Jonny Foreigner

4,000 Hmong "Voluntarily" Evicted From Thailand

2009-12-30T12:20:00.002+07:00

Monday saw Thailand send more than 4,000 Hmong refugees to Lao with soldiers in riot gear escorting the convey over the Mekong river where the two countries boarder.

Many will ask the question why these people are being sent back to a land which they fled in fear of the country's communist regime since it came to power in the 1970s. The US Goverment has been particular vocal on the subject of Hmong repatriation with the State Department quoted in the NY Times:
“We deeply regret this serious violation of the international humanitarian principles that Thailand has long been known for championing. The United States strongly urges Thai authorities to suspend this operation.”
Most shocking is Prime Minister Abhisit's declaration that the Hmong have left Thailand "voluntarily":

The Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said yesterday the repatriations were voluntary and were carried out without incident or violence.

[Via New Mandala]

Cell phone lines out of the camp where the refugees were held were jammed while journalists, human rights workers and UN officials were forbidden from being 12km from the camp.

Sadly this is the latest in a long line of incidents which reflect the Thai government's heavy handed policy of dealing with refugee and political asylum seekers in the region. Just last year Thailand was heavily criticised for sending 1,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar out to see on boats, which subsequently caused the death of many of the group.

Tiger and Santa

2009-12-22T14:40:00.003+07:00

- What's the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods?

- Santa knows to stop at three hoes.

Ouch - sorry Tiger, I couldn't resist.

[Image via wetfdstamp on Twitter]

Of course Tiger is half Thai (mother) which justifies me putting this gag here.

Anyone got any others?

Google Friend Disconnect

2009-12-17T14:56:00.004+07:00

Apologies in advance fellow bloggers.

If I am registered as following your blog via Google Friend Connect I will now be unsubscribing.

This is not reflect on you, well most of you, but GFC has run its course with me. I subscribe to most blogs in an RSS readers and am cutting the wastage.

As for my own GFC app, on the left hand side, I'm yet to decide.

Pork penang curry

2009-12-14T01:24:00.005+07:00

แกงแพนงหมู or "gaeng penang moo"

Goal of the season - Manny Figueroa, Wigan

2009-12-13T00:33:00.005+07:00

Wigan Athletico's Honduran international Maynor Figueroa has been wanted by his old boss Steve Bruce for a while. The full back's price tag and media profile are likely to rise a few notches after this wonder strike against Stoke this weekend.

Brilliant stuff.

Is anyone else interested in a B-side collection of people messing these up?

Thailand's Top Websites

2009-12-14T14:43:00.002+07:00

UPDATE - whoops, my mistake, didn't mean this post to end up here.

Is entry from my early Posterous experimenting over here, where it looks a lot smarter and easier on the eye.

Top Sites in Thailand

The top 100 sites in Thailand.

The sites in the top sites lists are ordered by their 1 month alexa traffic rank.

The 1 month rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and pageviews over the past month. The site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1.

กูเกิลประเทศไทย
google.co.th

Google.co.th
Windows Live
live.com

Search engine from Microsoft.
Google
google.com

Enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include PageRank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. The company's focus is developing search technology.
hi5
hi5.com

One of the world's largest social networks
Facebook
facebook.com

A social utility that connects people, to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos.
YouTube
youtube.com

YouTube is a way to get your videos to the people who matter to you. Upload, tag and share your videos worldwide!
สนุกดอทคอม
sanook.com

หนึ่งในเว็บท่าที่มีผู้เข้าชมสูงสุดของไทย
Microsoft Network (MSN)
msn.com

Dialup access and content provider.
พันทิปดอทคอม
pantip.com

เว็บชุมชนที่ใหญ่ที่สุดในประเทศไทย แบ่งหมวดหมู่ชุมชนหลากหลาย นับตั้งแต่เรื่องทั่วไป จนถึงเรื่องเฉพาะทาง
Yahoo!
yahoo.com

Personalized content and search options. Chatrooms, free e-mail, clubs, and pager.
Blogger.com
blogger.com

