OLPC

Amazon will soon be selling the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) in the EMEA territories - this should include the UK.  The OLPC, from what I've seen of it (I'm probably one of the lucky few in the UK that have seen one in the flesh!) is a fantastic machine.  The design and the thought that went behind it are ground-breaking and inspirational.  Fortunately it's been designed for things such drops on the ground and should withstand a lot before breaking!

The deal, as with the one in the US, requires the customer to pay for two of the laptops and they receive one.  Basically customers donate one to a child in a developing nation and get one for themselves.  I'm often sceptical as to where charity money goes.  However, this, in my opinion, is a great idea that if I had the money I'd be more than happy to dig deep!

If only the world had more people like Nicholas Negroponte and less like Andrew Bud.  One can dream...  Negroponte wants to help disadvantaged children, whereas Bud helps companies dis-advantage children.

Now to the Dell Mini (here as well) and Vodafone's exclusive deal with Dell for the UK.  It looks nice, specs don't seem too bad (I've only had a quick skim though) and it has HSDPA built-in!  'Bout time we started seeing that.  Hopefully having it built in won't become a problem down the line (diallers, premium SMS scams etc).  Amongst other things, I wish my Eee had HSDPA in it.  I think I'd like getting my super 3G/3.5G on without a huge dongle sticking out.

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This is 'work in progress' and I'm still not 100% sure this actually works - so far it seems to but anyhoo...

I have lots of problems with streaming audio via the internet connection on my phone (an N95 8GB) and the loaner from WOM World (Nokia 6220 Classic).  I have no idea how HSDPA (aka 3.5G) works, but for some reason I had a hunch that turning it off may improve matters.  I did so last night (on the 6220) and my streaming problems seem to have gone away.

I even managed to stream two radio stations at the same time and neither dropped the connection in the 10 minutes I had them going.

Living really close to an HSDPA enable 3 UK mast, it would seem counterintuitive to turn HSDPA off - but if it works, it works!

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Got one of these...?

Keepin' it real: Old skool Eee PC

Running with this little (or not so little) guy...?

Tux the penguin

And want one of these to work...?

Mobile Broadband USB modem

Make sure you do your homework as not all dongles (as the mobile modems are often known as) are created equal.  The one above won't work with my Eee PC unless I follow some steps found on a blog that are beyond my technical competence.  Eee PC's and other similar cheap(ish) super small notebooks are increasingly coming with a choice of Linux rather than, or as well as, Windows.  Unfortunately most peripherals are designed mainly, or sometimes solely, for Windows.

Eee's and 3G mobile broadband should be a match made in heaven.  In theory, one perfectly compliments the other.  The only sticking point is out-of-the-box compatibility.  Some of these dongles do work with ease - you plug them in, go through a short wizard and wham, bam, thank you ma'am, you're in business.  But other dongles don't play nice.

The trouble is not knowing which ones work and which ones don't when purchasing one.  3 UK's website doesn't differentiate between the different modems they provide.  And, though I've yet to try, I doubt the staff in the High St mobile or PC stores would know either (actually I'd put money on no one knowing in my local PC World yet pretending they do!)

It makes you wonder how many of these get returned to the shops because the user with an Eee (remember those e's stand for easy this, that and the other) couldn't get them to work and has given up with frustration.  I can also imagine some poor soul ringing up 333's tech support guys in Mumbai and being told to take the battery out! ;o)

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UK mobile operator 3 are looking at spreading the HSDPA (3.5G) love all around your home with a special wireless router.  I like this idea, I like this idea a lot.  Right now I'm on 3's mobile broadband in an abode that doesn't have ADSL or cable.  Only the laptop I'm typing this on can use the connection and that is a bit of a pain.  I've tried setting up an ad-hoc network using the Windows' Vista networking wizard and despite connecting, there's no connection (ie the other devices see this laptop but can't use its connection).

A company called DOVADO advertise a mobile broadband router here and it even supports the E169G that 3mobilebuzz supplied me with.  That's kinda handy as the E169G can't be used on my Eee PC without a lot of hoops to be jumped through (more than this blogger thinks he can manage!)

See also: UK Gadgeteer and Electricpig

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I've been using 3's Mobile Broadband extensively since Saturday.  As a trialist I can use it as much as I want, it's truly unlimited!  In the real world, 3 offer packages of 1GB, 3GB and 7GB (Lite, Plus and Max respectively) - unlike their handset-only offerings such as X-Series, there isn't the option of unlimited ("fair use" or otherwise).

I've taken advantage of the unlimited-ness to download a whole bunch of videos using Miro.  So much so, that I'd have easily used up all of the 'Plus' allowance in one day!  Not something I'd recommend paying customers do.

