21.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

I have a wireless network working at home… About time too. Quite a good week on the tech front. New Satellite, new wireless network and not forgetting the piece of furniture was delivered yesterday…

Shame I have to go away this weekend for work.

I guess it is almost past aperitif time. Hope not.

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18.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

Basic PC Laws

Let’s start with Nerve Central–the computer.

Law 1: For every fix that a Windows Update patches, the update will break two more things on your PC. –Darren Gladstone, PC World

Law 2: The likelihood that Windows will automatically install time-sucking critical updates is directly proportional to your need to get your PC started. –Steve Fox, PC World

Law 3: The hard drive always fails just before you were going to back it up. –Denise Paolucci, Dreamwidth Studios 

Law 4: Your data will get corrupted just before you plug in your new backup external drive. –Darren Gladstone, PC World

Law 5: Your backup plan is only as good as your last successful restore. –Michael Fisher, ElephantDrive.com via HARO

Law 6: The number of USB ports on your Mac will always be one less than you need at any given time. –Blair Hanley Frank, Macworld

Law 7: Feeling time pressure to make a computer fix quickly will cause you to take longer. –David Marshak,

Law 8: If you close the PC case with screws before testing, it won’t work; If you test before closing, it will. –Harry Liebman via HARO

Tech Support Rules

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, you’re ready to move on to Tech Support.

Law 1: Fix a computer for a friend or family member, and you’ll be tech support for life. –Danny Allen, PC World

Law 2: Build a computer for someone, and he/she owns you! –Louis Farbstein, via PC World’s Facebook page

Law 3: Recommend a product that you’ve used with no problems, and the friend/family member who buys it will immediately descend into RMA [product return] hell. –Scott Keck, via PC World’s Facebook page

Law 4: Show any handy IT skills at work, and your company’s IT department will start referring difficult coworkers to you. –Lars Jacobsen, via PC World’s Facebook page

Law 5: If it’s broken and you call tech support, it will fix itself while you’re on hold. –Brenda Christensen, Public Relations, Servoy.com via HARO

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18.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

It looks like I cannot upload pics from my phone into Facebook and that all my mobile posts from this week did not go through. I did not have any problems last week in Taiwan, but I am back in China of course…

Anyway it has been a busy week at work. Took the time last Friday to look around for things to do in the local paper of course…

Went and bought my first bit if furniture on Saturday… In fact it should be delivered the day after tomorrow. Looking forward to that…

Food shopping in the local wet market (basically right across the street) is nice and cheap…

Of course a day is not complete without a stop in Nova for a refreshing beer and watch the world go by…

Later in the evening a couple of drinks and a bite to eat at the Fat Olive…

Sunday morning, golf practise. It has been a long time. Got myself some golf shoes and a blister…

Lunch with friends and back to Nova for coffee and nice afternoon with maybe 1 too many bottle of Rose…

Everything good comes to an end. Back to the office on Monday…

I still enjoy that walk even it has been rather wet. Sometimes had to wait in the evening in the office till it stopped raining…

Anyway it was fine when I left home this morning…

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13.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

Of course you have in the past few weeks… in Shanghai I mean.

What you have is a DreamBox ( not the Crystal Box or Homecast Decoders from Dream TV ) with an internet connection to access the pay card server this system is hooked up to. Basically you have your dish to get the signals. Your ADSL connection is supposed to hookup to a remote card sharing service that give your acces for viewing.

If the provider you uses has a server problem you get cut off. Same if your internet has a problem. Many agents are setup then they dont provide after sales customer service.

Dream TV channels went to a new encryption system to cut off access to these type of decoders. ICABLE HK satellite have advised they will soon follow suit but when?
Options… you can buy the legit Dream TV decoder with an encryption card thats costs currently from rmb2450 delivered to your home from many of the different satellite agents. A genuine ICABLE decoder with 12 months subscription will cost around rmb5000 - rmb 6000 from various agents so it pays to shop around.

If you can install a larger 2.4m dish for the DSTV Suersports or Thai satellite those systems with pay cards will cost around rmb10000 - 12000 with a 12 month subscription. Perhaps more depends on each agent. Large dishes are impossible for most.

There are a few companies offering IPTV services. Again you can ask around. Although pirate systems sound good and have a cheap price, yours is the type of system that gives everybody a headache as you end up spending money on a service that does not work more often than not.

So you can look for a better service provider to use your current DM on ( except it wont now run Dream TV ) and pay cheap prices or spend more money on receivers that have paid subscription cards at a higher cost than pirated systems.

Or you can give up on satellite TV altogether and look for bit torrent sites or free sports streaming sites that are mentioned on many of these threads.

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11.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

For a change, I managed to have a day off to visit a few places. Ok it was Sunday.

101 is a must … Was there before but the first time in daylight.

Was there so early that the shopping mall at the bottom of the tower was still closed,,,

Took the opportunity to visit a few more places…

Managed to go through the change of guards…

O was quite impressed with these bicycle for hire. Quite a clever system.

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2.8.2009 von Jean Jacques.

Had a nice dinner at Mr&Mrs Bund restaurant

Followed by a couple of good Gin and Tonics in the Bar Rouge. Still think this is the best view of the Bund from there.

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