orosee

Well... dear BBC, how exactly is this "News"? MS has been doing this (banning from Xbox Live) for many years already. And apparently the only way to get back on is to either buy a new Xbox, or "steal" some hardware code form a friend/shop and use special software blah blah... I lost my Xbox Live access when Halo 3 came out, bought the game copy from a different than usual vendor who gave me an unstealthed disk... bang! A week later I could have gotten a safe copy from my regular pusher

What is really mean though is that MS will continue to renew your annual Xbox Live (Gold) subscription until you cancel it (which is not a simple process at all). In this respect the article is not accurate. The hardware (Xbox) is banned. The gamer, player or Xbox Live account is NOT. It will continue to work but not from the banned machine of course.

Without Xbox Live it is also harder to update the Xbox 360 via internet, and to download more (paid for) games.

I'm now running a PS3 instead. No cracked games but less time to waste anyway.

(a) Go straight to the King Power duty free shops

( Look around a bit, touch a few goods, perhaps even buy something

© Soon after you will be approached by two gentlemen in brown who will escort you to a nice clean hotel near the airport

(d) There are no charges for the room but I understand that checking out can be problematic

I forgot the name of the hotel otherwise you could skip steps (a) to (d)

I think they are targeting businesses. It will be a while before they come knocking on your door at home.

I hope so but it is likely that it will happen

It will also be a juicy market for the licensed products as I have been receiving messages from microsoft, on opening of my Microsoft word, that I did not have an original copy and would be marked if I do not take the necessary steps for correcting that (To this day I still have 24 hours to do so, after a month or so of reminding)

I did try: When I opened their site I was simply told to buy the original at the exceptionnal price of 3500 Baht then noticed a disclaimer saying that I could declare that I was not aware I was using a copy. But the point is to send back the CD I used to install it, which I don't, and add that the CD has to be this way or that way to consider that I am not a cheater

Well I am going to copy paste every document and just throw the program to the bean. I knom that ma,y of us need this program but I hope, I guess, that I won't be needing it that much, especially since I have a second computer which is a Mac

This can happen to you even if you have bought a legitimate copy of Office with your own money directly from MS! In fact it just happened to me. Last year I bought a Sony Vaio which came preloaded with Vista, a trial of Office 2007 Pro and some fully free Adobe and Sony products (Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements - good stuff). I upgraded Office from Trial to Small Biz Edition (about 375 USD incl. taxes which should not have been added) but I had to jump through a number of hoops because I was in Thailand using the International version of Vista (not Thai, thank you SONY) wanting to pay with either a German or Korean VISA card. Not easy because MS shops fix you in a certain region and Thailand has only Thai language for the shop, Korea only Korean, ... I ended up using the UK shop because the US shop insisted on a US address linked to my card. Took me three days to get the serial number and a link to the installer files, but until this week all went well, happy and legal.

Now I'm running Windows 7 (another sad story - I tried to pay for it but... well, I had to give up eventually or pay almost 4 times more than I should have paid if buying from the US shop) and after 4 days of hopeless installing and reinstalling of the original S/W and the original serial number, have been told again and again that (a) my serial is wrong ( my serial is fake © my serial has been used more often than allowed and (d) call MS and convince them to give you a 100 digit activation code... yeah right. Just, in what country? Thailand, Germany, Korea or US or UK? And how to convince them? There is no DVD, just a serial and the purchase was made via a third party (Digital River).

Well I paid for it once but I won't add more money or time to what I've already spent. MS might call me eventually. 10 minute download, 10 minute install - I'm running Office 2007 SBE again. Thanks to the Net but no thanks to MS. As for now, my Windows 7 is also from the same source (the Internet) but once I find a way to get legal I will.

One thing for sure: If MS would ever get into the home alarm/home security market then millions of home owners will be f%^&*d one fine day (or more likely, on a freezing Winter night at 4 AM).

