Newsletter #101

Chasing the Elusive Wipet

Wipet (http://wipet.com/) is a wireless modem that works in many parts of Panama City. It is available with or without a contract. Without a contract, you buy prepaid cards good for a specific period of time at a specific bandwidth. I decided this might be the solution to our communications needs when we move our office to Casco Viejo next month.

The flyer Wipet puts out says that the modems are available in Super 99 stores and AudioFoto Internacional, among others. I asked in the Super99 in Costa del Este and got only a blank stare. The Super99 in Los Pueblos told me they were available from Multimax. AudioFoto in Los Pueblos said they were out of stock but would have one sent from the main store that afternoon. I told them I would be in the next day to pick it up. The next day they told me "Sorry, we sold your modem and it's your fault because you didn't pay for it in advance." Resisting the urge to commit violence, I just said "Thank you" and walked out. Off to Multimax where we found out that the good folks at Super99 had lied to me. Finally, at AudioFoto in front of MultiPlaza, I found a modem, paid $99.95 plus 5% tax and took it home. It comes with 72 hours free access (at 512Kbit), and when asked, the salesmen assured me that that is 72 hours online time, but after setting up the account, I'm pretty sure it means 3 days access. In any case I will go to Casco Viejo tomorrow or Saturday to see if I have connectivity there. It works great from my patio, but not so great inside under the tin roof.

One Laptop per Child

OLPC (http://laptop.org/ and http://olpc.com/) is a not-for-profit organization headed by Nicolas Negroponte with the goal of providing rugged, simple-to-use laptop computers to poor children in third world countries. Originally targeted at the $100.00 per unit price point, the price of the laptops has risen (like everything else) to $188.00 per unit. I won't try to rewrite what has already been written, so to learn more about the project, follow the links above.

The news is that Panama is negotiating for 50,000 of the little computers. La Prensa published an article on Monday, Mar 17 announcing the deal. Assuming that the funds really do exist, and that the offers from Microsoft don't get too irresistible, this is great news for Panama's future in technology. The laptops are designed to teach kids how to learn, they are extremely sturdy, and it's even possible to recharge the batteries without electricity with a built-in hand-powered generator. They have peer-to-peer networking, and if only one in a group of networked computers has internet connectivity, the rest can gain access through the peer-to-peer connections.

I'm enthusiastic and hopeful about this news, but given my adopted country's seemingly boundless ability to screw things up, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Garden in a Box - Update

Yesterday, the first bloom appeared on my cucumbers. This morning there were over a dozen. The tomato plants are very healthy and the Frijoles Chiricano are looking good. I'm now adding about a gallon of water per day to the box and the plant growth reflects that, with the tallest Cucumber now over 6 feet high.

Banks - Update

Finally, almost three weeks after the promised "immediate payment" date came and went, the Bank Who Shall Remain Nameless paid the Irrevocable Letter of Credit.

Bring Back the Magic