Aside

In 12 hours, I’ll be on a train bound for Paris. In 16 hours, I’ll be on a plane bound for Chicago. In about 36 hours, I’ll be home in Oakland. My trip to Geneva has been, like many of my other quick stops, has been productive, short, and yet just the right amount of time. Luca picked me up from the airport, having taken time out of his vacation in Ticino to do so, and took me to his…

BBC: Mr Obama, who has described the Iraq war as “tragic”, said he was “flattered” by Mr Howard’s statement. He said: “I think it’s flattering that one of George Bush’s allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced. “I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops on the ground now, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1,400, so if he is (ready) to fight the good fight…

Greetings from Berlin, where I’m crashing with John and Aimee for one night before heading onto Geneva. Well, more accurately I’ve just done my crashing for the night, seeing as it’s morning here now. But they’ve been gracious hosts in their apartment just off of Bornholmer Straße in the northeastern part of the city. Last night we walked around the neighborhood, hit up a bar, went out for Japanese food, and then hit up another bar on the way home.…

Probably one of the most interesting things that I’ve heard on this trip, from a guy who is working on setting up more mobile data services in Estonia. Televork is buying equipment from a Chinese company, ZTE. “Europeans are trying to enjoy their quality of life while the Chinese are trying to improve it.” — Laur Lemendik Services Development Manager Televork February 9, 2007 Tallinn, Estonia

As if five weeks and eight countries (Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, France, UK, Estonia, Germany, Switzerland) weren’t enough, I just got word that The World (PRI/BBC/WGBH) is sending me to Riga, Latvia for a story tomorrow. Veljo and I will hop the bus to Riga (it’s five hours to the south), doing interviews Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I’ll catch my flight onto Berlin on Sunday afternoon, and Veljo will return home that evening. Now at least this time, I can…

Yes, Tallinn is very cold. But it sure has its moments.

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NYT: The central bank’s latest response to these problems, announced this week, was to declare inflation illegal.

PC World: Cyrus Farivar, PC World Monday, February 05, 2007 01:00 AM PST Right before your eyes, your cell phone has morphed into a portable computer. Whether you’re searching Google via text messages, using Short Message Service (SMS) to make international calls, or e-mailing a voice message, these tips will help jump-start your cell phone’s inner PC–and make your life easier to boot. Text Your Google Search For the price of sending a text message, you can unleash the power…

Once again, I find myself sitting on Veljo‘s couch, using the plentiful WiFi. London was fine, albeit brief (and expensive! Good Lord that place is expensive. Basically one pound has the same purchasing power as a dollar, but it’s actually two dollars.) I had lunch with Tom Standage, my editor at The Economist, at a place near the office (25 St. James’ St. — Tube: Green Park), and we discussed tech sorts of things and my book that I’m working…