Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Off Topic You HAVE to listen to this if you ever bought a gadget made in China

Sorry Dave
But your SmartDNS Link is a completely different service type......offering a different free service

Let me try and give you an example.......

The US has many different Music & Streaming Services (E.g. Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, ABC Replay, NBC Replay ESPN Replay etc., etc.,)

Likewise, the UK has many (e.g. Spotify, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, LoveFilm, etc.)

Now if a User lives or travels to Ireland or France, then if he tries to Surf to ANY of the above Sites, then he will get a message similar to "Not Available in Your Area"

The answer has been to use a VPN on EACH computer.........Overplay's monthly charge allows you to appear as if you are in ANY US, European, Asian or African city............so again, if you are in Ireland or France, your Computer will act like it's in New York or London...........thereby allowing you access to the above services

The issue is that the User needs to activate the VPN......and then select the right "location" for that Service..........e.g. New York for Netflix........or London for BBC iPlayer

The two key differences with SmartDNS combined with Overplay are as follows

1) Configuring your Router with SmartDNS allows ALL the Devices within your home to access the above Services...........result is than a person in France or Ireland can access any of the US or UK Services as if they were in that country.........no further configuration is required by the User.......handy for family users

2) Configuring your Computer with SmartDNS allows a Travelling Computer to access ANY of the above US or UK Services.........again no further software configuration is required by the User........no more selecting the right VPN for the right Service........the User can simply bounce between the UK BBC iPlayer and the US Netflix, without making any changes

Another benefit for the later user is that he maintains the Full Speed of his local Broadband connection.........while typically VPN Connections are lower for several technical and Encryption reasons

Ronnie, much thanks...was getting concerned for a minute that I could not find something that should have been there...

Back on topic.

The MP3 podcast of this show is now available.

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.MP3/podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/454.mp3

George,

Thank you for posting this. I feel that the best response I can make is for me to pass it on to others who I think may be interested.

Locus

That's good you were able to get it from the UK.

It's a great show.

They always look at things from a different angle.

That was a great program, thanks OP..I been to shenzhen several times and it really has changed so much within a very short period of time.

I remember one night going back to the hotel and noticed a few work men starting to put some cones out ready for some construction. The new road was in built in 1 night and by the time we checked out and heading back down to HK they had cars and all the other traffic going down it.