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Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

cantada.ca

91–100 of 122 posts

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#91
post #74
post #72

Poor man's SSL VPN ssh -D 9050 yourbox.net and set your system's SOCKS proxy to localhost:9050

sadly Flash will try a direct socket connection first and just ignore your system's proxy settings...

On OSX this will work for some Flash video implementations, but not others. (BBC iPlayer website: yes, Desktop: no; other UK TV channels: no) You can use https://github.com/apenwarr/sshuttle to transparently proxy all TCP connections (to whitelisted or non-blacklisted IPs) though. OSX and Linux only, though.

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#92
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agilo, you can get a GVoice like account on TellFi ( https://tellfi.ca ) disclaimer: I'm a founder there

Could you guys go for .03/minute? I could get .03/minute on my cell phone to call around a dozen countries in thailand ( http://www.truemove.com/en/Inter-SIM-postpay.rails ) and you can get 1500 for $30/month (0.03) minutes to call people anywhere in the US with t-mobile.

elai we're always trying to reduce cost, the reason for it being a bit higher is because we have the business features (it's like GVoice+) - maybe a 'dumbed down' version is in order?

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#94
Similar story here in Australia. Not surprising given the similarity between the two countries (though I note there are also some significant differences as well). Probably the most notable is the relatively small population compared to say the US. You'd think Canada actually has the greater advantage though.

What annoys me the most, however, is that the US and Australian governments allegedly signed a free trade agreement. Copyright laws were altered here to be more compatible with the US, though it has certainly not altered the extortion sought by distributors. Many US e-commerce sites including Amazon for non-book/dvd products won't post to Australia. I'm pretty sure they'll post to US territories such as Guan which isn't far off the Australian coast. Close enough that some Australian company run fibre there, to take advantage of surplus capacity they had. So free trade agreements don't really change much for consumers it seems (however, it should in theory reduce barriers for Australian companies to sell in the US and vice versa).

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#95
post #94

Similar story here in Australia. Not surprising given the similarity between the two countries (though I note there are also some significant differences as well). Probably the most notable is the relatively small population compared to say the US. You'd think Canada actually has the greater advantage though. What annoys me the most, however, is that the US and Australian governments allegedly signed a free trade agr…

I haven't been able to figure out why electronics can't be shipped internationally through Amazon either. The closest guess I can make has to do with FCC, and other countries' equivalent, requirements and interference. For example 802.11 uses different bands depending on what country it's licensed in. US is channels 1-12, but France for example goes 1-14.

I figure the OEM nor Amazon wants to indemnify the device from causing interference in countries it's not designed to work in. On the other hand I have no problem buying whatever the hell I want from some chinese stores.

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#97
post #47

I wouldn't call it a "service", per se, but you cannot buy a Kindle from Amazon.ca. You can, however (and this is more on-topic), buy books for it, but the selection is limited. Edit: I should add that a lot of the things that are available on Amazon.com (the US site) won't ship to Canada. You don't even get the option to pay for extra shipping charges; it just won't ship, period. Edit 2: An article about Amazon's ef…

I just checked, and Amazon says it can (now) ship Kindle to Canada. Customs duties, etc, but they can ship. FYI.

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#98
Surprised to see Netflix on there. I'm assuming you're referring to the streaming version. Considering Canada received it first, and the streaming version's only problem has to do with issues beyond Netflix's control. Basically, if you are going to include Netflix, you have to include every retailer who deals with digital distribution of copyrighted goods like Apple and Amazon as well.

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#99

I know it's not a big name consumer service, but cperciva's Tarsnap backup service is not available to Canadians because he doesn't want to deal with Canadian taxes.

Which is funny since he lives in Canada.

Canadian taxes can be a pain in the rear. I assume cperciva doesn't want to deal with collecting and remitting the HST for Canadian customers.

Re: Show HN: My weekend project, tracking the services you can't have in Canada

#100
post #44
post #28

Heres one: Last.fm's iphone app is not available in Canada.

But you can easily get it by setting up a US iTunes account which is slightly tricky but doable without a US credit or gift card. Edit: http://www.simonblog.com/2009/04/14/how-to-register-an-itune...

This only gets you access to free apps, right?
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