About 1 P.M. yesterday here in Laos, I was putting the finishing touches on an article when the first reports of the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami arrived. I watched the live footage of the debris-filled waters sweeping through Sendai with a strange sort of disbelief — sometimes you have no doubt about how real a thing is and, at the same time, you can’t believe what your eyes are seeing.
While events continue to develop in Japan, I think it’s best to wait a few days before continuing the content for the “Help In Your Own Way” Giveaway. We’ll try to pick things up on Monday or Tuesday and I’m extending the deadline until Friday, 18 March.
Many of my friends, their families, and Veritrope readers are Japanese — and it’s difficult for me to think about anything else but them now. I imagine many of you feel the same. My thoughts and best wishes are with them at this very difficult moment.
When Lauren and I first visited the @My Library last June, we noticed two things right away: That the students loved using computers — and that their shared internet speed was slow… painfully, glacially slow! When one student named Morthor asked us to sit with her and help fix her web email, we couldn’t even get through to the website. Our connection was so bad that, essentially, it was refused.
“How much does faster internet cost?”, I asked Carol.
“A lot — especially when adjusted for the cost of living here.” After I left, she sent me the exact figure: $1900 per year for a connection speed which, in the United States, would cost 1/10th that price.
People sometimes ask “How did you find out about these groups that you’re helping?”.
The answer is simple: Stuart told me.
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STUART MCDONALD and journalist/editor SAMANTHA BROWN started Travelfish.org in 2004 with the aim of helping travellers to Southeast Asia. Since then, it has become the place to find up-to-the-minute information on accommodations, places to eat, and things to see and do while traveling there — full stop! Their site has an active community who compare and share notes on all the latest places, fantastic feature articles on destinations and travel-related phenomena, and — of course — hosts their famous Travelfish PDF guides!
But not content to rest on past accomplishments, Stuart and Samantha have pushed even farther — creating iPhone Apps that are setting a new standard for Travel Guides. Right now, they include:
Already copied for their ease-of-use and visual appeal (see the video of the Luang Prabang guide below), the apps distinguish themselves with their quality content — something that is much harder to duplicate!
When I mentioned this to Stuart, he decided to help in his own way and graciously offered several free copies of these awesome apps to people that — in their own way — decide to get involved in helping Village Science and The Language Project.
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