Thuraya coverage

I was just wondering: has anyone visiting this blog been using a Thuraya phone in Australia? How is the Thuraya coverage in Australia and/or in surrounding areas? Are coastal waters covered?

Satellite phones cheaper than GSM roaming?

I’ve been looking at the sateliite phone market for some time. Both equipment costs and call costs have dropped significantly through the years. That’s no surprise you might think. True. But, I mean, they really have dropped.

Although the only truly global satellite phone provider, Iridium, is still pretty costly to use, it is not the only alternative. I visited lately the Thuraya (local satellite phone service provider) website and to my shock(!) satellite phone calling costs can be quite… reasonable.

A call from a Thuraya phone to any destination in the world costs from $1.25 to $1.49 per minute (calls to another Thuraya phone are even somewhat cheaper). What’s more – the Thuraya satellite phones can have integrated GSM capabilities, which means you can swap to SAT/GSM mode whichever you find cheaper or more practical.

Now there are some minuses to all this hype. First, the satephone itself can be pretty expensive (circa $1000 for a phone) and secondly, though the satellite phone coverage area (check link for map) is huge and covers a nice part of the world, you cannot make satellite phone calls indoors or in your car without a special external antenna.

Well, it seems the satellite phone market is becoming more interesting after a dreadful time it went through a few years ago. We’ll see where it goes from here.

RFID chips dangerous?

There has been some news that implanting RFID chips under human or animal skin can cause tumours to develop. Although this information has not yet been proven, the news already has had an impact on the business. The leading producer of RFID chips – VeriChip reported a significant drop of it’s stock from 6$ a share to 3,5$.

This is another obstacle for the RFID chip market. The technology will have to face not only an attack from those of us concerned about privacy or moral issues, but now answer an even more significant question – can the chip cause harm to it’s potential users?

So why are people afraid of technology?

Is it the time you need to put in to learn it? Is it the money you have to put into it? Or maybe is it the fear you won’t find it useful or will not be able to manage it?

Why are people scared of technology? Are they? It struck me some time ago that the problem is quite simple: most of us don’t like experimenting. We need some kind of authority – a friend, a newspaper article a review found on a website. We listen to the advice, we believe it and only then we act. We buy a new phone, a new gadget or invest in some more sophisticated technology. This is as true as it comes to the food we eat, the religion we believe, the politicians we vote for, the cars we buy.

We come to the edge, but if nobody pushes us we will never jump.

Come to the edge

‘Come to the edge’, he said.

They said, ‘We are afraid.’
‘Come to the edge’, he said.
They came.
He pushed them …
and they flew.

– Guillaume Apollinaire

It’s normal to get a bit dizzy when you look down. You’re at the edge and it’s no shame to be affraid. But you’ll never learn to fly if you’re too scared to get anywhere near. You have a marvelous opportunity to fly – you have the wings of technology. Get them. Use them. Do not be affraid.