A friend recommended that I pick up a magicJack before heading to Japan. Yesterday I did. What is magicJack you ask? It is a device/service that allows you to make free phone calls. I picked mine up at RadioShack for $40. You can also buy them online, but with shipping you’ll end up spending about $47.

I set it up at home on my laptop and at work on my desktop without incident. The installation process worked a little differently on each, and in neither case did it automatically install like it was supposed to. In both cases I had to launch an executable file that was supposed to run on its own. The install was fast and easy once I launched the correct file. I had no further problems.

Currently I spend about $25 a month for unlimited calls using voip.com. Hopefully by the time I get back from Japan in 2010 magicJack will have local numbers in my area so I can use it instead.

With no local numbers available, I opted for a Eugene, Oregon phone number. I can still call anyone with this device in the U.S. or Canada for free even while in Japan.

The marketing on the package is a bit deceptive. It says “Free International Calls.” When you read the fine print what you will find is that “International Calls” means calls to the U.S.A. and Canada from anywhere in the world–not calls from the U.S.A. to anywhere in the world. So, when I’m in Japan, I can call the U.S. for free but I can’t call other numbers in Japan for free. It costs about $.02 a minute to call Japan landlines and about $.15 a minute to call Japanese cell phones.

One of the nice things about magicJack is you don’t have to have a headset, nice computer speakers/microphone, or a webcam to use it. You can simply plug in any phone and speak and listen through it. It does work through a headset or webcam though. Another nice thing, compared to Skype, is the other person doesn’t have to be using magicJack. You can call regular phones and regular cell phones without any additional fees.

The cost is really incredible. $40 gets you the device and your first year of unlimited calls. You can then pay $60 for 5 more years of unlimited calling to the US and Canada or $20 a year on a year-by-year basis. That is not a typo. $20 a year–not month–for unlimited calls, voice mail, caller id, etc.

Finally, not only will I be able to call from Japan for free, but since this is a U.S. phone number, friends and family from the U.S. can call me for free or for much lower rates than they would normally have to pay when calling Japan.

Posted on June 5th, 2009 under Other. Tags: magic jack, travel related goods. Comments: 28

The fire sale around here continues. 😉 I’ve been going through some things in an effort to reduce the amount of stuff we will be putting into storage when we move to Japan. I came across a nice pair of binoculars that I haven’t used in years. In fact, I never used these much.

Canon no longer makes the 15×45 IS Binoculars. They’ve done a minor upgrade with the Canon 18×50 Image Stabilization Binoculars which list for $1,600, but they can usually be found online for about $1,200.

I saw a pair of the 15×45 IS binoculars (which were probably used much more than my pair) go for $850 + shipping on ebay. If you are interested I’ll let these go for $750 including shipping to addresses in the U.S. A guy recently sold these same binoculars for $250 more than what I’m asking.

Included are the binoculars, shields for the lenses, neck strap, and the hard case–all original and all in outstanding condition. These binoculars freeze whatever you are looking at with the touch of a button. They are great for astronomy, viewing wildlife, and sporting events. I haven’t used them for anything else, but I’m sure there are many other applications. Spying perhaps?

Check out the online reviews of the Canon 15×45 IS Binoculars. You won’t find any unhappy owners.

Don’t let these beauties sit in storage. Take them off my hands, enjoy them, and put them to good use.

Specs from the Canon website:
– High-magnification (15x) binoculars with built-in image stabilizer.
– Ultra-low dispersion (UD) glass elements for outstanding image quality.
– Doublet field-flattener for sharp, distortion-free images from edge-to-edge.
– Water-resistant non-slip rubber coating for superior protection and secure handling.
– Long eye relief (15 mm), wide field of view (67 degrees).

Posted on April 16th, 2009 under Other. Tags: accessories, reviews, travel related goods. Comments: 3

In my ongoing efforts to liquidate my possessions that aren’t coming with me to Japan in a few months, I’m selling the camera that has taken most of the pictures you see on this blog.

The condition of this camera is like new. There are no scratches, it functions perfectly, and it includes everything you’d receive if buying it new (except software as a more recent version can be downloaded for free here). I’m also throwing in a Gear camera bag ($20 value) for free. The Canon S3 will be shipped in its original box.

The retail price is $499.99. Take it and the camera bag off my hands for $200 plus postage. For more specs see this page.

Posted on February 27th, 2009 under Other. Tags: accessories, travel related goods. Comments: 2

Let’s put this one in the “travel accessories” category.

Today my fourth mp3 player arrived in the mail. My first was an RCA Lyra RD1090A. It worked great, still does, but it is a bit bulky and requires an armband or a pocket. The on-board memory is meager at 256MB, but you can insert SD cards which is really nice. The problem is that the RCA unit has problems reading my cards larger than 2GB.

My second mp3 player was a 1GB Apple iPod shuffle. I loved the size of my first shuffle and the ease with which I could just clip it on. I could have lived with the shuffle forever were it not for the storage capacity issue–1GB is not nearly enough if you listen to lots of music. Apple recently came out with a 2GB version, but for $69 I passed. I would pay $69 for an 8GB iPod shuffle–not for a 2GB shuffle.

I sold my 1GB shuffle and purchased my third mp3 player, a 4GB generic shuffle on ebay for $36 a few months ago. My third mp3 player was horrible, defective even, so I returned it.

Today, the following package arrived:

I purchased it from mall.hk for a mere $17.47 which included free shipping. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:
– Price!
– 4GB of storage (vs. iPod shuffle with a max capacity of only half or a fourth as much)
– Transfer speed (between 1.6 and 2MB per second–the last generic shuffle I had transferred files at 200-400k per second)
– Headphones actually work well (unlike the ones I received with my third mp3 player which were complete garbage)
– Wall charger included (iPod shuffle doesn’t even include a wall charger)

Cons:
– Although it looks like a shuffle, it doesn’t shuffle (randomize) the songs; songs are played in the order copied–I got around this somewhat by copying the songs randomly so I won’t have to hear the same artist’s songs back to back
– Shipping takes forever from mall.hk; the mp3 player pictured above took an entire month to arrive
– Picture on mall.hk is of a real iPod shuffle; as you can see from these photos the button layout on this knock-off version is different
– Unit is slightly thicker than a real iPod shuffle (not a big deal)
– When unit is turned on, first song is always played, followed by song #2, etc. This is a big pain in the ass I’m hoping the company can send me some software to fix.

I will comment on battery life once I’ve drained it a couple of times. Right now I’m somewhat happy with this purchase. Unfortunately, I’ve already filled up all 4 GB. It won’t be too long before I’m longing for an 8GB shuffle.

48 hours later update: I found a work around for the first song always being played on startup problem. I don’t turn the unit off. Instead I just hit pause. The battery doesn’t appear to be used when the pause is on and it starts right were it left off when I hit pause again hours or days later. The battery has not been used up so far. I’ve listened to probably 3 hours of music and had it on pause for another 24 hours+ so the battery life appears to be good.

With the workaround and at least decent battery, so far, I have to up my review from “somewhat happy” to “happy.”

Posted on February 20th, 2009 under Other. Tags: recommendations, reviews, travel related goods. Comments: 73