Not releated at all with Nomadcom (just in case some might have a doubt) ,

Skype has selected Rebecca, a 26 y/o Australian girl, to take up the "Skype Nomad Challenge" which is to travel non-stop around the Globe and demonstrates that Skype is now mobile.

Over 33 days, Rebecca "The Nomad" will be using as many different forms of transport possible for a girl – from jumbo jets to dog sleds, canoes to camels, sky diving to revolving restaurants.

Her non-stop journey started on May 5th from London (UK) to Singapore, China, Australia (current location) Alaska, USA an back to Europe.

To keep in touch, Rebecca uses SkypePhones as well as a Nokia N810 (the Internet Tablet) loaded with, indeed, Skype software. 

All related links which also gives a good overview of what Web 2.0 is offering:

• Twitter
• Skype: theskypenomad
• Flickr
• You Tube
• Blog
• My space
• Facebook
  

All this perpetual motion is also for a good cause – to create some noise about an awesome charity called Motivation. Basically, they help disabled people in poor countries get mobile.

I may propose to Skype the Challenge #2 as I have an extended list of countries and locations which cannot be so called "Internet/mobile phone" friendly… interested ?

Tags: 33 days, challenge, charity, gsm, internet, Mobile Communications, motivation, N810, Nomad Tools, rebecca, skype, Skype nomad, Travel, VoIP, wifi, world, worldwide

Travelpod proposes to discover, through an online game, how well do you know your world.

Questions includes major cities of the World, Capital cities as well as travelers must see locations. Additional set of questions are also available (Continents, Flags, Unesco sites, Photos).

Want to play ?

My personal score:
Final Score : 576'899
Final Level : 12
Traveler IQ : 133

Tags: 2008, api, blog, capital, cities, Fun, game, im, knowledge, lan, location, must see, nomadcom.net, online, Our World, photo, quiz, sco, Travel, traveler, travelpod, world, worldwide, wp, www

Free and universal Wi-Fi community builder "FON Movimiento" is spreading fast across Europe. In September an agreement was signed with Cegetel, France 2nd largest ISP to introduce the free "Neuf Wifi FON" service. This service offers Neuf Cegetel's subscribers to share some of their Internet bandwidth through their "Wifi Neuf Box" and to become part of the FON community. Cegetel estimates that by end of 2007, 1 million of "Neuf Box 4" will be ready to support this new service. 

Members of the FON community get free and secured Internet access through any "FON Spots" Wifi Access Point around the globe. 

Earlier this month in United Kingdom, BT also joined forces with FON and offer to 3 million BT's broadband customers to share their Internet access and join the FON community.

Now it is the Geneva city council to sign a convention with FON to consolidate the small existing wireless network available in some key locations of the city. The city council envisages to distribute up to 500 FON routers to its citizens who may wish to share their Internet Access via the FON community (complete story, in French, on TSR telecom blog).

Non-member of the FON community will be able to get access to the Internet through FON Wifi networks using a 3 USD/day fee "FON Access Pass".

Let's hope this solution will be more successful than previous attempts as most of them were sunk by politicians and endless administrative discussions.

" Post Tenebras Lux" ? 

Tags: 2007, 24, access, agreement, art, ATT, blog, bt, ces, citizen, community, customer, europe, fon, fon movimiento, free, geneva, geneve, HP, ia, im, internet, internet access, King, lan, location, map, Mobile Communications, network, neuf cegetel, nomadcom.net, post, share, story, sun, telecom, Telecommunications, uk, wifi, wireless, world, worldwide, wp, www

Just finished to watch Hugo Ortega's video presenting HTC Shift and I must admit I like the HTC idea of bringing to us an UMPC (Ultra-mobile computer) which has 2 processors and 2 operating systems working independently on board.

Is the UMPC form factor market ready to take-off soon ?
Is the double O/S option chosen by HTC the winning one ?

A recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The UMD worldwide forecast is for more than 8 million units in 2011.
• 2008-2010 will be key years for the development of a market inflection point of anytime/anywhere wireless connectivity that is necessary for widespread adoption of the UMD paradigm.

Some specifications: 

• Size: 19 x 13.5 x 3cm
• Weight: 0.9 kg 0.791 kg
• 7 inches display
• Resolution : 800×480 – 1024×600
• Operating Systems : Windows Mobile 6 & Windows Vista Business
• CPU's : Qualcomm 400 MHz for WM6 & Dual Core 800 MHz Intel A110 for Vista
• 7 days battery capacity running on WM6 only. 3 hours on Windows Vista
• Ram Memory : 1 GB
• Hard Drive : 40 GB
• Communication : WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0,
• Phone data : Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE – Tri-Band UMTS/HSPDA
• 1.3 MB built-in camera
• 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 VGA port
• 1 Finger print reader
• 1 SD Card reader
• Slide out Tilt display
• Price tag : 1200 euros (?)
• Availability : Q3 2007

The very interesting concept is the possibility to switch from one environment (e.g WM6) to the second one (Vista Business) and back in just the press of a button. Input can be done either using the QWERTY keyboard or the hand-witting recognition system.

