fjef
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Posts posted by fjef
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I am thinking of driving my van to Hakuba but would like to leave Friday afternoon - I'm in Chiba so I could pick up in Tokyo if anyone is looking for a ride. Anyone else thinking of going? Its a 7 seater so I have lots of room.
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sorry - suffering from jet lag after 14 hour flight from Toronto...the Skype USB phones work as advertised...my brother-in-law has one connected to his windows box. Any problems he has are windows related - the phone works great.
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Skype works - and is getting better over time. I use it regularly for family contact between Canada and Japan and have called many other countries from my Mac to Skype on other computers and from my Mac to land lines and keitais. Occasionally there are drop outs - but lately quality seems much better - most of my overseas and long distance calls have been made over Skype in the last year for a total cost of 10 euros - I have saved a bundle - I just renewed...
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I've been driving a Prius for almost a year now and average about 24kms/litre with mostly rural driving and highway commutes to Tokyo. Mine is a 2001 - the newer model that Wiggles is driving should do much better under similar driving conditions and with similar driving technique...
I'll never buy a 'normal' car again - a 'normal' car should not have the engine running when its not being used! And the best part is knowing you have only 1 tenth the emmissions of a 'normal' car...
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There are 2 ways to connect wirelessly in Japan - one by tapping into a wireless base station that might be located in a Starbucks or someones home using a wireless LAN card in your laptop. The other is connecting directly to the internet via a wireless card that uses a mobile phone network. These are very different cards.
I know there are wireless base stations that I have connected to in Hakuba - many of the small hotels and pensions have open networks and I drove around until I found one. (One near snowbeds and one near the 7-11 if I remember correctly)
If you don't want to drive around, can't find an open network and you need somewhat reliable access, you will need an Air-H card (http://www.willcom-inc.com/en/). I have used mine in Hakuba with mostly good results but there are some places on the outskirts of the town and on the mountain where the signal (its a PHS system) is weak or non-existant. 25 hours a month is about 5,000 yen and unlimited is about 8,000 yen/month. The card itself can be had for free (Akihabara and discount shops if you contract with them) or runs about 10,000 yen. I usually get a signal of 64k or less so its best for email and basic stuff...
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I still can't find Bare Naked Ladies - but I'm still looking...
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U2, Zombies, Men in Black, Twisted Sister, Hole....
Whats the count now?
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In Tokyo, National Azabu and Kinokuniya grocery stores stock turkeys - but they aint cheap...
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buy her some really sexy lingerie - the last time I did that for a girlfriend, she got well upset...
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The easiest way to use 2 ipods on one pc is to set up 2 user accounts on the pc. Not difficult to do if you are using OS Xor XP...
More info here:
http://digitalliving.cnet.co.uk/insidersecrets/0,39030287,39188568,00.htm
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We have an original 5 gig iPod, a 3rd gen 20 gig iPod and an iPod shuffle in our family- all in working order and even the original still has over 3 hours of battery life left (down from the original 8?) and its about 4 years old...wonder why we've been so lucky?
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From www.skype.com:
You can get up to 10 SkypeIn numbers total from United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Poland and Sweden. We’re continuously working on having numbers available in many more countries around the world.
As soon as they add Canada, I'm SkypeIn in...
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it may be time to open a hugging school...no degrees required...
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I've been wireless for about 5 years - wife and kids love it too- no problems and I would never go back...
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Make sure you select smart playlist - as said before, it will only take a few minutes to organize your albums....
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We lived across the street from a Shimioshikai (one of the top Yakuza groups) kingpin for several years in Tokyo - I wish I had taken some video then but I chickened out...
Anyway - chimpera are yakuza wannabes - they have the look and the talk but are not official members of the club. They often work for real yakuza and pay dues (or get their girlfriends to) or perform other duties hoping to be promoted to real yakuza status.
Then there are chimpera wannabes...