Free, automated weblog publishing tool that sends updates to a site via FTP.
เอ็มไทย
mthai.com

จุดนัดพบชาวไซเบอร์สเปซหนุ่มหล่อสาวสวยทั่วเมืองไทยมีทุกสิ่งที่เลือกสรรเพื่อคุณ
กระปุก
kapook.com

ข่าวเด่นประจำวัน, กระทู้, ฟังเพลงออนไลน์, นิตยสารออนไลน์กะปุ๊กลุ๊ค และรวมลิงค์
Dek-D.com
dek-d.com

::> Dek-D.com :มหานครวัยรุ่นออนไลน์ : เวบไซต์แหล่งพบปะ รวบตัวของวัยรุ่นอันดับ 1 ของประเทศไทย สำหรับระดับมัธยมฯและมหาวิทยาลัย
MediaFire
mediafire.com

MediaFire is the simplest way for businesses, professionals, and individuals to host files and share them with others.
exteen
exteen.com

ให้บริการพื้นที่พร้อมเครื่องมือในการทำบล๊อก
ผู้จัดการออนไลน์
manager.co.th

เสนอข่าวการเมือง เศรษฐกิจ การตลาด การอุตสาหกรรม ข่าวภูมิภาค และบันเทิง
4shared
4shared.com

A simple and easy-to-use service offering free online files storage and sharing accessible worldwide.
Wikipedia
wikipedia.org

An online collaborative encyclopedia.
teenee.com
teenee.com

One Stop of Thailand. Teenee.com is the top4 of website in Thailand.

Questions about Top Sites? Visit the Forums.

via alexa.com

Google dominates the Thai webspace with its local search engine (co.th) sitting top of the pile while the main Google search page (.com) takes third place. Microsoft also enjoys a strong presence in Thailand with its Windows Live portal separating the Google's sites in second place, while MSN sits eighth on the list.

Interestingly third placed Hi5 remains Thailand most visited social networking site one place ahead of Facebook. Given the enormous surge of Facebook users in Thailand this year (user numbers rose 588%, to 1,160,980, between January and September) it appears to be a case of when not if Facebook topples incumbent leader Hi5.

YouTube is the highest place video site in sixth place while dedicate Thai sites Sanook and Pantip, both of which run popular forums, occupy seventh and ninth place respectively.

Also ran search engine Yahoo rounds off the top ten list while notable websites further down the order include blogging platforms Blogger (11th) and Wordpress (28th) and Live Journal (96th), search engine Bing (59th), news site Manager (17th), Thai blogging platform Bloggang (22nd), Amazon (.com) (27th), Flickr (69th) and CNET (.com) (96th).

Twitter ranks 30th although this does not reflect its userbase in Thailand as Alexa's rank accounts for traffic to Twitter.com only ignoring those that use third party Twitter applications and services without visiting Twitter's website.

Posted via web from Loose Ends Thai'd Up

Walk around the neighbourhood

2009-12-14T00:33:00.017+07:00

Chris made a good point that I should post more pictures from life in Thailand. Guilty as charged.

With that in mind, here are a few shots from around my neighbourhood taken the daily morning walk with my little one.

Thanks to knowing some of the friendly neighbour we are allowed to go into the neighbouring private housing estate, here's the entrance.

The combination of a lot of grass/greenery with friendly neighbours makes it a great place to stretch his legs in the morning or evening.

He loves the chickens in the garden although he's yet to catch one, not for want of trying.

There are even a few well groomed peacocks strutting their stuff.

This is one of the main houses owned by a successful lawyer who is also a local politician - a handy person to know.

We stop by the Pasak River for some views and scenery.

Here's the Pasak looking East...

And West...

Back to the road we go, next stop home.

A major incident

2009-12-07T00:33:00.007+07:00

A lot of neighbours have been talking about an incident last night.

Saturday was, of course, the King of Thailand's birthday, a date which also serves as Father's Day given that the King is the father of Thailand, yet this incident seems to have stood out the highlight of the weekend.