What I'm saying is that just because MS is telling you that you're not legal may not mean that you aren't. Remember all those DVD players that enforced DVD region protection? How did that work out?

It is at times like these I am happy that I use Linux and Open Source software

However I have noticed that when they Cyber guys come around our area, all shops and businesses seem to have closed for the day, all windows and shutters closed...

On a legal point, I would think that if all computers in a company are owned by the employees; for example everyone has a laptop financed by the company in part but owned by employee, everything on the computer including all programs and data is the property of the employee. In this case the company should not have any responsibility at all for what is on each employees computer, I think? Also in this case the company have no rights or responsibilities over the content in the computer?

No, this will not be how it works. Thin "sexual harrassment laws". The company (owner) is responsible for the employees' notebooks if they use them for work, in the office. Otherwise these computers should not be allowed to be used inside the office during woork hours and/or for work. A statement to thsat effect should be made as part of the office policies and employees should sign it. The if during a raid illegal s/w is found on the employee's computer, the company can either delegate responsibility (during the ensuing law suit) or sue the employee for compensation to all damages later. Such damages can be extremely high if important company data is lost during the seizure of the computer. In fact a company would show gross negligence not to have a system in place that ensures legality of software and integrity of company data (e.g. through regular backups).

A company that is serious to protect its own interests will think about all of this and more in their IT policies. A company that wants to save money and avert responsibility will try different ways and risk its business for the sake of a few hundred or thousand bucks.

By the way, the money you spend for software should be in proportion to the money you earn by the work done with that software. Running 100 illegal copies of Photoshop just for cropping or resizing photos is foolish. Running 100 copies of Acrobat to be able to read or create PDF only is foolish. Running 100 copies of AutoCAD to save the training costs for a cheaper or free alternative is foolish.

To those who say that software is too expensive in Thailand (and now I'm not entirely serious): I say charge all foreigner in Thailand the normal price or less, and let the Thais pay 10-20x the sticker price! If they can't afford that then go play in a national park and enjoy the scenery Or write your own stuff. In fact use the Thai-only markup to subsidise foreigner-software 100%.

what a joke.

bust the companies paying taxes and employing tax paying staff, and let all the other filth slide.

What a joke. Why pursue a thief while you're letting other things slide? Just let him make away with the loot, he'll use it to feed his family and pay sales tax eventually.

Honestly, individual piracy is somewhat excusable, but when an investment company does it... not much sympathy. They're making their money by operating within a regulated environment, so they should respect laws as well.

Well said. I wonder why it took so long for anyone to point out this obvious fact. Legal software is part of the cost of doing business, and with the free alternatives pointed out here already, there is absolutely no excuse for a business to steal from another business. And why would a serious business rely on a Panthip made computer anyway? If the hardware is mission critical then the smart move is to buy brand name computers which at least all come with an OEM OS installed.

To whoever said that the buyer cannot know whether his software is real or pirated: Duh! Look for the MS license sticker, manuals, original installation media, warranties... pretending to be dumb will and should not get you off the hook. I'm not saying you're pretending.

It's against thailand law.No adult paraphenalia sold in thailand.You might maybe find something in one of the markets maybe.

And also talking about anything ADULT is against thaivisa rules.

Whoa... since when has the word "adult" become synonymous with "pornographic"? I know that there is sometimes a lack of adult like behaviour here (and everywhere) but surely you don;t want to insist on discussing childish topics only?

Oh, I feel your pain. Used to use True while I was in Bangkok, but one of the reasons I am still considering not moving back to Thailand is this:

And that's for under 35 US$/month including 80+ cable TV channels.

Must.Not.Gloat.

South Korea has passed Japan for fasted internet speeds available. However, KRNIC is an ISP in South Korea, so your results, while impressive, are not real world because most of the internet is not based on servers in S. Korea. Use the San Francisco server and then let us know how fast. I bet under 10mb/s.