Streaming video is available on Gottatobemobile.com or there is a 250 MB video available for download here.

Shift on HTC website  

Tags: 2007, 2008, 24, 802.11, arc, ATT, availability, blog, camera, capacity, card, card reader, ces, communication, computer, connectivity, development, forecast, gsm, htc, HTC shift, ia, im, IT World, keyboard, King, lan, memory, MIT, mobile, Mobile Communications, nomadcom.net, nyt, pda, phone, press, reader, resolution, search, shift, space, Telecommunications, ultra-mobile, UMPC, usb, video, vista, web, website, wifi, windows, windows mobile 6, windows vista, wireless, WM6, world, worldwide, wp, www

There were in May 2007 284 millions Internet users in Asia, according comScore study, who are online an average of 20.2 hours and view 2171 pages per month while the worldwide average is 25.2 hours and 2519 pages.

Asia region represents the third of the Worldwide Internet population. China leads with 91.5 millions users (they only represent 9% of the country's population), followed by Japan (53 million) and South Korea (26.3 million). Internet users of these 3 countries represent, all together, 60% of all Asia-Pacific Internet users.

In term of usage rate, South Korea in on the top with 65%, closely followed by Australia (62%), New Zeland (60%) and Hong Kong (59%), India is at the rear with only 3%.

If Google is the most popular web site worldwide, ComScore's study shows that in Asia Yahoo remains the prefered site in Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Meanwhile, Microsoft domains are the most visited in Australia, China, and New Zealand, with the Seoul-based NHN Corporation taking top honors in South Korea.

Source: The Register

Tags: 2007, asia, asia pacific, blog, gap, google, ia, im, internet, japan, King, lan, microsoft, nomadcom.net, online, population, sco, space, study, taiwan, term, the register, uk, USA, usage, user, web, world, worldwide, wp, www, yahoo

As advertising on Fon web pages says it :

• At home you're a "Wi-Fi King"
• Away you become a "Wi-Fi beggar" 
  (or sometime even a Wi-Fi thief)

  so, why not to

• Share some Wi-Fi at home
• and get free WiFi access wherever you find a FON Wi-Fi access point (+360'000 members worldwide)

 

 That's the concept of Fon Movimiento but you can find more details on Fon pages or Wikipedia.

Hardware requirement :  

Benefits :

• Cheap wireless AP (with an "easy to get" voucher or invitation) : 20€ with shipping included.
• You're a Linus and get free access to others FON Wi-Fi access points
• You're a Bill and get 50% of the fees, currently $3.00, charged to Aliens (non FON members) for a day pass to connect through their route.

Risks :

• Your ISP may not like it, even if on their side they sell unsecured access point. So, it's up to you.. ask your ISP if you can share your connection.. or don't !   

Installation :

• Sign On Fon.com and order your Fonera
• Once you have it, connect it to your Internet router
• From your computer connect to the open FON_AP wireless network
• Launch your browser, you're automatically transfered to fon.com pages.
• Log On, change settings of your Fonera (password, SSID, WPA Key, etc..)
• Restart the Fonera or wait 24 hours
• Connect to your newly created wireless private network (by default named "my place").
• That's it… the whole process took about 10 minutes. 

Tags: 2007, 24, 802.11, access, advertising, art, blog, ces, community, computer, connection, find, fon, fon movimiento, fonera, fonero, free, Great Ideas, ia, im, install, internet, Internet World, King, lan, launch, map, minutes, mobile, Mobile Communications, network, Nomad Tools, nomadcom.net, On The Road, Our World, password, risk, safe, share, shared, space, telecom, Telecommunications, thief, Travel, web, website, wi fi, wifi, wireless, wordwide, world, worldwide, wp, www

I don't want to be perceived as a basic anti-american person, but if the guys they interview on this video are so called "sampling frame" of the average american people, they, and we, have serious problems as they may be totally unable to understand why less and less people like them (or rather the policy conducted by their elected government and what/who is really behind).

 

I wonder how come they have so little knowledge about geography, History and above all, what's going on these days around the world. They still have plenty good news papers such the New-York Times or the Washington Post which are far better than any TV channel and in particular Fox News.

Scary no ?

Tags: 2007, anti american, armed conflicts, art, BBC, blog, clueless, Coup de Gueule, foreign affairs, foreign policy, geography, geopolitics, History, ia, ict, im, International, knowledge, lan, LED, map, nomadcom.net, nyt, Our World, post, press, problems, space, statistics, story, troubles, uk, USA, video, world, worldwide, wp, www, youtube

and for something different than guidebooks and travel agencies recommendations ?

I have found 2-3 websites that bring things differently. The first is "Sacred Sites " with a review of most worldwide places celebrating Peace & Power.

I also found on Travelintelligence hotel review site a "Before You Die" list with lots of great ideas & destinations. National Geographic is of course still very inspiring

Tags: before you die, blog, book, ces, Great Ideas, HP, im, King, lan, LG, list, nomadcom.net, power, review, space, Travel, web, website, world, worldwide, wp, www