The incident involves a foreigner (not me, by the way), a lot of alcohol, a notorious local chap and a sizeable dose of misunderstanding.

What could it be?

Late last night, a locals chap came by the house half-cut asking for The Missus - an interesting start to this story, no?

As she was already asleep with The Not So Little Monster, I was summoned instead.

I was taken to the local shop, which doubles as a pub, where, I had been told, there was a farang (foreigner in Thai) who need help but couldn't speak English.

With a matter of seconds, it was apparent this girl - who was staying with a friend in town - had taken a wrong turn and was looking for the main road. I pointed it out and off she went - well, she would have gone then but for ten minutes of heavily intoxicated local men who, having clearly taken a shine to this young, fairly attractive female, asked a load of questions about what was going on.

Locals enlightened and issue resolved, the reluctant centre of attention went off somewhat embarrassed to the main road while I returned home to find half a dozen people excitedly asking me where I'd been and what had happened.

It doesn't take much to spark excitement in a quiet Thai neighbourhood.

The Not So Little Monster

2009-12-06T23:27:00.007+07:00

Now that he can walk and talk (albeit in gibberish) it is high time to upgrade his status to Not So Little Monster.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud owner of a fourteen month toddler. It's a heck of a lot more work and worry but it's definitely worth it - plus the in-laws are incredibly supportive too.

A few pics to mark the occasion.

Android over iPhone

2009-12-04T15:58:00.002+07:00

I've never been an iPhone man. Having once owned a BlackBerry, the thought of losing the physical keyboard plus the hype and commercialisation of it all puts me off.

I'm one of those who doesn't bow down to the Almightly Apple Empire - though I do have the token iPod, of course.

Short sighted? Perhaps I am yes, but Android is much more my kind of thing.

Proof is the latest Droid ad from the US below - I love it, no Tiara wearing iPhone beauty for me please.

[via Mashable]

Heavy Twitter cloud no rain

2009-12-01T00:07:00.006+07:00

Twitter is going mad for tweet cloud, chirpy looking bubble diagrams with lots of nice words are sprouting up everywhere - just like the one below, which is mine.

The clouds are made from the most commonly used words on Twitter from each user.

A few stand out from mine giving a few clues as to what topics I regularly discuss, although disappointly there are no Thai phrases - must tweet more in Thai.

Here's the shameless plug for my Thailand Twitter list (if you're an expat and don't know what Twitter is click here quick as you can) which is a compilation of the most active and interesting English-language Twitter users in/around Thailand.

The Twitter Thailand List

Follow the list if you're looking to follow new people from Thailand or want to keep up with what is being discussed. You can even embed the list on a blog or website as I've done **nods in the direction of a magnificent widget on the right hand side**

And if you're not on the list, my apologies, drop me a note with your details.

I thought posting this here rather than on Twitter might be interesting, then when I saw (the legend that is) Tim Footman post his (first) I knew it would be. Curse my lazy disposition and self-inflicted workload which stopped me posting anything at the weekend. This could've been original.

Earn $1 million in a day in Thailand, Kanye-style

2009-11-26T15:42:00.008+07:00

Cost of living is one of the most attractive reasons for living in Thailand - many expats live comfortably on little more than 40,000 baht (roughly $1,000 dollars or £700) a month.

The cost of living is music to the ears of serials visitors in Thailand, who find their hard earned money going further than they could ever imagine here in LOS.

For resident expats, however, the low cost of living in the country is tempered by wages which are comparatively lower than at home. But spare a thought for native Thais, many of whom are lucky to earn more than 10,00 baht (circa $300 or £180) in a month - making the cost living far from low.

One man who had no problems making ends meet in Thailand recently is rapper Kanye West who, according to the Phuket Insider, made a million dollars (or 33,150,324.64 baht) in just one day thanks to a private gig in Phuket, Thailand.

Stacking up the baht, Kanye West

Last week West performed at the wedding of a wealthy Indian business man who, having already booked out the entire Banyan Tree hotel in Phuket, paid more than US$1 million for a one hour performance from the star.

