My letter to President Dilma Rousseff (of Brazil)

Dear President,

I live in Helsinki, Finland, and have little first hand exposure to rain forests.

However, I read this wonderful book on the Amazon, "The Tree of Rivers", which I wholeheartedly recommend to You.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Rivers-The-Story-Amazon/dp/0500514011/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335684957&sr=1-2

Through that book, it might be I know more of the rain forests than most Brazilians. And I'm worried - for you and for all of us.

Rain forests don't make for the best cultivated land, if cut, but their effect on the larger climate for Brazil is tremendous. They help provide rains for the southern areas which are far more prosperous, ecologically. This is the farming heart lands for your economy. By cutting deeper into the Amazon, you are risking changing the climate patterns for these farm lands. You are playing with fire.

So it is not for the sake of the planet, or us foreigners that you should stop cutting the jungle and rather start restoring it. It's for your own country, and it's ecological as well as economical future.

I'm not from Green Peace. I'm a single entrepreneur in Finland, trying to turn the tide of our planet. I am not in such a decisive seat as you are, but I can understand the conflicting interests that go across your mind in such issues. Be wise, study the details - and I do recommend the above mentioned book.

Yours, sincerely,

Asko Kauppi

Helsinki, Finland

Limited data roaming (suggestion for Apple iOS)

The iPhone is more than a phone. To me, it's primarily a Twitter device. However, when I'm abroad all this functionality becomes crippled because of expensive data roaming charges.

There is something Apple can do to help. Instead of the current "all or nothing" introduce an intermediate "limited roaming data" setting, which would a) allow only selected applications to utilize data services, at all and b) allow such applications to detect the mode and fall back to "use least possible data transfer".

This would be useful for keeping such applications as Twitter, Google (or some other) maps and email working, even when outside of WLAN, but without unnecessarily eating up the precious roaming bits. It can also be combined with relatively cheap, low-bandwidth roaming contracts, where the usual 3G speeds would not be available.

Ideally, I would want basic (64k) data speeds to be available anywhere I go, without (much) added charge. They are nowadays almost as important as the calling and SMS systems are.