Using mobile internet, iPhone or iPad in Japan for tourists This April I am planning a trip to Japan, and as we know Japan is one of those countries where there aren’t that many English speakers around. Given how complex the city itself is with language issues, an internet connection which tends to be my last resort of survival in a foreign country, is needed. Here comes the problem: Japan is a country that doesn’t primarily use GSM mobile phone technology, which means obtaining SIM cards isn’t exactly the easiest thing for short-term traveler. I also heard that obtaining and filling down local paperworks isn’t one of the things I’d love to be doing on a 8-day trip either. After an extensive research (yes, I did spend 2 hours on this), the easiest and the cheapest option for me is to rent either a SIM card or a device from this company. The rates are probably the best you can get if you live in Japan for less than a month and they even let you rent devices.  Since I’ll be traveling with my parents this time, I’ll just go with the Mi-Fi that lets me connect five of the devices to the internet on the go since I can route all the calls via Skype or Viber anyway so there really is no use to get a plan with local calls. And after seeing what my hotel is going to charge me for 24-hour internet access, it’s a no brainer. Oh, and the link: Global Advanced Communications

Using mobile internet, iPhone or iPad in Japan for tourists

This April I am planning a trip to Japan, and as we know Japan is one of those countries where there aren’t that many English speakers around. Given how complex the city itself is with language issues, an internet connection which tends to be my last resort of survival in a foreign country, is needed.

Here comes the problem: Japan is a country that doesn’t primarily use GSM mobile phone technology, which means obtaining SIM cards isn’t exactly the easiest thing for short-term traveler. I also heard that obtaining and filling down local paperworks isn’t one of the things I’d love to be doing on a 8-day trip either.

After an extensive research (yes, I did spend 2 hours on this), the easiest and the cheapest option for me is to rent either a SIM card or a device from this company. The rates are probably the best you can get if you live in Japan for less than a month and they even let you rent devices. 

Since I’ll be traveling with my parents this time, I’ll just go with the Mi-Fi that lets me connect five of the devices to the internet on the go since I can route all the calls via Skype or Viber anyway so there really is no use to get a plan with local calls.

And after seeing what my hotel is going to charge me for 24-hour internet access, it’s a no brainer.

Oh, and the link: Global Advanced Communications

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Mac users, don’t you just hate the way Windows render texts? It’s been a week now with my new gaming rig. It’s a desktop PC that runs Windows 7, and I love it very much—mostly for its gaming capability, but not really anything else. Using Windows for some kind of work for just less than a few hours can give you massive headache for how unintuitive it is. One of the issues I have with Windows machines is the way texts are being rendered on screen. Texts are incredibly jaggy! They just look ugly and it’s as if Microsoft is trying to tell everyone fuck off and print everything you wanna read. Here’s the solution: install gdipp, and turn off ClearType and you’re one step closer to the ultimate on-screen reading experience. An important thing to note here is that this isn’t really Windows fault. It’s just about two different approaches to font rendering taken by two parties. But apparently, I agree with Steve Jobs who said that Microsoft just has no taste. P.S. This site has been made to look especially good on Quartz based texts. Install this, restart your machine and come back to this site.

Mac users, don’t you just hate the way Windows render texts?

It’s been a week now with my new gaming rig. It’s a desktop PC that runs Windows 7, and I love it very much—mostly for its gaming capability, but not really anything else. Using Windows for some kind of work for just less than a few hours can give you massive headache for how unintuitive it is.

One of the issues I have with Windows machines is the way texts are being rendered on screen. Texts are incredibly jaggy! They just look ugly and it’s as if Microsoft is trying to tell everyone fuck off and print everything you wanna read.

Here’s the solution: install gdipp, and turn off ClearType and you’re one step closer to the ultimate on-screen reading experience.

An important thing to note here is that this isn’t really Windows fault. It’s just about two different approaches to font rendering taken by two parties. But apparently, I agree with Steve Jobs who said that Microsoft just has no taste.

P.S. This site has been made to look especially good on Quartz based texts. Install this, restart your machine and come back to this site.

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