West didn't hang around and flew straight out of the country having only arrived earlier that day.

Kanye West is a millionaire which makes the idea of him flying halfway round the world just to simply add another load of sixes to his bank account bizarre. Until, that is, you consider his ego and desire to succeed.

Still, the irony of a superstar earning such a staggering amount of money in a country with huge areas of poverty and struggling is not lost on me.

Kanye, imma let you finish but...if you need some help spending the cash you know where I am.

Image via Scrape TV News

Ten tips to creating a successful blog for your company

2009-11-24T20:37:00.003+07:00

[Originally posted on the Director Thailand blog here.]

I can't say I follow all of these, been especially inactive of late.

We’ve discussed social media in detail but have yet to touch on blogging – perhaps the original social media platform – in any detail.

Here we present ten essential tips for developing a successful blog for your business.

1. Think it all over first

Blogging isn’t for everyone so, before you launch your company’s blog take a little time think and plan exactly what you are looking to get from blogging.

Keep your goals and aims in mind every time new content is posted or the site is edited. This way content will be consistent and more appealing to potential new readers.

2. Write regularly

If a blog does not contain new content regularly readers will begin to lose interest and visitor numbers will decrease. Posting new content daily, or every day, gives regular viewers reasons to return to your blog meaning increased levels of traffic.

3. Use (a little) SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the art of positioning a website well within search engines. SEO pays homage to the power of Google which will can, when done well, generate a large amount of traffic for your blog – Google, SEO and other search engines cannot be ignored.

SEO techniques vary but, in terms of blog content, a website which regularly uses key words (words which relate to the company’s business) will feature higher in Google searches and drive more traffic from search engines.

Despite the positives key words only work to an extent and should not be abused. SEO done badly, with too many keywords repetitively positioned, makes a blog sound unoriginal and too focused on driving traffic, making it less attractive for readers looking for interesting content.

4. Sprinkle social media dust

Social media, like SEO, is a popular and effective way of generating traffic to a site.

Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 or LinkedIn, posting snippets of content alongside a link can significantly boost visitor numbers to your blog.

Equally, posting information about social networking, for example details of a company’s Facebook group or presence on Twitter, can generate interest in the company’s social media presence(s) which may in turn lead users to recommend, visit or link to your blog or social media profile.

Social media buttons, which allow content to easily be posted to websites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook and more, can be installed and will spread blog content virally over social networks.

5.Engage with the community

Networks of bloggers who cover similar topics exist across the web. Engaging with and entering a community is an effective way to get noticed, generate traffic and discuss topics close to your business.

The first step is always to monitor conservations and track other blogs that relate to you business/keywords – which are the influencer? Which generate the most traffic/comments, etc?

These are the influential blogs that can boost your blog.

There are many ways to engage. Linking to other blogs and websites in posts is a simple way of alerting other blogs to your presence and encouraging link reciprocation, and consequently, traffic to your blog.

Most blogs have a blog roll, a list of blogs that the blog owner reads or recommends to their visitors, which generate visitors to the blogs listed on them. Creating and displaying a blog roll on your blog encourages other bloggers to include you on their blog rolls which, in turn, encourages more traffic to your blog.

Commenting on other blogs will also help increase our visibility in the blogosphere. This will encourage blog owners to list your blog on their blog rolls and post comments on your blog and discuss ideas and topics you raise on their blog.

6. List contact details

Blogging is about communication so providing contact details is essential yet still many bloggers do not do so.

If a visitor reads an interesting post or is interested in your business and wanting to find more information listing contact details will allow them to get in touch with you directly.

On a more principled level, blogging is about breaking communication barriers and transparency, listing contact details will help your blog achieve these goals.

7. Use multiple authors

With a need to post regularly and insightfully, the job of blogging is made easier when shared.

Using multiple authors will give a variety of insights, experiences and knowledge which may make your blog a more interesting read for visitors.

