I'm back! What did I miss?

I'm finally back from my eagerly awaited trip to Southeast Asia and boy did I have a good time! It was mainly meant to be a leisurely vacation and it turned out great. I made it back to the US just in time for Super Bowl XLV. I'm happy the Packers beat the Steelers, although it really didn't mean much to me (my 49ers... maybe next year?).

My vacation was designed to get away from my daily routine. I didn't get on the internet a lot, except to check my mail and pay my bills. So I must have missed a lot of tech over the last month.

Internet Connections at Overseas Airports

My trip to Asia is in full swing and it's gone on well so far. This is my first blog entry from outside the United States. I have traveled to Seoul, South Korea already and had a very good 'airport experience' there. After snooping around for some decent food to eat, I ran into a Subway and had my fill. Then I sat down to checkout my options for connecting to the inter-webs.

There were a lot of open wireless connections available but I decided to stay away from those. I found one that was secure and connected to it with a login page and passkey. It seemed like being the best one to use. The next thing I did was go to www.speedtest.net to check the speed of the connection. I was wowed! Take a look...

2011: A Year for Tablets

As each December day passes by and we near the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 (January 6-9), one thing becomes clearer. 2011 is going to be a year for tablets. Apple set the benchmark earlier this year with the extremely successful iPad and competitors are often found trying to keep up with the technology. It's only a matter of time before we see tablets that truly compete with the versatility, ease-of-use and features that the iPad promises. And then there will be the iPad 2!

NiZn Rechargeable Batteries: Eco-Friendly Technology

The Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Mouse are very good devices but they consume battery power like there's no tomorrow. There is no doubt that using rechargeable batteries is the way to go as it is less expensive than using alkaline batteries and more 'green'. I came across these new Nickel Zinc rechargeable AA size batteries on Amazon and they promise to be even greener than regular rechargeable NiMH ones.

The Misery that's the 'Free Hotel Wi-Fi'

I'm back from my weekend trip to LA and it was a very picturesque drive back and forth. I had my MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone 4 with me along the way. The Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi gave me internet connectivity on the wi-fi only iPad. It was the first time I've really used the Mi-Fi since getting it last week and I was pleasantly surprised. In most instances it worked better and had faster speeds than the 'Free wi-fi' in the hotels I stayed at. Which brings me to the main point of this post.

Virgin Mobile Broadband MiFi: Initial Thoughts

The last time I went on a road trip was in August this year. Through Northern California and up the Oregon Coast to Washington State. It was a fun 10-day trip. Before setting out I had contemplated getting a MiFi device to be able to connect to the internet on my Wi-Fi only iPad while on the road. The thought of activating AT&T's iPhone 4 Tethering service had also crossed my mind but the fact that I would lose my unlimited data plan for doing so had crushed those plans. Back in August I decided to wait till the holiday season to get a mobile broadband device and to be honest it was a pretty good decision because the road trip was fun as there was lots to see along the way and the motels/hotels we stayed at had decent internet services. So I hardly missed being able to get online at the time.

Now, this coming weekend I have a trip planned to Los Angeles

White iPhone 4 and the New iPad 2

The speculations keep flowing! 9to5mac now reports that Apple has not killed the possibility of a white iPhone 4 and in fact it is very much coming by 'late spring 2011'. I'm sure this is good news for all those who felt let down when Apple announced that the white iPhone was being pushed back indefinitely.