Set computers to Thai military time or be fined half a million

Thanks to @coldfusionPaul for this blog which warns of a hefty fine and curious interpretation of the Computer Misuse Act when it comes to keeping logs with correct timestamps:

if you have servers/workstations in Thailand you probably should know that as of aug-23rd every business computer in the kingdom has to set it's time to the new TST (Thai Standard Time) or get fined a wheelbarrow full of money (from 100,000 to 500,000 baht, that's about $2500 to $15,000 US, yikes). i can understand the idea of using a timeserver to keep stuff in synch (really, who doesn't?) but man, that's a whopping big fine for being "time dumb" (especially if that's a per computer fine!). this article claims one of the reasons for doing this is so that everybody hears the national anthem at the same time.

the Royal Thai Navy's Hydrographic department is in charge of providing a national time server & it looks like they got windows covered at least (yes they devoted more than 1/2 of that page to windows 95/windows ME, no Mac, no Linux--not sure what stats they're running off).

in any case, if you're in Thailand, point your time server at:

time.navy.mi.th

and bob's your uncle. i like the idea of having a "local" time server so we swapped tout de suite. works plenty fine. the navy, as usual, did a bang up job.

Thai Government fails to find facts on 13 April mayhem

The Thai government launches a website to respond to 13 April allegations, but forgets to populate it.

The Abhisit government has taken the public opinion war to the Internet by launching a website depicting its versions of events that led up to, and followed the incidents on Songkran day, 13 April. It also has an English language icon which when clicked results in this sight for sore eyes.



Yes, one could say that the government has nothing to say to foreigners, no facts to refute the opposition's versions of events. The website clearly says, "page not found". Cynics would laugh at the message it is sending out.

However, on the Thai language section, the site has a smattering of no doubt carefully screened pictures and a few video clips. It has a list of government announcements and news clips too. However, as of yet aside from the non-existent English language version of the site, it seems to totally lack any narrative or message and the viewer is left to browse through this scrapbook and come to his own conclusion as to what happened.

Dear Minister Satit, perhaps a simple message along the lines of, "We didn't kill anyone", might have been nice to start readers along the right way.

The only page that seems to be fully populated and narrated is the one with the committee members who set up the website. Yes, of course giving credit to the hard working bureaucrats who made this embarrassing use of public funds shining beacon of truth is the most important thing. Obviously they had to work hard to find pictures of the event all over the Internet and often link to them in-situ, hard coding their pictures links into the factreport site without linking back to their authors' pages or giving them credit half the time.

One almost envisions someone suing the Abhisit government for breaches of copyright or even creative commons share and attribute clauses.

The joke site is produced by the Office of the Prime Minister under which Satit Wongnongtoey is the Minister to the PM's Office responsible for media.

The only redeeming feature is that the site uses the Drupal Open Source engine, which is a nice step up from other government run sites.

BlackBerry launches in Cambodia

Alcatel-Lucent, RIM and Cambodian telco hello brings the BlackBerry Solution to Cambodia.

Bangkok, Cambodia, France and Waterloo, Ontario– April 30, 2009 - hello, Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the commercial launch of the BlackBerry® solution in Cambodia for the first time. With the launch of the BlackBerry products and services, hello is offering its customers a unique mobile solution that delivers the benefits of enhanced communications and increased productivity by making it easy to access email, browse the web, make phone calls, send and receive text and picture messages, as well as access a wide variety of business and leisure applications on the move.

At launch, hello will offer its customers the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8120 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 8320 smartphones, as well as BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and BlackBerry® Internet Service.

Based on its distribution agreement with RIM, Alcatel-Lucent will leverage its strong local presence in the region to provide hello with the end-to-end implementation, integration, launch, and on-going support services for delivering the BlackBerry solution to the Cambodian market.

“As hello is the first and currently only operator in Cambodia offering the BlackBerry solution, we are able to offer our customers a significant advantage through this unique mobile solution," said Syed Azmeer, chief marketing officer for hello. “We are pleased to offer BlackBerry smartphones and services to both corporate customers and consumers. It is an innovative and revolutionary solution that is already used by millions of people worldwide.”

“This agreement strengthens Alcatel-Lucent’s leading position worldwide and in the region,” said Wei Luo, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in Cambodia. “hello will expand their business opportunity and enable their customers to benefit from the high flexibility offered by BlackBerry smartphones for staying connected any time and everywhere.”

“We are very pleased to launch the BlackBerry solution in Cambodia with Alcatel-Lucent and hello,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry solution is the gold standard for mobility, allowing both business people and consumers to make the most of their time.”

Source: Alcatel-Lucent.

Seagate ships low power drives

Seagate has announced the shipment of its new Barracuda LP (low power) drives that come in 2, 1.5 and 1 TB versions.



Seagate claims that the new 5900 RPM drives use up to 25 percent less power than other 5400 RPM drives from competitors or 50 percent less power than standard desktop drives.

No mention was made as to the origin of these drives nor was it immediately clear how much of a performance hit these slower-spinning drives carry compared to standard desktop drives which spin at 7200 RPM.

SEAGATE SHIPS BARRACUDA LP -- NEW LOW-POWER DESKTOP HARD DRIVE FAMILY WITH BEST POWER EFFICIENCY AND LARGEST STORAGE CAPACITY AVAILABLE

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — April 30, 2009 — Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) today began worldwide shipments of a power-thrifty desktop hard drive family that combines the largest storage capacity available with the best power efficiency and performance in its class, using as much as 50 percent less electricity than standard desktop hard drives*.

The new line of Seagate Barracuda® LP (Low Power) hard drives deliver on the promise of sustainability, energy efficiency and a more eco-friendly footprint by helping organizations cut PC power costs and giving money-minded consumers great performance for their energy dollar. The new family of energy-efficient Seagate desktop drives helps reduce system power costs, runs quieter than traditional drives and operates at lower temperatures, extending the life of system components.

“Growing demand for power-efficient computing systems is not just a data center phenomenon as more builders of external storage devices, desktop PCs and home networking systems work to provide customers with products that combine power-efficiency with rock-solid performance,” said Joan Motsinger, Seagate vice president of Personal Systems Marketing and Strategy. “Seagate is pleased to deliver a new low-power product line in our Barracuda family that enables system builders and end users alike to attain a higher level of environmental friendliness while cutting costs.”

The Seagate Barracuda LP hard drive, a 3.5-inch 5900RPM drive, is available in capacities of 2TB, 1.5TB and 1TB. The new hard drive family helps reduce product costs for makers of low-power personal computers, external PC storage and multiple-drive home networking SOHO systems by allowing them to use lighter-duty fans, power supplies and other system components.

Watcharee PR