Richard Huff's Seattle Social Blog - Italy

Pisa, Italy - A Pleasant City.

nospam@example.com (Richard D. Huff) — Wed, 5 Apr 2006 09:50:34 -0700

My day in Pisa was the most pleasant of my whole trip. (It was the first chance I had to explore Italy at my own pace.) The Italians are, as claimed in most travel books, very friendly towards Americans. The friendliness is sincere -- not that sort of tourism friendliness you might find in some other tourist destinations. The woman at the airport information desk, the bus drivers, and the young luggage storage woman planning a trip of her own to study in New York, were just plain nice.

Pisa is an ancient city by almost any account. The archaeological record indicates that Etruscans (precursors to the Romans) settled in the same area during the 5th century BCE.

My exploration started at the Piazza dei Miracoli (where the leaning tower sits). From there, I walked to the Piazza dei Cavalieri, then on to the Corsa Italia (shopping district street), the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, and finished at the Piazza della Stazione (where I caught the bus back to the aeroporto). This route took me across most of the city. The Wikipedia has an excellent entry covering Pisa, so I won't try to duplicate that same information here.

Take a look at my photos from Pisa.

Travel Checklist: Internet Access.

nospam@example.com (Richard D. Huff) — Sun, 2 Apr 2006 08:30:03 -0700

Ubiquitous access to broadband Internet service ( > 1mbps) â€“ which is critical to the realization of the Internetâ€™s true potential â€“ still eludes us. Itâ€™s not that several attempts have failed. We just havenâ€™t really tried. Cellular phone service, however, is getting pretty close to ubiquity, which is why I looked for a mobile data solution to my Internet access needs abroad. Knowing that I wouldnâ€™t have immediate access to local, broadband services (i.e., xDSL or WiFi) in Pieve a Nievole, my goal was to have a service that I could at least rely on in an "emergency". It just so happens that Cingular provides a broadband wireless service in the USA that is compatible with services offered in Europe (albeit, via roaming).

The first thing to know about the service is that you canâ€™t believe Cingular when they tell you that it isnâ€™t compatible with the Macintosh. If, as a Macintosh user, you havenâ€™t already come to realize you canâ€™t trust most vendors when they tell you that something isnâ€™t compatible, let this be your lesson. Whether you use the built-in Bluetooth to connect through your phone, or you use one of several PC cards, the service works just fine with a Macintosh. The trick is that youâ€™ll need a piece of software that replaces the drivers typically shipped for Windows. A German company (Novamedia) makes a MacOS X software package they call Mobile High Speed (MHS), which supports a very large variety of different phones and PC cards. Special Note: at the time of this writing, the software does not (yet) support the new Intel Macintosh models. Also, the new MacBook Pro does not have a PC card slot â€“ it has a newer Express card slot. Youâ€™d have to use the Bluetooth method of connecting through your cell phone, rather than use a separate PC card.

Once you have the service from Cingular and the software from Novamedia, you can get Internet access at speeds greater than 1mbps pretty much anywhere. The service is sold for a flat-fee of US$60 per month in Seattle. The roaming charges can be quite steep, and appear to be based primarily on the data transfer. I'm bracing myself for the bill.

Update: March 15, 2007 - Novamedia has changed the name of their MacOS X mobile data software from Mobile High Speed to Launch2Net. The previous link in this post has been updated. In other news, the data charges for my time in Italy totaled $1,937. Most of the amount was due to sending a single e-mail that contained 25 megabytes in attachments. The service is excellent if you just need to perform some e-mail or web browsing. Don't make the mistake I made and use it for large e-mail attachments or file transfers.

Under the Tuscan Sun.

nospam@example.com (Richard D. Huff) — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:50:19 -0700

My main residence, while in Italy, will be a villa in Pieve a Nievole, Toscana. It's almost equidistant from Pisa and Florence (Firenze). I've been told that Pisa is about 20 minutes away, so I have to assume that Florence is roughly the same. Pieve a Nievole's population is a quaint 9,000. It's a good thing that Pisa (with a population of ~90,000) and Florence (with a population of ~500,000) are so close.

Besides e-mail, instant messanger, and my cellular phone, I will also have my VoIP phone. Once connected in Italy, both my Seattle (+1 206 2195793) and my Bologna (+39 051 0545004) numbers will ring at that location. It might take several weeks to get the necessary Internet service operational, so rely on my e-mail for now.

Keep in mind that Italy is 10 hours ahead of Seattle. 11:00 PM in Seattle would be 9:00 AM the next day in Pieve a Nievole. This means that participating in Confab while I'm away won't be too horrible from a time difference. I'll just need to be up and ready at 6:00 AM when the show starts at 8:00 PM in Seattle. That's much better than having to get up at 3:00 AM.

I found a nice desktop clock (VelaTerra) for my Powerbook, which displays the times for multiple cities (totally configurable). The same company also makes a MacOS X Dashboard Widget (VelaClock).

Travel Checklist: Power Adapters.

nospam@example.com (Richard D. Huff) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:41:13 -0700

When planning on being abroad for more than a week, and traveling with electronics that require direct power or battery recharge, you'll have to address the issue of power adapters. Since most consumer electronics have auto-switching power supplies (i.e., support for 100-240 volts and 50-60 hertz), the biggest concern is the type of plug required for power outlets in the country or countries you will be visiting. I'm trying to eliminate any unnecessary equipment, so things like the iPod power adapter stays at home -- it can charge while connected to my Powerbook. As for the Powerbook's power supply, Apple sells a World Travel Adapter Kit with all of the plugs you might need. I expect to only need one type of adapter, which will be the only one I take on the trip.

You should always make sure and check whether the power supply supports auto-switching. Plugging a 110 volt power supply into a 220 volt source will destroy the power supply. Trust me on this. I once blew up a $2,000 laser printer by plugging it into a 220 volt outlet on a Norwegen-built ship that I worked on.

It's a good rule of thumb to assume that any non-portable consumer electronics lack auto-switching power supplies. In such cases, you'll need a step-down transformer, rated at the approprate wattage.

The Italian Job.

nospam@example.com (Richard D. Huff) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:42:15 -0700

I'm leaving for Italy this next Friday (March 31, 2006). It's been a crazy couple of weeks since I found out that I'm going. We (Geckowerx, LLC) are doing a project with a company that is launching an urban lifestyle magazine in 46 cities, internationally. I'm spending the next month at their headquarters to get everything started. Looks like I'll be living the expatriate life for the next couple years. Viva! Italia.

I scanned the above Euros after exchanging some greenbacks this afternoon. When I opened the scanned image in Photoshop, I recieved the message, "This application does not support the printing of banknote images." The legal requirements for the digital reproduction of the Euro require that the image be 72 dpi (or less) and include the word "SPECIMEN" printed diagonally across the reproduction. It's incredible that Photoshop was able to recognize the scanned image as banknotes.