First and foremost: Get out of San José as quickly as possible

Since the capital possesses the only international Airport, this is the place you’ll most likely end up arriving. The problem is: it’s inland. So compared to the coast its weather is much cooler and it is more likely to rain. The other thing is, in contrast to the rest of the country, there is a relatively high crime rate and as soon as the “ticos” find out you’re a tourist (which is relatively hard to hide if you’re a blonde, white, middle european looking person like me), they try to rip you off every chance they get. Adding to that it is loud, crowded, dirty and generally not worth of staying very long, in my opinion.

As soon as you get out of the city though, the weather gets warmer and sunny quickly, the people get really nice and the country spreads out it’s beautiful, diverse landscape for you to explore.

The Pacific coast, southern end of Peninsula Nicoya

So after two days in San José I headed out for the west coast, since the rainy season had already started on the Caribbean side, and settled for a stay near Tambor in the southern part of Costa Rica’s peninsula Nicoya. I checked into a quiet resort for a week and did nothing but relaxing in a hammock under the palm trees and finishing 4 books on my Kindle (the 4-Hour Workweek being one of them). My daily routine also consisted of a run on the beach in the morning, followed by a general full body workout, using whatever was available. I can tell you, you’ll get really weird looks if you start doing bench presses, squats and curls using driftwood, pull-ups on palm trees and inclined push-ups on beach rocks. But it was a lot of fun!

Places you should definitely check out around the southern end of Nicoya:

• Montezuma – a sleepy little town with a very “hippie feeling” to it. My special tip is to get a table (preferably the one where you’re sitting on the floor – japanese style – right at the beach front) at the superb “Playa De Los Artistas” and watch the sunset, while having one of their delicious meals from the daily changing, handwritten menu.
• Santa Teresa/Mal Pais – a never ending beach with various different breaks suited for long-boarders, short-boarders, beginners & experts alike. I watched the “Reef Classic Costa Rica 2012″ surf competition there and had a lot of fun seeing those guys master the waves. Also if you’re there, be sure to stick around for the breathtaking sunset.
• Tambor – for the best typical “tico food” and a cheap place to sleep, check out “Restaurante Cristina”. I had the freshest, delicious red snapper there, served on the patio in front of the house.

One word of caution: if you think about renting a car to get around in that area, definitely get a 4×4, because only a minority of the “streets” are paved. Most of them are just dirt roads and really, really dusty (so keep your windows closed).

Playa Grande

This little gem is located a bit further up the west coast, right next to the town of Tamarindo, but conveniently separated from that noisy, crowded (very, very) touristy place by a small estuary which you can cross for one dollar on one of the boats that are always waiting there. Turning away from Tamarindo you are presented with a quiet, miles long beach with wonderful waves and surprisingly few people. About 100% of the folks in the water are on a surf board, starting in the early morning until the sun sinks directly into the water. I had the pleasure of checking off one of my life goals here by surfing while the sunset dispersed it’s deep red color on the waves. This is real soul surfing!

The accompanying town seems to be primarily inhabited by american ex-tourists, who just stayed there, because it’s such an awesome, laid back place to live. I settled in a nice little hostel called “Playa Grande Inn” which had surf boards & bikes for rent and the nicest, most welcoming crew I’ve ever experienced in all of my journeys. I immediately felt as part of the big Playa Grande family and had lots of fun on several evenings, drinking at the hostels own bar with Herman “the best bar keeper in Costa Rica” (the words of another guest) and enjoying their homemade pizzas and fresh seafood.

Another one of Playa Grande’s attractions are the big leatherback turtles that lay their eggs on the beach during “arribadas” (turtle nesting season). Hatching season is from October to May and must surely be a sight to see. In 1990 the whole beach was incorporated into “Marino Las Baulas National Park”, which is why you can’t build houses at the beachfront any more, or have lights shining in that direction. Some people that bought lots of land facing the beach are really pissed off because of that fact, but it secures the whole area from ending up like Tamarindo with all it’s gift shops and cafes.

I really liked staying in Playa Grande and plan on returning there in the future, I hope it will keep it’s charm and quiet beauty.

General Costa Rica tips & findings

I really don’t know why, but tico’s don’t seem to be night owls. Nearly everywhere I went 10pm was about as long as the evening lasted. At 11pm at the latest everyone was at home, in their beds and sleeping. I reluctantly adapted (staying awake well after 2am most of the time while at home), but I guess it had it’s advantages, as I was wide awake and full of energy every morning at 7am and could head out for the first surf of the day before having breakfast.

