an answer - it's too easy to be ambiguous - you'll have to arrange for a face-to-face meeting with someone. Even then, though, I don't like your chances too much.

Personally I think Bangkok Pattaya hospital has a no-discrimination greed policy. They will recommend expensive tests, especially radiology tests on the flimsiest of reasons. The same goes for in-patient treatment. I've been told, and it is easy to believe, that the doctors are on commission. However, the care is good. I would much prefer to be treated there than at any except the very best and specialized of the hospitals in Canada. Then there are all those mini-skirted girls walking around or riding electric bikes or on rollerblades. Someone should do a study on the theraputic effects of them on us sick old guys!

Peter

Chopper, you're right. The hospital should provide a clear, transparent and definitive answer to what is not such a complicated issue. If it is true then it's worth pinning down this discriminatory policy.

[sNIP]

What exactly do you mean by 'registered correctly'? Also, when you say it will be more expensive for a tourist, what exactly are you referrring to? Doctor's fee? Medicine? Surgery? Room charge? Or all of them, because especially the first two would be very easy to check, and I have never seen any indication of different prices even between Thai and tourist.

Peter

Bangkok Pattaya hopital is not expensive if you are registered correctly. If you are a tourist it will be expensive.

Barry

[snip] He/she is the one who is using spamblock so he is the one who has to complain, or it would be even better if spamcop offers a way where he can just click on something to get you unblocked.

Spamcop delists after 24 hours of no spam. If it was as easy as clicking somewhere spammers would too!

Personally I don't like services like spamcop because I feel I am the one who should decide what is junk and what is not.

But probably you don't have to deal with 1,500-2,000 spam/malware emails a day, like I do at our domain. I don't think there have been more than a couple of false positives from Spamcop here in the last few years. That would be out of around 1,000,000 caught. That's a pretty good record. I think until systems that actually verifies or authenticates the sender address like Domain Keys catches on we have to use less than pefect tools like this.

I like the way gmail does it with a spam box seperate from my inbox. Anything they think is junk mail goes in there, and periodically I go through it to see if there is anything I want delivered to my inbox, and all I have to do is click.

Spamcop is not incompatible with that system, and that is exactly what I do for my email users. If Spamcop or the spam filter thinks it is spam, it is marked so in the subject and Outlook rules move it to a separate folder. The problem is that many users, and I have been guilty of this on my Yahoo account, don't check the Spam folder regularly enough.

Is this a web-based account? If so, there is nothing you can do. Some gmail users including one on this forum a while back have the same problem. I've never heard of it with Yahoo or Hotmail.

To Peter Jackson, I'd suggest that hushmail.com is not his best choice unless he wants the encryption feature. I do have an account there myself so am familiar with it. With the for the free account you have to check in at least every three weeks; using it at a public location can be a PITA; and features and storage are very limited compared to say Yahoo. But if you want privacy and are commuicating with other hushmail users or PGP users, then it is great.

I was using an e-mail address hosted by GoDaddy, and they are based in Scottsdale, so that makes sense.

qualtrough,

For now just ignore my other post because indeed it is not fully accurate for your situation, but where are you located? The IP number you listed in your original post Remote host said: 550 5.7.1 This system is configured to reject mail from 64.202.189.199 (Host blacklisted in bl.spamcop.net) is in Scottsdale, Arizona. http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/ipall.ch?domain=64.202.189.199

Peter

Thanks everyone for your help!

Peter--Everytime I log onto my provider's service I am assigned a new IP, is that correct? How would I go about getting a fixed IP?

I think my response had some inaccurate information that only applies if you were running your own email server. Let me rethink it with a clear mind and get back to you.

Peter

quote name='qualtrough' date='2006-07-26 11:53:16' post='824912']

Thanks everyone for your help!

Peter--Everytime I log onto my provider's service I am assigned a new IP, is that correct? How would I go about getting a fixed IP?

Artisan,

I'd guess it is Bangkok Pattaya, but I agree, the post is less than helpful without making it clear.

I think the bottom line here is these are all local hospitals, and like every other place in the world, the best ones are in the big cities, not provinces. If you want the best, go to Bumrungrad or one of the other internationally rated hospitals in Bangkok. If you want the convenience or it's an emergency and need a local hospital, then it is buyer beware. Every local one has it's good and bad stories. Absolutely ask the price of everything before they do it, and consider your alternatives. Keep aware that these are for-profit businesses interested in selling you expensive product. That does not necessarily mean you should not buy it though.

One last comment - my wife has standing instructions that if I need emergency care take me to Bangkok Pattaya but any extended stay, for example if I should go into a coma, get me out of there and to Queen Sirikit because either Bangkok Pattaya or PIH will bankrupt us in short order if either of us had to stay there for more than a few days. As the first rule of medical care is get to a specialist as soon as possible, at Queen Sirikit she would contact the appropriate specialist department head to look after me whose fees will probably still be quite affordable. Although the overall care there will not on a par with the private hospitals, the cost will be a small fraction of them.

