Spent some time today trying to set up my daughters Telstra ZTE USB MF626 modem on her new Macbook Pro 13 laptop.  NOt exactly easy and Im not sure Ive got the best fix, but its the only way I could get it to work.

1. I plugged it in and installed the software which appears on the disk image mounted after the USB modem is inserted. Telstra Turbo Connection Manager version M02
2. After restarting and plugging in the modem the software started up but couldnt detect the modem and the connect button remained greyed out.

   

3. In System Preferences > Network Settings, the modem wasnt even listed.
4. A search online indicated that for OS X Lion I needed to install the latest software from Telstra which included new drivers from ZTE (maybe 64bit??).
5. So I downloaded the new software from a link here – http://www.zte.com.au/telstra/faqs.htm
6. Then I used AppZapper to remove the previously installed software from Telstra which I installed at step 1.
7. Then I installed the new software and restarted.
8. After restarting I inserted the modem, the new software started up and the Macbook mounted the disk image which is installed on the USB modem by default, which I ignored.  But the new software failed also to detect the modem I had plugged in.
9. I ejected the disk image which is installed on the USB modem, then within about 5 seconds the new software detected the modem and I was able to connect.

I cant work out whats happening or causing this but the workaround seems to be ejecting that disk image before the USB modem is detected by the software.

Works now!

I read an interesting blog post this morning which shifted my thinking totally on mobile learning.  Ive always thought of mobile-learning or m-Learning as learning involving the mobile phone. Until now, when its like the lights were just turned on!

Donald Clark wrote about m-learning being learning that we do while on the move.  I love that definition.

For me at the moment Im doing a lot of learning while moving – podcasts and sermons are usually what I listen to while riding or running or travelling. They’re on an iPod though not on my mobile phone. My teenage kids learn what many of their friends are up to via mobile versions of The Facebook on their mobile phones – for them iPods are just for music!  Whenever I travel I see people using Kindles, iPods, phones (not making phone calls), books, documents….. all sorts of media.  Some of these folks are using that tool to enable them to learn something.

Im glad my mlearning definition was challenged – I think it’ll help me think broader than simply a mobile phone when it comes to developing learning experiences for people on the move.

For people living in isolated areas in some of the remotest locations in the world their learning is not much different to those in cities commuting or learning while we are on the move.

They have to contend with power issues, accessing learning material, require a mobile connection to the internet, have limits on data storage, and the learning material needs to be in a format they can access and interact with on a mobile device.

What’s mLearning for you?  Is it learning access and interactions with a mobile phone?  Something different?

After getting into a couple of situations where I was asked all about MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) I thought it would be really convenient to have resources on my phone which I could use to tell the MAF story.

I could use the phones browser to look up www.MAF.org, go to Youtube.com and search for some MAF related videos, maybe even use Google Maps to find the nearest MAF base.  But it would all be a bit fiddly and figured that I should try and make an app which makes all that easy.

I hadnt created any phone app before and havent done much programming apart from a handful of VB apps and some website development so it was a little daunting and there was a lot to learn and make sense of.

I found a site called Buzztouch which I could use to create the app that I had in mind to develop and using the features available set out to create “MAF Advocate” and get a tool into the hands of someone with a phone wanting to share what MAF is and does, with someone who wants to hear the story.

MAF Advocate in an Android version is available to download now from the Android Market.  This is the first version and is based on Buzztouch 1.4.  I have since been using Buzztouch 1.5 to develop the app and am working on iPad/iPhone and Android version using the upgraded development options, so more features are already available to me.

Nepal (MNN) ― It began a few years ago when Mission Aviation Fellowship hoped to start a flight ministry in Nepal. But that may not be exactly what God had in mind, says MAF Pilot Tim Chase.

Tim Chase: Bible dedication, Nepal

Speaking from Nepal, Chase says, “We came here originally to start a flight program, and about a year and a half into the process things weren’t going very well…. So my wife and I had to think. We asked, ‘Why did the Lord send us here?’”

It became clear to Chase when he visited the Nepal Bible Society. Chase says, “They wanted to have some electronic Bibles, but they didn’t have the ability to do it. So when I came in the door and said, ‘Do you want to try to do something like this?’ they were really excited.”

Chase had worked for IBM for 10 years before joining MAF. He says it took about nine months to convert files and customize software, but the project is now complete. Two new products were just dedicated: “A ‘Go Bible’ so they can have two Nepali Bibles on cell phone technology, and also an e-Bible program that [allows them] to have the Nepali Bible along with a commentary and a dictionary, all in Nepali.”