Your cell phone will be useless because CR’s cell network apparently was built by some Chinese company that uses totally different frequencies than most (?) of the rest of the world. Having a phone with WiFi pays off, as that’s what’s available for free nearly everywhere in the inhabited areas. Be prepared for frequent power outages though, that can last for hours!

Ticos don’t have street addresses. So if you’re staying in a hotel somewhere be sure to pick up one of those little cards with a description on how to get there, otherwise you’ll be stuck trying to explain to a cab driver that you want to go to that place around the corner from the supermarket, near the neon sign right down that one big street…
Their “addresses” literally look like this: In the district of Papas, turn left at the big Coca Cola sign, 100 meters south, 50 meters west, that building there, in San José.  I really wouldn’t want to be the postman over there!

Get friendly with the local wildlife. You’ll encounter every species from geckos to spiders, monkeys and colorful birds everywhere inside and outside your room.

Know how to speak Spanish. Even though a good amount of Costa Rica’s GDP must derive from tourism, very little of the people know how to speak English. I even encountered one tourist agency, where I called for a shuttle bus ticket, that had English brochures and websites but had to put me through three times until I reached someone who was able to understand my request.
If your Spanish is sub-par don’t despair though, only learn one phrase that can mean everything from “hello”, “good bye”, “how are you” to “everything’s ok” and conveniently sums up the whole Costa Rica experience:

Pura Vida!

I guess we’ve had this a long time coming, but now it’s official: Plazes.com will go out of service.

I’ve received this email today:

Hi Azathoth,

Thanks for being part of Plazes. We hope you enjoyed the journey, past or present.

The time has come to say farewell, and next week, Plazes will go out of service.

From next week, you can go to Plazes.com and move your history to Nokia Maps. Your plazes will become favourites on Nokia Maps for your PC or Mac. Shortly after next week, you’ll also be able to sync your favourites with Nokia Maps on your phone.

If you like, you’ll also be able to download and save a history file containing all your activities and plazes.

With Nokia Maps, you can search for interesting places and find your way there with walking, driving and public transport directions. And if you find somewhere new on your travels, you can add it to the map, write reviews, post a rating and add photos.

If you have any questions, please contact Nokia Support.

Kind regards

Your Plazes Team

For those who don’t know; Plazes.com was a very early (I’ve became a member in early 2005) geosocial network developed in Berlin, Germany, that worked off your internet connection’s router Mac address as a location identifier. GPS or WiFi location weren’t available then. Later you could also check in via text message from your (pre-smart) phone.

Other then the technicalities it was pretty similar to what foursquare is today (minus most of the gamification features). It was fun! I can remember one time, when I chased down Singapore Airport during a 30 minute stopover, just to reach the smokers lounge at the other end and connect my iBook to the free WiFi so I can score another checkin.

When Nokia bought the company in 2008 I had the feeling, that development of the service pretty much stopped and eventually I too stopped using it. My last checkin was 2 years ago and that’s probably also the last time I logged on to their site. This Email today just reminded me of my account and I enjoyed looking through previous travel endavours of my former self.

Thank you & R.I.P. Plazes.com 

I recently upgraded the whole media consumption set-up in my apartment. This post describes all of the different aspects, hardware and software components in use.

Hardware

• Mac Mini – this is the main hub of the whole operation. It sits in my living room, connected to sound system and projector.
  Specs: 2.3GHz i5, 2GB RAM, 500GB HD, Intel HD 3000 Graphics.
• Apple TV – the new 1080p one. Connected to the LCD TV in my room.
• iPad – also the new one.
• Projector - still the same old one that won’t die. Only 720p, but I refuse to replace it before it has reached the end of it’s lifetime.
• Logitech Harmony - universal remote to control the cable box, sound system, projector and XBMC (via Mac Mini’s infra red port) in the living room.
• 2TB harddisk - connected to Mac Mini via USB.
• 2x AirPort Express – connected to speakers in the kitchen and bathroom.

Software on Mac Mini

• XBMC – with it’s recent Eden release and a few configuration tweaks the perfect, easy to use frontend for all my movies & TV shows.
• Transmission – Torrent client with a nice web based remote frontend.
• Catch – to automatically download new TV show episodes.
• Air Media Server – serves media to iOS devices.
• AirServer – receives AirPlay streams from iOS devices.

Software on iOS

• Air Media Center – plays movies and music from Mac Mini via Air Media Server.
• TouchPad – substitutes mouse and keyboard for Mac Mini.
• Mocha VNC Lite – remote desktop software.
• Apples Remote App – controls Apple TV or iTunes music on Mac Mini.