I have edited the URL for the stat screen to make the quote more space efficient. Sure the transpacific data speeds are much smaller. However the test itself does not really represent what I do, my files are typically from 200 MB to 8GB in size, which gives me a speed advantage. Also I use a lot of servers which cannot be in the US.

What I usually prefer is simply to check how much download I can achieve in a single day. At home I get at best <70% of the 100 Mbps speed (after that the hard drives start to choke or the router pops - older hardware ) using a carefully adjusted download manager. 50-60% is the norm. In a normal day (about 8 to 12 hours) I get 100 to 150 GB. As a rule of thumb I think of my speed as "a gig an hour". The ISP (GS Internet) has a service technician in my house within 30 minutes in case of any - any! - trouble, including my own stupidity (happened once). Free of charge.

But you're right, Korea is exceptional. Neither Europe nor the US have anything of this speed, for this price. This is however perfectly karma balanced because here is a lot less fun stuff to do compared to Thailand so I NEED this internet/drug.

Talking about karma balance, my next stop could be China, which I imagine to be the worst combination of everything

Oh, I feel your pain. Used to use True while I was in Bangkok, but one of the reasons I am still considering not moving back to Thailand is this:

And that's for under 35 US$/month including 80+ cable TV channels.

Must.Not.Gloat.

So was the problem him being gay, what the heck(can't say hel_l) got to do with the story, maybe his parents don't know he's out yet!! The bartender should have made a screwdriver and pocked him in the eye

+1, there is not a single bit of relevance to the bar tender's being gay I guess they just HAD to put it in to get people to click on the link (advertising $$$) in expectation of a saucy story...

Oh, and the gun wielder's car brand seems to have been of some importance, too... ah well, in Thailand it may mean "possibly well enough connected to get away with murder" - just wonder why they didn't name the gun's manufacturer as well?

Well there may (or may not) be third party insurance, which would cover damages and injuries to others (same as with rental cars) but first party insurance would and should only be available as an option. How this works out if two jet skis of the same operator/owner collide I have no idea. Perhaps there's only personal injury compensation.

Last and only answer required: Download CCleaner (free, highly recommended program), under the "Tools" button there is a "System Restore" button, you can delete all restore points except the latest one selectively. It also does a lot of other stuff with the first and second button.

And again a theft with a value of 200,000 Baht - precisely the amount that Thai shopowners get from the bank or ATM before they are robbed, precisely the amount that is stolen from a bag left inside a car, or a shopping bag left in a taxi. It makes me wonder whether there is a "barrier" at 200,000 Baht - do thieves count up and leave when they get this much? Does police investigate "harder" if the amount exceeds 200,000? Does insurance settle claims under 200,000 Baht with less questions asked?

Another thing is that why is the foreigner fully named, but the Thai "girlfriend" just referred to by nickname as if she were a pet and not a person? Ah, I may have answered my own question here...

Depends on how you perceive life, I think afterlife yes but not as we know it.

Oi..very deep thoughts for a land of smiles

But i do agree with pschef

Especially since a good few scientists now percieve that the foundations of Darwinism were built on very shaky ground

Umm, can you be less precise than that? "a good few". "scientists", "perceive", "foundations of Darwinism", "shaky ground" - I would object to any of these bits. How about some links so I can verify these claims?

To pschef, "afterlife but not as we know it" - can you explain the kind of afterlife that we know for me?

I firmly believe that there is no afterlife, although I also firmly wish that there were one.

stolidfeline, I have had very similar thoughts since before I was 10. So, my vote was of course "No" but at this time, there's an even 50:50 split

Most likely his daughter or his gf who is of age. I'd stick my nose out of it unless you are ready to be highly embarrassed. I'm sure he was a bit pissed you were staring.

In fact she came and stood next to me and i took a glance as most people do and looked back at the goods i was inspecting, it then registered with me how young she was to be made up and dressed the way she was, i took another quick glance as i turned to leave, in no way did i stare at her, as i walked away the farang who was standing about 6ft away was glaring at me and that's what made me suspicious.

