We spent five days in Cancun, Mexico and just got back. It was a lot of fun and relaxation. The beaches were fantastic! During the travels this summer I used a lot of technologies myself and noticed the use of various technologies around me. The first and foremost thing I notice is that no matter where one is, most people are carrying a mobile device. Whether it is the trains in Malaysia or relaxing on the beaches in Cancun, many have a cell phone they are checking or talking on or are looking at things on their tablets. Of course, it goes without saying that it included me and it made me not feel guilty 🙂

Secondly, wireless was everywhere. However, depending on where you are, the access can be an issue. In Kuala Lumpur, I was able to get WiFi access perfectly in the hotel, guest WiFi at University of Malaya was a bit of an issue, wireless at Starbucks was perfect. In Cancun, one of the hotels we stayed in had no WiFi in the room (we vacated the place the next day and moved to another hotel!), but the other was perfect and the WiFi was available even in the beaches adjoining the hotel (several feet away). However, Starbucks required you to purchase something and you had to use the password printed on the receipt (waste of paper) and you had only 15 minutes of access.

I had paid for international data roaming to AT&T, so, I was always connected. However, I had to make sure to turn data roaming off when I was connected to WiFi to avoid AT&T counting my data access through WiFi as though it was through them. I hate doing this. In addition, I had to reconfigure a whole bunch of automatic sync settings on my phone because every time I took a picture, my phone uploads it to my Google+. These can quickly add up, and indeed they did! For this reason, I started carrying my tablet with me and took pictures on it rather than the phone. A huge inconvenience for me. My tablet is WiFi only! If I immediately wanted to post a picture on Twitter or FaceBook, I was unable to. I had to wait until I came back to the hotel. I can’t wait for the data roaming charges to reduce drastically!

Selfies were EVERYWHERE you turned. Of course, I took some too. Whereas the selfies are great, they highlight your face way too much and minimize the surroundings. Of course, there is a gadget to solve this, called a monopod. They are basically extenders for your cell phone or tablet, thereby increasing the field of vision. Brilliant idea. Some come with a switch to click at your fingertip and others require you to activate a timer on your cell phone (not all cell phones have this capability). I was envious of some youngsters who used this not to take a selfie, but a closeup of some insects in the rainforest in Malaysian Borneo. However, the most important observation here is that there were very few people carrying a camera! I rested my camera too. My tablet provided me some fantastic photos and videos for the future.

I did not want to pay a lot of money to AT&T to make phone calls. So, I basically VPN’d in whenever I was on a WiFi connection and used my Google Voice to make calls for free to friends and family in the US. I also used both Google Voice and Skype to make international calls this way, which was much cheaper than using my phone. Everyone is on the web and you can do everything there. We used a taxi service in Cancun to get to the airport and forgot to get the receipt. I went to their website and sent an email and also used the Live chat to get a receipt emailed to me!

I told you about a hotel we landed in Cancun where there was no WiFi in the room. We found another one by the beach. We wanted to go and check it out. We loved it, but when we wanted to make a reservation, they said they are booked solid for a whole month and they can’t find a room for us! Wait a minute… I logged into their Guest WiFi in the lounge, went to Expedia and booked a room. In 5 minutes I went back to the reception and showed the reservation and the receptionist explained how these travel companies have the right of way to rooms that they themselves don’t! The power of the web. I am reminded of how sometimes going to the store to make a purchase is a stupid idea because the same item costs less on their website!

However, in the rush to do book into a new hotel, we forgot to check that the reservation for the first hotel required us to cancel the whole reservation or lose the entire money. In other words, I cannot actually cancel the room on the second day and get credit for the remaining four nights. Oh well, I was not worried. The next morning, I checked out of the hotel and Tweeted a direct message to Expedia asking for help. First I got the official answer “You cannot do it – read the cancellation policy”. I tweeted back that not having WiFi in the room is a killer. The person at the other end said, if the hotel is OK, they will honor it. I went and talked to the receptionist and he said he is fine with it. While waiting in the lobby, through some 10 direct message, I got the credit. I even heard partially the conversation between the Expedia agent and the hotel receptionist. I tweeted a thank you to Expedia publicly!

And I was connected constantly with everyone on twitter and facebook! Yes, I also got some work done while lying down by the beach and enjoying a nice margarita. My colleagues tell me that I did not cause any serious damages to any systems!