8. Be creative

A blog is more than just pages of text, it is a medium to entertain and interest. Adopting a creative approach will sustain visitors interest, maintain traffic levels and generate interest and buzz in the blogosphere.

For example, why not run surveys, regular features, interviews, guest posts, pictures and special offers in addition to regular blog posts. The variety and different angles will generate a greater level of interest and interaction with readers.

9. Have patience

Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither will your blog be. It may take anything from one month to one year before you start seeing regular numbers of comments and visitor numbers – persistence and patience are key virtues which pay off in the long run.

10. Monitor, monitor, monitor

There are scores of web analytics and monitoring tools which provide insightful data about your blog, its readership and how it is used.

Free services such as Google Analytics, Alexa, Technorati and others will help you understand more about your blog and how you can better use it as a resource. For example, which blog posts pull in the most visitors, which keywords generate search engine traffic and which websites are sending traffic to your blog.

Back up your hard drive...NOW

2009-11-17T16:09:00.004+07:00

Just do it.

Take it from.

Today I lost all the data from my laptop which caught a virus after I borrowed a USB to help print a document.

Silly move.

Of course the work I have written is replacable with a little effort but, as I only backed up a small number of the near 1,000 pictures taken of the little one since his birth, I'm going to be missing lot of baby photos from my son's first year.

I'm not one to be overly sentiment but I was looking forward to going through them with him when he is older. Digital camera and seemingly endless digital storage enables parents to keep all kind of photos and videos of children - something that I can say, at the grand old age of 27, "didn't happen in my day".

This may in fact be music to his ear's as the by spearing him hours of agony as his dad goes through seemingly endless baby snaps which are a little over indulgent for him.

Either way I've learn the hard way and will be investigating back-up options. Expect to read something about that sometime soon.

Ironically I'm working on a cloud computing article, a concept of storing documents online - a concept which leaves documents unaffected by virus on computers.

That Man and That Article

2009-11-10T23:36:00.009+07:00

Note: I've waited a while before posting as other bloggers' posts has drawn a line of acceptability for reporting this news.

That said, the goverment has blocked certain links to the article in question, as well as threatening legal action on anyone reporting it, so you will find no outgoing links here.

If you wish to read the article, please Google for it yourself, at your own risk.

Here's to freedom of speech.

Thaksin Shinawatra's interview with The Times has been talk of Thailand with blogs, Twitter and the web in general abuzz with discussion of the fall-out from the piece.

The article is likely to bring charges of lese majeste, a law which prevents criticism of the monarchy, brought against the exiled former Prime Minister who was already in the news for accepting an economic advisor position with Thailand's hostile neighbour Cambodia.

From reviewing both the article and the full interview (in fact an "edited transcript") the article's headline appears to be the primary offending element.

There is also likely to be controversy over the suggestion that Thaksin endorses reform of the monarchy and the fact that he openly talks about the King's death - despite both topics having validity and relevance to the future of Thailand.

Referring to the transcript, however, it is clear that the headline and many quotes attributed to Thaksin have been taken out of context and are not reflective of the entire interview.

At no point is Thaksin critical of the King or the Thai monarchy.

Instead, he criticises the "royal institution" - advisers and consorts who work with, and around, the monarchy.

Yet he is likely to fall foul of the law.

There are two schools of thought.

From a Western perspective it is crazy that one headline can be responsible for this level of chaos. Particularly when it is clear Thaksin has gone to great and careful lengths to voice support for the monarchy (regardless of whether it is believed it or not) and brought up the very relevant issue of succession and modernisation of the monarchy.

The headline used for the article does not fit with the context of the interview. It is deliberately controversial to stoke interest in the story/newspaper/journalist (successfully achieved) though, as Asia Editor, Lloyd Parry would have been aware of lese majeste laws in Thailand and the impact the story/headline could have.

Should the article have carried a more suitable, less controversial, headline in line with the gist of the interview?

Another perspective, accepting (but not agreeing with) the workings of the media and laws in Thailand, is to criticise Thaksin's naivety for openly discussing contentious and controversial issues with a foreign journalist.