Outline

Mac Mini is my always-on media server. It serves it’s video signal, running XBMC, to the projector. XBMC periodically scans all the appropriate directories on the external harddisk for new movies and TV show episodes.

iTunes is running with a copy of all of my music and Home Sharing turned on. That way I can listen to music on my iPad, iPhone or Apple TV whenever I’m at home and also stream it to AirPlay receivers in the living room (AirServer), my room (Apple TV), kitchen (AirPort Express) & bathroom (AirPort Express).

Further Mac Mini checks the showRSS website via Catch for my subscribed TV shows and downloads new episodes via Transmission. The finished episodes are sorted into the correct directories on the external harddisk. I can also add new downloads via Transmission’s web frontend that’s accessible from the outside and very usable even on small smartphone screens. That way, whenever I turn on the projector in the living room, I get greeted by XBMC with all new and unwatched content in my library.

To tie in all iOS devices, I am running Air Media Server and AirServer.
The first serving the same media as XBMC’s library to iOS devices connecting via Air Media Center iOS App. This also works remotely since Air Media Center automatically configures port forwarding on my Time Capsule. AirServer enables me to send media via AirPlay from my iPad or iPhone to the projector’s output in the living room. AirServer also supports AirPlay mirroring in it’s latest version, which is really awesome for games like Real Racing 2 HD which I can now play on the big screen.

If I want to watch a movie or TV show in my room, I just fire up Air Media Center on my iPad and send it’s video output via AirPlay to the Apple TV.

With all those devices interconnected and relying, as much as possible, on Apple’s protocols, there is a myriad of different possibilities: from having different music playing on varying combinations of speakers throughout the apartment, to streaming movies to my tiny iPhone screen over 3G while riding the subway to work and everything in between. I think I’m quite happy with the way it’s all working together now, I think this might finally be a system sustainable a bit longer than all the previous hacked together arrangements.

Blogger Cthulhuchick constructed an eBook containing all of H. P. Lovecraft‘s short-stories and books. All of his works are now in the public domain so this is indeed legal to download to your computer.

There are multiple formats available and she even made a page that explains the installation for various devices.

I’ve already installed the book on my iPhone (the epub format works perfectly with Apple’s iBooks App) and will now re-read all of those amazing stories.

Get your copy here:
Free Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft for Nook and Kindle

<Pomax> 20 years from now, someone is going to have the radical idea to give users access to the underlying OS, rather than to the browser API, and he will be heralded a revolutionary.
<Pomax> All manner of programming languages will pop up that work outside “the browser”, giving access to “offline” applications, storing files in “user space”, even perhaps running in something called “kernel mode”.
<Pomax> It’ll be a brave new world.
<Mirell> It’s scary that’s believable.

via qdb.us

On that note, I’d like to point you to my new company website, where I do web & mobile app development …

42dev

There’s a new version, read about it here!

Finally I’ve accomplished to free myself from TV schedules, advertisments and all the other stuff that’s just not right anymore about commercial TV broadcasting. This post will outline which hard- & software is involved in my perfect TV setup, so you can attempt to rebuild it in your home.

Hardware:

• Projector
• AppleTV
• External 1TB harddisk
• iBook
• Apple Timecapsule

Software:

• Boxee
• Transmission
• Catch

So how did I chain it all together?

Firstly there is the iBook with Catch pulling my subscribed TV shows from showRSS. Whenever there is a new Release, Catch will download the torrent file and autostart it in Transmission. Then I have the 1TB drive connected via WiFi over Apple’s Timecapsule router and set up different groups in Transmission for each show (so they all have a defined save location). Whenever a file is finished downloading it will be transferred to the external drive in the show’s corresponding folder.

When I get home in the evening I can switch on the projector and the hacked AppleTV running Boxee and since I have “subscribed” all my shows in Boxee, it will tell me right on the start screen which new und unwatched episodes are available. Now I just have to select the show I want to watch. Ad-free, mostly in their english original language (and not the crappy, synced version in Austrian/German TV) and whenever I want.

via Froschschenkelsuppe

Look out for some upcoming pictures in my Flickr stream!

Dear readers,

I’m just writing to let you know, that I’ll be gone for a while now.
First I’m going to work at the Frequency Festival in St. Pölten for the next few days as IT administrator.
I’m especially looking forward to see Skunk Anansie, Muse, Massive Attack and 30 Seconds To Mars.

After the Festival my girlfriend and me are heading for our big journey which will take us to the following places:

• Singapore
• Cairns
• Brisbane
• Gold Coast
• Byron Bay
• Sydney
• Adelaide
• Alice Springs
• Melbourne
• Hong Kong
• …and probably a few more down under

I can’t wait until I’m back in my favorite country Australia!
Maybe – if I have net access – I’ll update this blog or my Flickr Account with some news while traveling but I’m not sure if I’ll find the time and motivation, so don’t bet on it