About 350 people celebrated as Chase demonstrated two electronic versions of the Nepali Bible on November 30, 2010. After the service, the enthusiastic crowd purchased 100 copies of e-Bible on CD and another 70 on flash drives. The number has since climbed dramatically. Go-Bible is available via download from the NBS Web site .

NBS leaders then honored Tim & Karen Chase for their role in developing these tools and presented them with a framed letter of appreciation. The NBS General Secretary Elder Tej Bahadur Jirel said, “With the generous help of Mission Aviation Fellowship, we are able to provide a software product that will greatly help Nepali Christians in the study of the Scriptures. This site will be updated with current information as we learn more from our users’ experience with the program.”

Chase says having an electronic version of the Nepali Bible is strategic. “A lot of Nepali people are living outside of Nepal. Some of them are living in the Middle East where it might not be popular to carry around a hard-copy Bible.”

This allows people to read the Bible in a less threatening manner. He also says the electronic version of the Bible allows them to share the Gospel by sending Bible verses to people via SMS text or e-mail.

Chase says the e-Bible for PC will have a specific target: “Pastors and Bible school students who, up until this point, have been doing a lot of their studying in English, which isn’t their first language. Having this tool available will give them a lot of power that they haven’t had in the past.”

Chase is now praying that a Nepali support team will be developed to maintain these valuable tools.

While MAF is known for aviation, MAF also provides distance learning technologies to help train indigenous pastors who otherwise would not have access to biblical teaching or leadership training. Through partnerships with other organizations, MAF supplies digital biblical reference and study materials, helps establish learning centers, and provides cutting-edge learning solutions that support the growth of the church. You can learn more about MAF-Learning Technologies.

Digicel Papua New Guinea plan on a roll out of 3G or Wimax mobile web service in the next 6 months.  According to their product development manager it is not yet decided which technology will be selected for the service.

Their goal is to be PNG’s leading mobile data service provider.  At the moment Digicel mobile web data is available on GPRS enabled handsets and Digicel charge this data at the rate of PGK1.99 per MB (equivalent to AUD$0.82/MB)

To compare this to what option we have in Australia right now – Virgin Mobile offer 3G web access plans AUD$15 for 1GB of data (AUD$0.015/MB or 4toia per megabyte)

Mobile Web services currently available in PNG for mobile web access:

Digicel Web Access – GPRS – PGK1.99 per MB, to GPRS handsets or Digimodem (USB)
at PGK2 per megabyte, Im not even going to try this one out…….

Telikom X’Cess – 3G-CDMA – PGK0.20 per MB, to X’cess EVDO (USB)

I picked up a Telikom Xcess CDMA modem from Telikom Mt Hagen a couple of days ago and did some speed tests around Kagamuga (Mt Hagen, WHP, PNG) using www.speedtest.net (with nothing else running in the background, and connecting to the Brisbane server).

The modem itself is an ADU-510c (pictured right), and came with a USB extender and software disk.
I had to install  run it on Windows 7 in compatibility mode for Windows XP.

Results from speed tests so far:  (fastest download – 2270kbps at POM International airport)

May 25 Tuesday 530pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 40Kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 453ms

May 25 Tuesday 545pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 310kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 276ms

May 25 Tuesday 6pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 40kb/s Upload – 10kb/s
latency 1333ms

May 25 Tuesday 850pm
couldnt connect – verifying, terminated

May 27  Thursday 410pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 350kb/s Upload – 40kb/s
latency 244ms

May 27 Thursday 415pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 710kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 244ms

May 27 Thursday 420pm
Raining
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 850kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 284ms

May 27 Thursday 600pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 980kb/s Upload – 60kb/s
latency 229ms

May 27 Thursday 610pm
Kagamuga Airport, Mt Hagen
Download – 1290kb/s Upload – 60kb/s
latency 224ms

May 27 Thursday 710pm
Kagamuga
Download – 320kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 235ms
May 27 Thursday 745pm
Kagamuga
Download – 860kb/s Upload – 50kb/s
latency 206ms

May 29 Saturday
Mt Hagen Squash Club
Time          Dwn (kbps)     Up(kbps)
400pm      1240                50
405pm        540                50
410pm       1460               60
415pm       1160               50
425pm      1740               60

May 30th

POM International Terminal

515pm     1430     70
520pm    1870     80
530pm     2270    80