Foreign media do not adhere to the local rules and specifics of the Thai press, they have no allegiance and will publish content regardless of any waves subsequently generated in Thailand.

Either way lese majeste charges, which carry a maximum 15 year prison sentence, are likely to have little impact on a man already in exile (the fate of some lese majeste authors) from existing criminal charges.

The danger for Thaksin is that his comments, unlikely to affect ardent Red Shirts, may turn sympathisers of his cause against him.

On the other, as one leading blogger argued yesterday, with Thai translations of the article circulating across the country, many of the natives will read Thaksin's open and honest comments.

In a land where discussion of certain subjects is taboo, Thaksin's comments on controversial but increasingly pressing matters, which his foes cannot discuss, is unlikely to win supporters but it may help him begin to re-establish his credibility.

Then again, this is Thailand, anything could happen next.

There are a host of bloggers whose takes on this development are interesting - worth digging around for as I won't publish links.

Baby moonwalker

2009-11-10T01:42:00.006+07:00

This has to be the best value baby product we've bought to date - beating more than a few worthy contenders.

It comes at a time when The Little One has just turned one - an age at which he has the energy and desire to rush around the place, sadly this isn't matched by his legs which allow half a dozen or so steps before sending him crashing down to earth.

The moonwalker (not a tribute to MJ) supports his weight, unlike reigns, allowing him to practice and train to wreak havoc and terror by walking completely unassisted - where the fun starts.

It is really simple to use too, it's wearable like a set of pants, with secure clicks providing safety and the puppet like strings to control and prevent tumbles and keep him on the straight, and hopefully, narrow.

Best part, The Missus found it on a Thai website for less than 300 baht (£6). Highly recommended, a true bargain and, most importantly, one happy little punter.

Bump

2009-11-09T00:03:00.004+07:00

I suffered my first car accident a month or so ago, which is quite something as I've been driving for nine and a half years.

Ironically it came minutes after I'd been talking to a family friend, over from Switzerland, about the standard of driving in Thailand.

As it happened, the incident was the perfect example for my Swiss friend, who, as a former expatriate in Singapore, was interested to learn "how it all works with accident insurance" in Thailand.

My answer?

It doesn't.

The lady who drive into the back of me (the red/burgundy car) whilst I waited for at a red light was pretty shell-shocked, even more so on seeing a couple of foreigner step out of the vehicle.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you" she kept repeating in Thai.

The damage to my car was minimal, she bore the brunt of the spare tyre into her bonnet, but we took her number and some photos just to be sure.

After a chat with her, The Missus quickly found that, like all too many motorists in Thailand, the lady had neither insurance nor a license to drive - a combination with severe consequences back in Blighty, but pretty standard here.

The woman was so shocked by it all that she nearly reversed into the central reservation when my Swiss friend and began pushing her non-starting motor to a safer place. I did feel sorry for her but that feeling was nothing compared to the relief that our car was not damaged.

Lesson learnt, never tempt fate discussing car accidents whilst driving a car.

Particularly in Thailand.

I got off pretty lightly.

Thailand Twitter List

2009-11-06T00:21:00.003+07:00

Decided to practice my preachings about Twitter Lists.

I've created a list, @jonrussell/thailand, for English-language Twitter users in Thailand - both Thai and non-Thai - which is pretty comprehensive.

You can access it at by clicking here or browsing the widget near the top of the blog's right sidebar.

Whilst it is unlikely to deliver breaking news like other lists, it's a neat way of seeing what people are talking about in the Thai Twitter community and may help you find new people to follow.

If you're not on the list my apologies, it's not easy to go through 400 plus contacts. Just drop me an email or find me on Twitter, I'm @jonrussell, to remind me.

If you don't know what Twitter is and you live in, or have an interest in, Thailand, read this post and come back to this page.

Loy Krathong in Saraburi 2009

2009-11-05T11:41:00.009+07:00

Last year's Loy Krathong fell a few weeks after I'd arrived in Thailand making it a great, first insight into Thai culture and tradition. We went to a beautiful local river, taking some amazing photos and videos in the process.

