Arthur Francis Tyde III

Normally I am a cool headed guy but without my Internet fix the symptoms are much like a heroin addict doing damn near anything to get high before the shakes kick in.

This has been a travel heavy month and I arrived in Manila from Hong Kong on a one-day trip, did some work on my internal network, mostly related to OpenVPN (and with a little assistance from my friends) had it working by 3:30 AM.

I slept like a baby.

The VPN was the last step in deploying an appliance from Untangle Inc. They have a miracle box that handles all sorts of network issues like routing, VPN, content control, spam and virus blocking. I am super impressed with the product, and will write something up in much more detail soon.

I wake up, no dial tone. PLDT was offline. No DSL, double-checked, still no dial tone, no Internet on a Saturday morning, no crappy local phone. No VOIP. I started to sweat, even shake a little, it was panic.

A number of disturbing realities surface as the dominos began to fall. Here in Manila, you can't call a landline from your cell phone. So I spent hours trying to find some way to actually call PLDT and report the problem. Once it was reported, I was assured that someone would call me back. This call back never happened. Then, mysteriously, dial tone re-appeared. However, my DSL modem would not sync up with the service. So I now had dial tone, but no Internet. I would call every hour and report the problem. I reported the problem 30 times. Apparently no one at PLDT repair actually works on the weekends but they won't ever tell you this.

Friends came by and dragged me off to see Pirates of the Caribbean - which was a fun and strangely inspirational movie. When I got home, by habit I sat down to check my mail... oh yeah! By now the shakes are starting to kick in so I look through my tool box. I have some extension cable for wifi antennas, an 18dbi omni 2.4 ghz antenna (what are the odds), an old Sputnik AP160, a roll of tin foil, a pic-nix potato sticks can, some connectors, a roll of electrical tape, an old TV antenna and a ladder. After numerous attempts at configurations that run the gamut from Sputnik to Voyager. I settled on the contraption below. Behold - the Junknik!

From my street facing balcony, there are two open wifi access points way out in the distance. Junknik is barely sufficient to touch at least one of them, and by the time I went to bed I too was living by the Pirate code! Arrrrrr

When the DSL guy finally showed up late on Monday, the dial tone had disappeared. I still don't have working DSL yet and I am hoping the winds remain fair and the skies clear lest my sailing ship O the wifi airwaves gets blown off the balcony as typhoon season begins!

My good friend and noted resource speculator Paul Kullich called me up and asked if I would go to China to explore some joint venture ideas at the China International Software and Services Fair. While he is trekking over from London, for me the flight out of Hong Kong is only 3.5 hours on Air China. Noted athlete, adventurer, and scholar Dr. Steve "Bo" Keeley offered words of wisdom that have heeded me well in the 21 years since we became hobo brothers. "Never walk away from a good ride, and the best meals are always free." Therefore, while I would do anything for Paul and his compatriots, I was required by the hobo code to take the trip.

I like Dalian, I like the city and I like the people - I was there last year for the same event and spent a couple of days as a tourist. Unlike many other areas of the world I felt safe, was warmly greeted by the locals (or at least they smiled a lot whilst talking about me), and charged the local rate for everything. Unlike Greece, I did not feel like I had a target painted on my forehead. Dalian even sounds like a nice place! Paul and I would base out of the Hotel Furama for the week. In that section of town the choice was between the Furama (china style) and the Shangri-La (western style). Being available for work is key, so access to the internet, phone and business center was an important consideration.

Dalian is an expertly run municipality and it reminds me of Makati. I did have the chance once to meet the Mayor of Dalian (and his entourage) at an Intel VIP event hosted by Joya Chatterjee and Gina Li. His team is quite dedicated to seeing Dalian become the Silicon Valley of China. Essentially, they want to compete with Bangalore and other notable destinations for the worlds IT outsourcing opportunities while fostering an atmosphere of innovation and research. As with most of my meetings in China - I often walk away wondering if the entire future of technology is about to be outsourced.

So why do I like Air China. Much of it has to do with good luck. I am seated in coach, row 15 (exit row), center seat - with the seat to my right and left empty. My desk (meaning briefcase, documents, reading material and gadgets are on the seat to my left). MacBook Pro is of course, front and center. There is a ton of legroom, and I can spread out. I maintain that a whole row in coach is always better than business class. But an exit row - well, that is good fortune indeed. The flight boarded on time. It was full, but obviously not to capacity and the new equipment, a 737-800 is a great airplane and smart choice for a regional carrier.

The service is always consistent and excellent. It starts with the flight attendants insuring that passengers are comfortable (pillows, blankets), beverage service, a simple meal service (beef or fish, chicken or fish on the return), followed by the "quiet time" where cabin lights go off and people can sleep. I usually opt for water and juice. On this flight however, the meal service featured a Great Wall red, a respectable combination of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Normally, I don't indulge on a business trip but this is a wine that Great Wall does very well. The meals are nothing to write home about, but they fill you up and aren't offensive to the palette. The beef actually had a small dose of hot red pepper. As with most Chinese peppers, they are deep and rich in flavor. So while the beef and rice was somewhat uninspired - chewing the occasional pepper gave it a nice depth that complimented the wine. Lastly the flight attendants are pretty (as in attractive people, not simply sexy (ala. Singapore or Lan Chile)), and smart, friendly, speak excellent English (as compared to my very poor Mandarin) and treat customers fairly and with respect. I am never looking for special treatment, but getting harassed by angry jaded old ladies (eg. United, Northwest, British Airways) who hate their jobs is no fun. If some woman is going to berate me and humiliate me, well - I should be married to her or at the very least be able to imagine her in leather.

Will follow up with some comments on the conference, which was one of the best networking events I have ever attended. Lastly, as a resident of the Napa region in California I would love to see Great Wall take some inspiration from the California winemakers. Their current techniques are very French which are not suitable to their grape growing climate. With some advice, Great Wall stands a chance of winning more significant international wine competitions.

Sputnik is the Conference Network Sponsor at Supernova and has been doing this for 3 consecutive years.

If you are looking to expand your brand into the wireless internet space - Sputnik offerings are the best in the business. I don't say that because I have a vested interest, the solution is really better, more competitive in price, and more suitable to various wireless business models than any other offering by any other company - large or small.

There are a lot of great reasons to support Kevin Werbach and Supernova - but the chance for us (Sputnik) to try out new and unannounced features on a tough, vocal and very technical audience is a great opportunity. "We were thrilled with how quick and easy it was to set up a Sputnik Wi-Fi network," said Kevin Werbach, Supernova organizer and Wharton School professor. "The Supernova experience is about making connections, real and virtual; attendees are well-known bloggers and leading-edge technologists. Therefore Wi-Fi is crucial to the overall success of the conference. We were extremely pleased with the performance of the Sputnik Wi-Fi network."

Kudos to the Sputnik team for another successful year at Supernova!

Matt Asay has done an interview with Bob Walters, CEO of Untangle. It's a great first look at a company which has decided to walk the walk. I have a lot of respect for this, too many companies want the benifits of contribution, discussion, and an ecosystem of support around their products without playing by the rules. Bob has been an innovator since his days at Linuxcare. I present this to you as I think Bob and his company are important innovators. What has not come out in Bob's interview is that he has dilligently explored all the issues of license, he has talked to all the right people. As the CEO, he has done the most complete investigation of the strategy that I have ever seen.

The Open Source CEO: Bob Walters, Untangle