Peter

Pattaya Hospital.....................

Stefan, please would you identify the hospital? Pattaya Memorial Hospital, Pattaya International Hospital or Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital?

The problem is not the mail server IP but the IP you get from the ISP. A previous user did something to get on the blacklist. The only sure way around it is to get a fixed IP or perhaps change ISP to another that will be more on top of monitoring for spammers and thus avoid you getting an IP that is blocked.

If the message you need to send is urgent you could check yourself at http://www.spamcop.net or http://www.internetfrog.com to see if your current IP is blocked or not. If you are using a router, then it's configuration page will show you your current IP or you can use a service like http://www.dnsstuff.com/ to show it. If it is blocked, you could try disconnecting for a few minutes and try again.

Peter

From time to time I have found that some of my e-mail messages have bounced back with a failure notice that includes something like the following:

Connected to 207.158.3.254 but sender was rejected.

Remote host said: 550 5.7.1 This system is configured to reject mail from 64.202.189.199 (Host blacklisted in bl.spamcop.net)

I am not spamming so I assume it must be related to the activities of others using the same mail server.

This is a bummer because when I reply to someone I now have to worry that they won't get my message.

So my questions:

Is there anything I can do about it?

Are there alternatives sending methods or ?? that I can use to avoid this happening?

I always use Pattaya International for different things ranging from blood tests every 4-5 months to having my appendix out 3 days ago, I always find them very good as i think BKK Pattaya are always looking for more reasons to spend your money.

You could also try Queen Sirikit hospital near Utaphao airpot which has the SAME surgeons and Dr's as BKK Pattaya but in sirikit they will charge you a fraction of what you'd pay in Pattaya.

Hi Dave,

Are you sure that the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital has the same surgeons and doctors as the Queen Sirikit Hospital?

Unless things have changed over the last few years, many of the specialists at P.I.H. , not Bangkok Pattaya, are the same as at Queen Sirikit. They are employed at Queen Sirikit but freelance at many other hospitals including Memorial and P.I.H. to supplement their incomes. That is why so many of the specialists at Pattaya International Hospital and Memorial are only available for a few hours a couple of times a week.

If anyone wants to see them at Queen Sirikit then be sure to ask by name, as they do tend to be the best of the specialists there and otherwise you may get stuck with a really terrible doctor.

Obviously if a doctor/surgeon/specialist is pretty well always available, as they seem to be at Pattaya Bangkok Hospital, then they can't be at Queen Sirikit at the same time.

Sunday July 16, 6:03 pm ET

By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer

Swindlers Have Stepped Up Bid to Fleece Web Advertisers Through Click Fraud, a Report Says

SUN VALLEY, Idaho (AP) -- Swindlers have stepped up their effort to fleece millions of dollars from online advertisers who use lucrative marketing networks run by Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., according to a quarterly report to be released Monday.

The sales referrals generated by clicks on the brief advertising links popularized by the two Internet powerhouses are a sham 14.1 percent of the time, based on information collected from 1,300 online marketers.

That's up from a click fraud rate of 13.7 percent three months ago, according to Click Forensics, a San Antonio-based consulting service that compiles the index.

The statistics jibe with other data asserting advertisers are paying a significant sum to Google, Yahoo and their partner Web sites for phantom shoppers even as more resources are devoted to thwarting scammers.

A recently released survey of 407 online advertisers by market research firm Outsell Inc. estimated click fraud cost advertisers $800 million last year.

Click fraud is a highly sensitive subject for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google and Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo because it raises doubts about the trustworthiness of the advertising model that drives their profits and stock prices.

Google, Yahoo and partner Web sites get paid each time someone clicks on advertising links usually displayed at the top and on the side of Web pages. Advertisers pay the commission even when the click doesn't produce a sale -- a system that inspired bilking schemes.

The motives for click fraud vary. Most often, Web site owners repeatedly click the ads on their own sites to generate money for themselves. In other cases, advertisers target the ads of their rivals to drain their marketing budgets.

As click fraud becomes more prevalent and attracts more media attention, advertisers are becoming more aggressive about demanding refunds and better protection, said Tom Cuthbert, Click Forensics' president.

"Advertisers aren't satisfied with the status quo," he said. "They don't want to keep losing sleep at night wondering how much money they are losing to click fraud."

Reflecting those concerns, about 900 advertisers have joined Click Forensics' anti-fraud network during the past three months.

Google and Yahoo are better at weeding out click fraud than smaller Web sites, but Click Forensics still concluded both companies are being hard hit. About 12.8 percent of the clicks on ads served up by Google and Yahoo are deceptive, up from 12.1 percent three months ago.

Cuthbert said Google and Yahoo may be identifying some of those fraudulent clicks and removing fees from advertisers' bills. Both companies are tightlipped about how they monitor for click fraud, another factor that has frustrated some advertisers that want more transparency.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt acknowledged click fraud remains an ongoing headache, but disputed the notion that the problem is becoming more prevalent.