A year on and it is still my favourite Thai festival.

Most people probably prefer Songkran, with its week-long, never-ending water fights, but Loy Kratong has the (enjoyably mild) weather and amazing sight of Kratong (boats made from leaves and, well, anything) sailing down the river with candles alight in the dark of the night. That's not even including the legions of Khom lanterns which float away with candles ablaze.

Add to that the traditional Thai costumes, dancing, festivities, etc and you have a truly spectacular time of the year.

So how did I spend Loy Kratong?

Erm, with an impromptu booze up - rare if you know me here in Thailand.

Yep, we left The Little One at home and headed out with a few Thai peeps.

I was sad to have missed the ceremony but I did manage to grab a couples of snaps during the day though they don't rival the sadly grainy night pics from last year.

At least I can say that my Thai is decent enough to allow me to go out for drinks with only the occasional use of English.

DISQUS

2009-11-05T09:37:00.002+07:00

I'm putting DISQUS on gardening leave whilst the rest of the world, and my small portion of readers, catch up with the service and start using it.

I think the service is top notch in putting all of a person comments together, and other elements which seem obvious but no one else is doing. Alas precious few seeming to use it, it's coming down for the moment to be replaced by the bog standard Google comment machine.

As Charles said recently "management reserves the right" blah blah blah.

Bye bye DISQUS, see you soon I hope.

Twitter Lists

2009-10-29T02:14:00.005+07:00

Another new service has come my way - sadly not as ground-breaking as Google Wave but Twitter Lists, a new beta feature in Twitter described below, is going to be interesting.

Lists are timelines you build yourself, consisting of friends, family, co-workers, sports teams, you name it.

The feature is inspired by Twitter clients which use it as a way of organising users being followed to help manage updates and digest increasing amounts of information.

Lists has a couple of difference on the usual management listings of Twitter clients like Twirl, Brizzly and countless others.

--- Lists can be made private or publicly available for others to see and follow (at this stage this applies to List beta users only)

--- Users included in lists are notified and given a tally (in the same way that a user has follower numbers, there are now list numbers).

--- Users in lists do not need to be followed by the list creator.

Lists are live and can be edited and updated in real-time.

Why Lists are important?

Since Twitter changed the @reply, meaning you only see conversations between users you follow. This means if you want to know what is being talked about by a group of people, say for example Twitters in Thailand, you must follow the vocal members.

Lists is a way of helping people identify people within a network, to keep up with discussions.

It also bypasses the @reply block and allows users to view in on conversations which take place between people they are not necessarily following.

Lists have the potential to tweak the way we use Twitter, sorting through the noise with more organisation.

Google fake highlights issues with online news

2009-10-29T00:26:00.007+07:00

Today's announcement of the 'new' Chrome OS showed why relying on the web for news has its problems.

First off, the news was fake - hats of to TechRadar, if its article wasn't, as it appears to be, the first to call it out, TR was certainly the most vociferous voice spreading the reality.

The story, which was run on a "major website" (despite not appearing on Google's own blog) before being subsequently pulled, exemplifies a growing trend of online news sites failing to research before publishing - such is the race to get the news out first and gain momentum on services that drive web traffic, like Twitter, Digg, Google News, etc.

With media and news now emanating almost entirely from the web, it is worrying to see onlines being fooled as they put SEO and web traffic before the accuracy of reporting.

Secondly, away from the news gathers, is the news spreaders. News of the fake launch was all over Twitter, marketing as a huge announcement, when in fact it was anything but significant.

Being viral doesn't make facts or stories true - why do people continue to blindly circulates link without at least visiting, or reading the articles in full first? Many will forward a link through Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon, etc just because it is interesting at face value.

Part of the TechRadar story is below, it is in full here.

Reports of Chrome OS arriving for the masses look to be premature, with the site that is being pushed containing a proviso that the content is nothing to do with Google.

