The earthquake is receiving extensive and sympathetic coverage in Japan.

The folk here have a soft spot for Christchurch which is thought of as a safe, beautiful city. It is also a popular destination for students to study English, and a number of students were in the CTV building - Several are still out of contact.

I heard an expert talk about how advanced NZ is in constructing buildings to withstand earthquakes, but Japan also well knows that this is no guarantee.

Thanks Matt - The (brand) name for the technology on my phone is FeliCa which does indeed appear to use Near Field Communication. It's interesting that it is externally powered i.e. It doesn't use the phone's battery. And that explains why you can pay this way with cards as well as phones.

The way I understand it is:
The square bar code is really just a quick way to get some information (often a URL) into your phone via the phone camera.
The payment functionality I was referring to appears to be some hardware within the phone, which allows you to swipe the phone over a special device in the convenience store or when you go through the ticket gates. I think it's like a debit card - You "charge" it up with some money. I'm not sure if it allows some credit. I don't think it is intended for large purchases.

Actually, can't Intel-based macs boot Windows?

Rich - I believe the options are:
Boot Camp - Allows you to boot Windows.
Parallels - Allows you to run Windows applications in the Mac OS X environment.

Hi Stephen - Japan's fine. Good grief - Cell phones are used here for TV viewing (1seg), paying for things (at shops, train tickets, etc), mail, blogs, video phoning, etc. I guess there's more of an environment for cell phone use when you commute on a train instead of in a car (or in Stephen's case, on a bicycle).

Thanks for the Ubuntu/Mac story. Perhaps Ubuntu is the Linux for people on the Mac end of the spectrum.

Rich - I'm not certain why Linux seems to have less problems in this area. I suspect:
1. The libraries tend to be in their own package - not part of the software you are installing. So you don't have software fighting with other software, each trying to get it's own version of the library installed.
2. Linux libraries tend to be backward compatible. You may have a software installation which triggers an upgrade of a library, but you won't often see an installation which demands you downgrade a library.
3. Most modern Linux distributions take care of the dependencies for you. I'm not sure if Windows provides the same level of governance on what are often 3rd party libraries.

Thanks Russell.

I'm coming from a Linux background, and considering a Mac for a second computer.

i.e. I haven't needed to worry about viruses, adware, spyware, DLL conflicts and the like. I was also involved in a cult ritual, although my memory of it has been mostly erased. And I'm able to choose a pretty good design for my hardware (currently Dell Latitude X1 - which has no fan - blessed silence, while a little warm).

The "everything just works" bit is probably not what a Linux user wants. In fact I suspect that more Linux users would move to the Mac if it wasn't already so damn finished. It's like presenting a pristine condition vintage car to a restorer hobbyist - It's great, but there's nothing left to do.

For a second computer though, I'm keen. One of those MacBooks might be a good start.

And:
"What was it that made you switch?"
"How was your first month or so of using a Mac?"

Russell - I'd like to hear more about how you made your computer choice. Is there specific software that you prefer on the Mac? Do you like the Apple design aesthetics?

"leaking" is basically stealing for a good reason.

The legal commentator on Nine to Noon today seemed to me to be saying that "leaking" is not stealing. "Leaking" is the term used for when information is legally accessible by a group of people who (wisely or unwisely) trust each other. If one of them passes the information outside the group, we call it a "leak". If someone outside the group takes the information directly, is it "stealing". Stealing is a more serious matter.

If the e-mail was stolen, then I'm uncertain as to how I feel abut it being published.
If the e-mail was leaked without Brash's approval, then Brash probably needs to rethink his IT policies.