"Smart people are trying to break the law, but we have even smarter people trying to prevent it," Schmidt said during an interview at a conference that concluded Sunday in Idaho.

Yahoo CEO Terry Semel declined to discuss the latest data on click fraud, saying he intended to address the issue Tuesday when the company is scheduled to release its second-quarter earnings. "We will be very proactive about it," Semel said during the same Idaho conference.

Both Google and Yahoo have agreed to settle class-action lawsuits to limit their potential liability for past click fraud. If approved, the two settlements would address any click fraud that occurred amid more than $22 billion of ad spending.

A two-day court hearing on Google's offer to pay up to $90 million in refunds and attorney fees is scheduled to begin July 24 in an Arkansas court. Yahoo's proposed settlement, which doesn't limit how much the company might pay, isn't scheduled to be reviewed in a Los Angeles federal court until late this year.

If you and the buyer were close enough geographically that you could offer say a 15 day warranty and you trusted each other about that, I'd say around 30% off what you paid for it would be reasonable. I assume it's around 6 months old. If older, less.

Peter

OK Got a slightly old but nice system for sale but just unsure of how much to ask for it, anyone shed some light ?

PC :

AMD Athlon XP 3000+

1 GB Kingston RAM

160 GB Hard Drive ( 2x 80GB Seagate Barracuda)

CD Writer

DVD Drive

128 Mb ATI Radeon Video Card

17' Samsung Monitor

Brand New Case

Thermaltake Volcano CPU cooling unit + Artic Ice cooling fluid

Only thing lets it down slightly is the 128MB video card but I sold my 256MB one. Even though still plays most games pretty well.

So what should I be asking for a fair price?

Cheers !

Firefox 2.0 Beta Coming This Week

The update comes as Firefox is gaining share on Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Firefox is now used by nearly 13 percent of Web surfers, according to Web analytics firm OneStat.com.

That is pretty amazing seeing how probably 75% of users don't know there are possible alternatives to IE.

Peter

I couldn't find anything on the web on vissionet other than web design services, and don't have clue what kind of technology you are talking about. Do you know where I can find more info?

Thanks,

Peter

Looks nice, but I decided to order a visionnet box instead. Both work basically the same by connecting to the internet to get the channels working...

Main difference between them is that the vissionnet can switch between many different servers all over the world (it's actually used pretty much everywhere, with a lot of forums on how to use / update the box, and servers available), while the ebox just connects to one server, which is hardcoded in the machine. If that server goes down, the box pretty much becomes useless. If a visionnet server goes down, you simply switch to one of the many other servers available...

I got burned once already with an angelbox (which uses a second dish to get the channels working), that server stopped working 3 days after I installed the bugger!

I'm a Firefox fan, but you wil hit the odd page that will not display properly with it.

Firefox has "extensions" - add on functionality that you download and install separately. One of these is called IE View. I strongly suggest that you install that one early on. If the page gives you problems with Firefox, just right-click anywhere and choose "View in IE". It will open with IE including cookies (I think) and log in information.

Peter

Thanks Guy's for the comments ...Please keep them coming ...ive a lot to learn

Thanks..............

Hey Scouse,

Sincere and major apologies. I hate it when people do that!

You may care to read my original post

Sorry to trouble the computer experts again, but I've got some minor problems which are annoying me.

It is better to give than to receive.

I've recently had to buy a new base unit as my previous hard drive packed in. Now, when I connect my Sony Cybershot P73 camera via a USB, it is not automatically recognised as it used to be with my old PC. I have loaded the drivers (several times) but it remains undetected. I can, however, remove the memory stick from the camera and successfully insert that directly in to the relevant drive on the PC. I don't think it's a problem with the camera itself, as it connects perfectly well to my PC at work. Any thoughts?

You need drivers for a camera. Have you installed those yet?

Secondly, I periodically get error messages which read "runtime errror - do you wish to debug?" which I never used to get on my old PC. What causes these and is there a way of disabling them?

Are those from Internet Explorer? If so, go to Tools ->Internet Options -> Disable Script debugging (Internet Explorer)is checked.

Peter

Thanks Peter, funnily enough I tried a new account and then was told that the book I ordered could not be delivered the countryI specified, being Thailand of course, it was a book of Poetry by a Greek poet from the 20's...yet received one book by an australian friend and a CD of Bette Midler all in the last two months and did not receive such a message as that as both were delivered to Thailand

The only time I've seen that is if they don't like your credit card - mostly because it was issued in Thailand. When you tried to sign up again was it the same card as previously?

and yes not to press the panic button yet as may be a glitch at amazon end...thanks for reassuring this aussie luddite.... Dukkha

I have very good friend that uses that word 'Luddite' regularly - now I think I will have to look up the meaning!

Peter