Archive for August, 2012

New tech – hotspots

Monday, August 27th, 2012

I encountered a very cool technology today.   A cellular hot-spot.    

This is a cell phone that can access the Internet via the cellular system and which then rebroadcasts the Internet access to other devices around itself via WiFi.

In the case I’ve found, it is an Android HTC  phone, tethered to the T-Mobile network here in the U.S.   The app itself is called “Hot-Spot” and it came with the HTC Android phone.

I’m told that cell providers like AT&T and T-Mobile here in the U.S. are not enthusiastic about the “Hot-Spot” concept and they are working out how to either block folks from sharing their signal or to charge them for the extra devices accessing the Internet via the hotspot.

There are also free-lance apps around (not from the cell phone maker) that can do this but I’ve read that these can be buggy.  One such is “MyWi”.

If you know more about all of this or have corrections to what I’ve posted here, let me know.

Dennis

U.S. Pharmacy Prices

Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

I had a Prostatectomy in August of 2009.   One of the consequences of that operation is a tendency towards impotence since the nerves that control erections are seriously disturbed by the process of removing the Prostate Gland.  

If you are marginally impotent, as I was, following the surgery, Erectile Disfunction drugs like Cialis are indicated.   And they are, in fact a great help.

But the prices of Cialis is astronomical.   

I’ve tried ordering the cheaper generic stuff from India but, in truth, I have no confidence in it nor to I think it works.

So, that left me with ordering it in New Zealand or in the U.S.   New Zealand doesn’t subsidize Cialis as part of their medical system so they are simply charging U.S. prices with a shipment markup added.

In the USA, for 45 – 20mg pills, the cost is $1100+ USD.   Ouch!   I paid that last year when I was here and this time, I thought I’d have to do the same.

But, I had a trip up to Canada scheduled to visit a good friend of mine and, in the course of things, I found myself with most of a day to kill here while my friend was at work one day.

I decided to see if I could do better price-wise on Cialis here.

The bottom line is, “yes”, I could do better.   I paid only 60% of the US price here and got the ‘real deal’ Cialis from the genuine U.S. pharmaceutical firm that makes it.

If you need this stuff and live anywhere near the Canadian border, this is worth knowing about.

Get a U.S. prescription (original copy) and bring it to a Canadian walk-in clinic.   Pay the $60 CDN (your price may vary) to see a doctor and ask him to rewrite the prescription as a Canadian prescription.   Then carry that to a Canadian pharmacy and you’ve saved yourself 40% off the U.S. prices.

Why are U.S. prices so high?  Such an obvious question and none of our elected representatives (elected to supposedly represent our interests) can tell you.  Maybe it is all those Big Pharma donations that helped get them elected?

Dennis