Why was he glaring at you? Maybe he was thinking about you the same that you are thinking about him? From your bits of story here I can't even see the relation between the girl and the man, other than you and the fact that both of them were in the same market at the same time.

From the "evidence" so far, I would conclude "none of your/our business" yet.

Next week, let's have a story about an older woman that dresses too young, which is just equally disturbing

Funny, I have been to Soi Cowboy bars where the girls wore more fabric than at Thailand's prestige university but I am confident that this "dress code" gives at least some of the young ladies the extra income needed to buy the necessary status accessories, with the right sugar daddy there might even be a small apartment thrown in. Maybe they should rename the university to Chulashortkorn and just get on with it...

But I can't object to young women dressing like this as long as it's not my own daughter

OP, I feel with you! What a terrible waste of money, however, if they still have money to burn, there is a Swiss company (only good things come from Switzerland) that sells a doodad whcih, when installed in the power lines in your house, will not only remove all "electrosmog" but also save up to 30% electricity. It does that by reversing the electron spin from clockwise to counter-clockwise (or the other way around, whatever) thus removing negativity from the electric current and turning it into a positive life force (plants will also grow greener, I am sure).

Inside you will find to your delight an array of 4 fluorescent tubes... more if you buy a larger model.

Christmas is coming, a gift idea perhaps?

Nobody ever listens to the experts

For the record, it's not a jet (see photos).

All the news agencies had to do was Google ATR 72.

For the record it was. It's a turboprop. It has gas turbine engines.

It's just that the blades (propellors are visible).

Wouldn't it be a nice change to have all the armchair experts hold back from

their pontificating until the accident investigators have done their job.

Wrong. Don't look at the source of power. You have to look at the source of thrust or the method of propulsion. A jet plane is driven largely by the thrust generated by the gas turbine exhausts (the jet engine). A turboprop plane is driven largely by the thrust generated by the propeller. You will also notice that the exhaust of a typical turboprop engine is at a downward angle rather than "straight" as in a real jet engine.

A gas turbine is not the same as a jet engine. You will find gas turbines in power plants, locomotives, even road vehicles. None of the former have been called "jet airplanes", and the presence of a gas turbine is not even necessary for some jet aircraft (e.g. ram jet). More interesting things including visuals on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turboprop).

A much more interesting question coming out of this thread is whether it is possible to send prayers by email.

As reported on another forum by someone whose not a BM on here.

One was asked by the police after they emptied his passport to give them the pin for his ATM card!

.

That should be a headline in a newspaper somewhere!

Amazing Thailand and it's Amazing Police Corruption!

Where will it stop?

Ummm, how exactly do you "empty a passport"? A wallet maybe, but I sure never carry anything "in my passport". Plus, how can they charge someone with NOT carrying his passport and then "empty" what is not there? That should be under the headline "Not posting while drunk".

I think we had enough clarifications of the "3 Strikes" misunderstanding by now - half this thread is composed of basically the same quote and reply

In addition to one statement I really liked - "read the lines, not between them" - I would add "check (to) the end of the thread before you reply, maybe someone else has already done your work

For those who read threads from the last post backwards, let me spoil the experience for you: "It's not the thief, it's the company that employs him/her!!!"

The new rules, which also cover Internet cafes, allow children to play computer games for more than three hours and up to six hours a day, says Culture Minister Teera Salakpetch.

...

The Cabinet also agreed that an IT system to keep kids under 18 from playing computer games for more than three hours a day should be ready before a ministerial regulation amendment is proposed later, he added.

What is it I'm not getting here? ALL children are allowed to play AT LEAST 3 hours per day, up to 6 when older. But an IT system is needed to make sure that NO children play MORE than 3 hours per day???

I'm a bit puzzled why everyone seems to have been robbed of the neat amount of 100,000 Baht - give or take a few, if you read the article and count the times "(worth) 100,000 Baht" appears, it seems to me to be quite a lot of coincidence. Do victims get the allegedly stolen amount back from someone, no further questions asked? Personally I've never managed to store more than half of that inside my wallet.

