Vinko’s Thoughts On…

If you’re going to attend one of the 2008 Olympic event venue (in Beijing, assuming this also applies to venues in Hong Kong and Qingdao), be sure you are familiar with all the regulations that Beijing Olympic Committee has issued to the public.

You can see these regulations below:

Restricted articles include hard-packed drink and food; fragile articles; musical instruments; carry-on bags, suitcases and handbags which are too big to carry to the seats; flags of countries and regions not participating either in the Beijing Olympic Games or Paralympic Games and other flags over two meters in length or over one meter in width; flag poles of over one meter in length; banners, leaflets, or posters; unauthorized professional videotaping equipments; knives, bats, long-handle umbrellas, long poles, sharp-ended stands for cameras and video cameras, and other objects that may cause harm and injury to people; animals (with the exception of guide dogs); vehicles (except for strollers and wheelchairs); unauthorized walky-talkies, loudspeakers, radios, laser devices or wireless devices that interfere with the electronic signals of the Olympic Games.

The rule deemed the following behavior as inappropriate: smoking at a non-smoking area; crossing over the guardrail; using umbrellas or standing up for a long period of time in the seating area, thus obstructing the field of vision of other spectators; and flash photography.

The rule banned weapons and equipment including guns, ammunition, crossbows, and daggers; fireworks, firecrackers and other flammable materials; corrosive chemicals and radioactive materials.

There was a report last night that the iPhone 3G sold by the carrier, Three, in Hong Kong is unlocked; meaning it is not tied to a specific carrier.

This news was a bit hard to believe as news from other countries like US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, the iPhone 3G sold there are all locked to the respective mobile carriers.

Therefor, if you do not want to stick with Three’s service you now have a choice, but the cheapest choice is:

HKD4680.00 + HKD188 x 24 months + MTR Fee (HKD12 x 24) = HKD9480.00 - HKD1742 = HKD7738 (including the rebate you will receive over 2 years)

Now I have first hand confirmation from a friend who purchased one of these iPhone 3G at Three HK. He was able to put in a PCCW SIM card while having full access to all functionalities of the phone including EDGE and GPRS functions.

Is this really worth it. I say not, especially if you already have an iPhone (1st generation). Wait for the other carriers in Hong Kong; namely PCCW and/or Smartone-Vodafone receive the rights to sell the iPhone 3G.

This was a nice renovation project by Fritz Haeg for a Spanish-style duplex in Los Angeles owned by David Bernardi.

With the announcement of the iPhone 3G by Apple on Monday (Tuesday HK time), Apple apparently change its business model with the carriers around the world. I say apparent because Apple has been some what vague about the details.

AT&T has said that customers will be able to upgrade their existing Apple iPhone to the new Apple iPhone 3G without incurring any penalties (fees) for breaking their existing contracts, but they will have to start a new 2-years contract.

AT&T reports that the new Apple iPhone 3G is only available at Apple Store and AT&T outlets. Most importantly, they also state that these new iPhones will have to be activated on the spot on the AT&T network with a sign 2-years contract.

Apple’s mobile carrier partner in United Kingdom, O2 said that they will be giving away the iPhone 3G on their high-end tariff plans, as described in their iPhone 3G Service Information.

As of this writing there are still no information from Hong Kong’s “3″ on tariff plans available for the Apple iPhone 3G. I suppose it will be something similar to what AT&T and O2 had announced.

I will be checking often to see if I can share this information here before July 11th.

Today the differences in plastic types, we encounter every day, were brought to my attention.

      


Have you seen these symbols above? More details can be found on the Wikipedia page on plastics.

The above are the symbols devised by the Society of the Plastics Industry to mark plastic items we use for recycling purpose. As a consumer you can tell from the symbols whether a piece of plastic is recyclable or not.

So next time before you place that piece of plastic in the recycling bin you should check for these symbols.

Today there was a report that a staff of the Hong Kong Immigration department accidentally allowed a highly sensitive confidential document to be uploaded onto the P2P network, Foxy. Reportedly, the documented uploaded to the P2P network is a document that contains personal information of individuals who were refused entry into Hong Kong, including the reasons and factors that lead to Hong Kong Immigration department to make such ruling.

It is also reported that the reason this staff of the Hong Kong Immigration took this document home onto his computer, is because he is a new staff and wanted to take some cases home to study the associate procedures.

The Hong Kong Immigration claims that they had since removed this confidential document from the staff’s computer and from the Foxy P2P network. They also claim that the said document can no longer be found on the Internet.

As many of you know, anything uploaded to the Internet will most likely be on the Net forever. Depending on the desirability of the file it could spread like wild fire on the Net. Allegedly this file was named “Private xxxxxx.doc”, which is quite attractive to common users of P2P networks.

One thing going for the Hong Kong Immigration department, is that the Foxy P2P network is popular among Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China citizens. Therefore, even a file with the word “Private” on it, may not draw too much attention among these users.

What I don’t understand is how can something like this happen in a city like Hong Kong. In most cases, Hong Kong is a modern cosmopolitan financial hub. Unlike its homeland, China, does have human rights, free of speech, free press, privacy policies, etc.

The privacy polices in Hong Kong is very lacking. If something is not done soon there may be more cases of confidential information leaked in wild or worst, more prevalent identify thefts.

I found out today, that Privacy laws in Hong Kong is extremely deficient. Although, there are laws to protect personal privacy of every citizens of Hong Kong. There are no laws to hold employees of institutions that manage and handle individual private data/information.

Without this accountability resulted in situations like the one today with the staff of the Hong Kong Immigration department. It is only a few days ago another case of personal data was leaked at the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. Similar case also happened with the Police department.

It is not that Hong Kong government offices are that much more vulnerable than most western countries/cities. There are similar cases in the United States and United Kingdom, both involved respective law enforcement departments.

So what so different in Hong Kong, I believe is the lack of accountability for the front-line handlers of these personal data of individuals. I do believe that it is not the lack of education or awareness of these front-line handlers. These same individuals if it comes to their own personal data, I believe they would be most diligent.

I think it is time for Hong Kong government to revamp the privacy laws, to ensure all parties in the chain-of-handlers are held accountable for the protection of this information they are appointed to handle.

I am not the superstitious type, but if someone informs me I will be conscientious of it. Today someone sent me the following chart.



It shows the most auspicious day to start the first work day for the new Lunar New Year 2008 (Year of the Rat).Note that you must first figure out which Chinese zodiac sign you are.