Emerging Technologies (ETech)

I'm spending this week at O'Reilly's Emerging Technologies conference in Santa Clara, so it isn't 5.30am local time ... though it is for me, since I've spent all day on a plane. The good news is that the Westin Santa Clara has broadband to the room for $11.95 a day and Paramount's Great America® theme park and 72-par championship golf course are "right across the street" (though I don't expect I'll make that). The bad news is that the phone charges are even worse than Marriott's (which may have gone up since I last stayed in one). According to the Westin price list, if I dial my own international call, the hotel adds a surcharge of $4.50 (it must have bought an expensive switchboard) then charges me 110% of the operator-assisted day rate for the duration of the call. I think I'll send my wife an e-mail rather than spend £25 telling her I've arrived. It's a compelling argument for the use of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).