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Microsoft isn't quite so elegent - Word will run fine in either Japanese or English mode and you can type in either languages but the Word menus will remain in either Japanese or English. But Pages, Apples Word Processor that opens and saves to Word format will switch completely to either language.Quote:Scuse the ignorance but does that mean that everything changes language - so if you installed Japanese Word when the OS was running in Japanese then switched to English mode then even the Word menus, help files and stuff would be in English?
Also, can you still type in Japanese when you run it in English mode?
I read somewhere else that Creative Suite is language specific even on OS X. Does that mean you can only run Illustrator in the language it was installed in?
Cheers
[/QB]
Adobe is the same -Illustrator will run on OS X in English or Japanese but the menus will be in the whatever language you bought it. -
But a browser is a browser - hotmail and yahoo all look and work the same on both platforms...Quote:Originally posted by Ocean11:
Personally I'd find it easier to complete a familiar task on an Arabic Windows machine than an English Mac (although I grant that being able to switch between languages on the fly is a wonderful thing that I'd love to see in Windows...) -
OS 8 is unlikely to attract any of the very few viruses that were around then - but there are still applications updated to protect it:
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English software will work fine on Japanese windows - but the OS itself remains Japanese and can easily confuse people who are not used to dealing with it. OS X changes the language of the OS, applications, menus, system preferences - everything - so there is no confusion. Its perfect far a multilingual tourist setting.Quote:Originally posted by Ocean11:
You can load English language software on any Japanese Windows OS, and it works perfectly.
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The Performa is upgradable with a Sonnet L2 upgrade card and capable of running OS X but I would not suggest putting any money in that machine. It is still useful with an older OS but lacks many of the advantages of OS X.Quote:Originally posted by gamera:
Oh?? Oh????
fjef - is that a PowerMac? My Mac is a Performa5440 with PowerPC603e - 8 years old. I thought that was too old to use. Do you think it could work like your 10 years old one? I don't think we can replace the processor into new one like PowerPC G5 because it's not a PowerMac but a Performa. I just need a computer for customers use for browsing/emailing. I don't think they would do some business paper work on it because our customers are usually not on business when they stay in my place with us.
It is possible to pick up a used iMac with a G3 400 or faster processor that will run OS X Panther for about 20,000 yen or less. Panther is a fantasic multi-lingual OS that is perfect for a hotel or guest house (I have set up several in gaijin houses in Tokyo for the owners). No maintenance needed and the system (and the built-in applications) can be easily switched from English to Japanese (or French, Chinese, Russian etc) without rebooting. No spyware, adware or viruses either. It would save you and your guests a lot of windows headaches!
I also set one up (with a wireless router) in Hakuba last winter where we stayed because I had to stay in touch with my office/clients while we were on vacation for a week - I didn't know about your place then - I should have stayed at your place! -
OS X on the Mac has been around for years - all you need to do is select a language and the OS and applications all magically change to that language. No need for dual boot systems. You don't even need to reboot. I don't know why anyone would choose to use Windows in a multilingual environment...
Gamera - I run a training center in Chiba with many different groups - from business and academic customers to surfers. We have an old Mac (10 years old with and upgrade card) running OS X 24/7 and in the last 3 years, it has catered to international groups using Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Arabic
and many more languages with no virus/spyware/adware problems and no maintenance or support problems. It also is the main party machine with iTunes connected to a sound system. No problems, no crashes, no maintenance and it just works...
Highly recommended for the hospitality industry - next time I am in Hakuba, I'll set you up...
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The onboard computer estimated 23.7 kms/litre - which may not be 100% accurate - but close.Quote:Originally posted by soubriquet:
So what's the consumption?
In the US last weekend, a Prius was driven non-stop on streets near Philidelphia until it went through a tank. Final (US) numbers: 1397 miles! 109.328 MPG! 12.78 gallons.
The story is here: http://www.priuschat.com/forums/1-vt10705.html?postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0
SJ Hakuba party 28th Sat
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
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my PMing function seems to be turned off - do I need to learn a secret handshake?
Last year I figured out that my Air-H connection works in most of the Hakuba area - maybe I should bring a video camera and web cast the festivities for those stuck at home?