The fact that I can so easily download that much over the mobile network in a matter of hours is kind of amazing considering what speeds were like just a couple of years ago.  Even though I can't get the the 2.8 Mbps speed that the service goes up to in Turbo coverage areas, I'm still getting speeds comparable to what a BT landline offers in this area.  And as this neighbourhood doesn't have cable, it's a welcome choice over ADSL.

As I had Miro downloading videos constantly and consistantly for a couple of hours, I was able to see where best to site the laptop and sit, myself.  The garden turned out to be the best place - but it didn't improve speeds as much as you'd imagine.  Taking the USB modem out of the port, Blu-Tacking ('Blu-Hack') it to the top of the laptops screen and connecting it back up via the supplied USB extension cable - is by far the easiest and most effective way to boost your broadband.  This worked better than the 'garden' method on it's own.  Even the 'upstairs room facing 3's nearest mast' method (which incidently is very, very near*) isn't good enough on it's own.

Blu-Hack up close

Googling without me dongle in

Faster web - an elegant solution

Dongle? Put 'em high

*Thanks to OFCOM's Sitefinder (it's useful but rubbishly implemented!)

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Currently trying to upload a quicktime video that's a tad under 50 meg to Vox.  It's taking a while, and I'm in a HSDPA area (in the garden, with me dongle high up in the air and sitting within spitting distance of the network's nearest mast)!

The interesting thing is how much the upload speed affects the download speeds.  I'm currently browsing whilst typing this (I like to multitask and have a wandering mind!) and it's at a complete and utter snail's pace!  It's barely usable.

To be fair, most people, most of the time, don't want to send 50 megs out to the interweb via a mobile connection.  I'm not most people though and I'm giving this mobile broadband a thorough going over!

<Here I'd put a picture if my connection was faster>

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Looks like a lot of activity today over at the ALL NEW 3mobilebuzz.  It's not just the 3Skypephone any more.  So, what are they now focusing on?  Read the title!! Geez...

Yes, they're taking a look at 3's mobile broadband offering and handing out USB "3.5G" dongles left, right and center*!  Where's my one chaps?  Oh wait, I no longer have a laptop!  D'oh!  Having said that my nephew is going into hospital on Monday and he not only has a laptop, he's going to a hospital that has a very sensible policy regarding wireless devices (they allow them to be used!)  So, what do you say guys?  Want to cure a ten-year-old (and his uncle) of boredom?  He's a blogger too!

Failing that we'll be using a Skypephone for tethered access at slightly less than 3.5G

*sorry, couldn't resist, there's more North Americans reading this blog than Brits at the moment!

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This is something that seemed a pretty obvious pairing - an ultraportable laptop and an attractive 3G data plan (and HSDPA modem) bundled together.  SFR appears to be the first operator off the blocks to offer such a deal.

Click on one of these for more detail: EeeUser.com and Reg Hardware

Of course in the UK the likes of Carphone Warehouse are throwing in "free" laptops with some mobile broadband packages but these are full size laptops, bulky and awkward to carry.  What's really needed is for the likes of Three to get onboard and offer Eee's for free or in special bundles.  The first network could land an exclusive deal and could make themselves really stand out from the other four (yeah, I don't count Virgin Mobile as a network!)

If the posts on the biggest forum devoted to the Eee are anything to go by it would appear that there's huge demand for 3G connection and the network that crops up most often is... Three.

BTW, I'd love to try out that little HSDPA 'pebble' and really check out mobile internet at proper broadband speeds (my Nokia N73 really doesn't cut it!)

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Practically all laptops these days have wireless LAN (aka WiFi) built-in as standard.  It makes sense as an ever increasingly amount of households have WiFi at home and hotspots are popping as quickly as new Starbucks (which is, incidentally, where you'll see a lot of laptops using WiFi...)

WiFi is good when you're stationary but isn't so great when you're not.  When out and about it can be a pain trying to find a hotspot you can use and then of course, there's often the rigmarole of connecting to  a hotspot if you're fortunate enough to find one.  That's where 3G comes to the rescue...

On the M1 motorway yesterday I was able to stay connected to the internet at 384kbps (in reality, actually a bit more like 350kbps) for over an hour without losing connection.  I was able to use my laptop as if I were at home or in a hotspot.  You just can't do this with WiFi.

I was using an Nokia N73 tethered to an Eee PC and using 3's 3G network.  Faster speeds are probably possible with an HSDPA handset/modem - although I'm not sure of the coverage on that part of that motorway.  With data plans getting cheaper and coverage increasing all the time, 3G/3.5G seems to make more sense than WiFi when out of the house.

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