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Saturday 2004-04-10 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Using webmail
Interesting problem: my whole approach for this travel blog hinges on being able to use webmail in Internet cafes on the road. I haven’t really looked hard at webmail accounts until yesterday evening though: I never used any.
On the SpamCop newsgroup someone suggested Fastmail (FM) and I decided to try an account. My idea was though to have a string of accounts, throwing each away after being used once. That sounds simple, but isn’t:
- you need another email account to verify the account when signing up; but I’ll be away for 65 days, and (also with other services) accounts will expire after 45 days not being accessed; and with FM if you terminate an account, it still stays active for 7 days
- also, FM doesn’t allow you to have multiple free accounts; Tmicha.net does not have that limitation (but does have the 45-days rule)
- that requires other means of evading keyloggers and sniffers in Internet cafes than simply discarding an account after use; various copy-and-paste strategies have been brought up in discussions, as well as using a USB flash drive (which may not be usable everywhere).
So, we’ll see… I may end up with a combination of strategies and using several providers in a “chain”.
Update 2005-08-19: Sadly, Tmicha.net was teken over by an Irish company and no longer provides free, spam-free email accounts.
New lens!
Since I hadn’t heard from the photographer’s store, I went around again. It turned out they had tried to find what I’d heard exists and couldn’t find it, but had not really given up yet. Whereupon I did — and went for the next best thing: a 28-300mm zoom lens for my Canon EOS. Unfortunately not in stock, but with a bit of luck they’ll have it on Tuesday.
I also arranged for films and more lead pouches to protect them (no, I don’t trust the X-ray machines at the smaller airports).