A report went up on a major website which sparked a Twitter furore, but the article is now gone and only the echoes remain.

The facts certainly stack up; the site at http://sites.google.com/site/chromeoslinux/download is not what you would expect an official release to be hosted on for one thing.

Clincher

The lack of an official post from Google announcing the build is a second, but the real clincher comes on the very page itself

"Chrome OS is not related to Google," says a footer on the page "Service provided by SUSE Studio. See the license."

Update - Google has now blocked the download page which was available through a site hosted by Google (this was not the Google website).

Back

2009-10-29T00:13:00.003+07:00

And yes, I'm back.

Coming back in to Thailand this evening was a little strange, so far everything seems fresher. We definitely picked the right time for a break.

Usually we'd fly direct but, with the recent one year old birthday boy in tow, we decided a two legged approach may help break up the flight for him, making it easier for us. That was pretty much the case although the outbound flight proved difficult to satisfy the typical all-action, exploring needs of said one year old in the cramped environment of a plane.

The return leg was far easier being as it was around The Little One's bedtime meaning he spent a lot of the time sleeping and being pretty relaxed. Result.

One early observation of the trip is a renewed memory of why I hate so many of my fellow Brits. Much of the conversation and general rudeness and poor attitude of the flight was too much for me to bear.

Brits abroad.

Sadly I'm hitting the ground running this week so don't expect masses of updates (been a week already, after all) right away.

UK politics heats up

2009-10-22T07:09:00.006+07:00

Thai politics is a subject I've written about partly because, as a politics graduate living in Thailand, it is of natural interest and, secondly, it's quite a unique and interesting system.

For once though, I find UK politics to be a little more interesting (probably because I'm currently in London) - of particular interest is the coming appearance of the far-right British National (BNP) leader Nick Griffin on leading political show Question Time

Griffin's appearance on the show tomorrow (Thursday) evening has certainly ignited a few arguments with many calling for him to be barred from the show. Griffin himself, no stranger to absurd lines (for example Churchill would have been a BNP member), has claimed the publicity as a major boost, even saying thank you to the BBC for the opportunity.

The appearance certainly raises an interesting issue.

In the UK, more than Thailand (which sits 130th on the World Free Press index), there is universal freedom of speech .

However should this extent to the leader of a racist, fascist party whose appearance on a respected program may make his party all the more credible?

Many have argued that BNP views are such that the party is likely to be shown for exactly what it is on live TV, suggesting Griffin's self-proclaimed boost in the spotlight will ultimately be his downfall.

I agree with this line of thought although there is no doubting that, for the BNP's cause, "any news is good news".

The BNP may get a membership spike but it is likely to lose what little mainstream credibility it has and the new members, with such extreme views, would have joined regardless of Griffin's spot on Question Time, which will hasten their arrival rather than cause it.

The show is likely to receive higher than usual viewing figures and I'll be one watching as British politics will rival the craziness of Thailand - just for a night and no longer, we hope.

Photo credit BBC

Surfin' the Google Wave

2009-10-21T18:12:00.004+07:00

I'm now on Google Wave which I'm pretty chuffed about as it is brand-spankingly new, will doubtless become very important and, for now at least, it's something new for me to geek out on and get to grips with.

As we're still on holiday in the UK I'll resist giving the service a thorough run-out until I'm back in Thailand. Rest assured though that there will be plenty of details from me in the not too distant future.

And if you're lucky enough to already be on Wave, get in touch with your details.

For more info on Google Wave check out this recent post or the very geeky video below which gives an overview.

Big thanks to Chinarut aka Dancin Forever for setting me up on Wave.

UPDATE - It's a double-dose of tech as I'm trialling comments via DISQUS because, quite frankly, it's a pretty cool way of threading and story comments and discussions across the web/blogosphere together.

If you're a regular reader, should any of those actually exist here, I encourage/recommend you sign up as this is a shape of the future, I believe.

DISQUS certainly works well for some bloggers, though I'm not sure if Thailand blogs are ready for it just yet - we'll see.