Driver may be among the injured or dead? Because there is no metion of "the driver fled the scene"

There's only one important lesson to be learned here: Never let your bag out of sight. If someone can manage to put something the size of a small bath towel inside you bag, how much easier will it be to drop 100 pills or 100g of an illicit substance into the same? Try arguing yourself out of that situation

Other than that, the pub sells liquor and lives from people buying and drinking it. The result is usually impaired judgment so why would anybody seriously be surprised if people in bars to stupid things?

There are now A4 paper signs up in Bangkok airport warning of jail sentences up to one year for insulting behaviour towards officials.

I didn't want to incur their wrath so I didn't bother with a photo.

Is it then still possible to swear at the airport taxi touts in the arrivals area? I'm not sure whether they are "officials" or just employees of a private organisation

I would say that if Thai immigration feels the need to hang such a notice, then there is certainly a need for passengers to act accordingly. After all, nobody would put up a "Don't step on the grass" sign on a concrete parking lot.

All and all I still find that Thai immigration is the most ineffective and unfriendly I have been able to find in Asia (based on 13 years of residence in Bangkok and frequent traveling in Asia). Sort of like a sweet chocolate surrounded by a bitter coating. Among the more efficient and friendly immigration officers I have found in the past and recently are:

Korea - possibly one of the fastest passes ever, rarely more than 20 seconds review and always time for a friendly smile and "Welcome to Korea"

Hong Kong - the queues can be nightmares at some times, but the queue handling is efficient and the queue manager even had time for a chat and an apology for the waiting time for me, again the passport check itself was done in less than 30 seconds and the officer even used a tiny bit of free space to cram in his stamp, which a frequent traveler always appreciates. Oh, and "Welcome to Hong Kong"!

China - goodness, they even have buttons where you can give the office a smiley rating for his/her service! I wonder how that would turn out in Thailand? Time still under one minute, and wait for it... "Welcome to China"!

Vietnam - Fast and efficient, no hugs but still a friendly smile.

For the rest of Asia, more of the same.

So what's the problem with Thai immigration? Piles? I suggest to put up a sign encouraging travelers to say "F___ You!" to the officials until they get their act straight. The only time someone (female) in an immigration uniform features positively for me is in certain erotic fantasies - "You! Visa expired!" ... "Oooh, spank me ma'm!"

I didn't go through all replies so I hope this has not yet been said.

Thailand is commonly advertised as the "Land of Smiles". So it should be natural to expect that behaviour even at immigration. I think the reason for the lack of smiles (and sometimes, as in the case of carelessly thrown back passports, lack of courtesy) is because the immigration officials at the airport are not allowed to take money from the travelers. Once you get past that, there are smiles abound: customs (chance for an occasional bottle of wine, a carton of cigarettes, ...), taxi limo touts ($$$), taxi meters ($), and then the rest of the country. Much nicer there!

I lived and worked in Bangkok 12 years and had to travel to regional offices regularly in about every country in Asia. Thailand is the ONLY country where I felt a lack of welcome at immigration, even though my documents could not have been more in order. Based on this measure, I thoroughly enjoyed immigration procedures in Vietnam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea (which now seems to have one of the fastest processes I know).

On behalf of immigration I would like to say: As all immigration personnel, these are selected based on their inability to speak and understand (much) English. So naturally all communication is abrupt ("You stand here! You look here!") and lacks the refined pleasantries one could expect from more proficient speakers. The job must be terrible considering the vast planeloads of immigrants, many of them completely clueless about immigration procedures such as filling out the forms. I's still expect some form of reciprocation for kindness but the truth is, this annoyance takes just a few minutes and is negligible compared to the waiting for luggage and the misery of getting from the arrival area to the taxi stands.

Once inside all is forgotten and forgiven.