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Travel Agency VoIP Applications June 14, 2006

Consider: You’re planning a trip to Europe and you’re going to be joined there by a friend who will be travelling through Asia ahead of you. How do you sync up with each other without paying exorbitant cell phone or satellite phone costs?

Why, through VoIP and/or Skype, of course. Imagine being able to connect up directly with your friend through your VoIP-enabled phone, right from the travel agency. If you can touch base with your travelling friend, it makes it so much easier to make last-minute travel plans - something that’s still possible with regular mobile phones, but …

Legitimate Global Village RFID Applications April 28, 2006

After scouring a few RFID weblogs and websites recently, I came to the realization that there are actually numerous RFID applications that do not fall into the “tracking human beings” category. Such example applications including the teaching of English and preventing incorrect usage of prescribed medicines. Certainly these are legitimate, even noble applications of RFID.

Other non-privacy-invading applications include supply chain systems, preventing lost baggage at airports, animal/ pet tracking, and even validating/ authenticating poker chips at casinos. Or imagine forklifts that can operate on their own, and know what flats they have to pick up and move. Of …

Happy Earth Day To You - Or What To Do With Your Old Cell Phone April 27, 2006

With Earth Day (Apr 22) just gone by, I was lamenting that I once again didn’t do anything significant or “green”. (I did, however, go to the first year of Earth Day celebrations when I lived in Toronto many years ago.) This thought was particularly triggered when I read how some of the large European smartcard vendors are rushing out half-baked cell phone products with SIM cards that have been rewired , just to meet deadlines. Their publicly state intent is to fix the problem with later releases of the cell phone model.

So where, then, does that leave people who …

Dealing With Your Cellular Provider’s Downtimes March 21, 2006

I just got off a tech assistance call to my cellular provider, which I initiated when I couldn’t access my email or the web from my new, beloved PalmOne Treo 650. After over a half hour of very pleasant assistance, we got nowhwere. Except that the tech rep admitted to the network being down out in the western provinces in Canada. I said that this must be the problem for me, somehow, as well. She was unwilling to agree and instead pleasantly sent me through configuring, trying, and reconfiguring my Treo’s network settings for a half hour or so.

Now despite …

The End of Pay-As-You-Go Phone Cards? March 17, 2006

Card Technology print magazine reports that network providers the world over are getting ready to offer mobile phone users a new way to pay for their airtime. This spells the end of those scratch cards you can purchase in different denominations.

Anyone who currently sells these cards for the tiny margins they offer can this revenue stream goodbye as soon as the end of this year in some parts of the world. Unless you’re willing to pay for the expensive network lines and equipment you would otherwise need to offer the new payment method. Of course, for pay-as-you-go users and …




  

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