Two years ago, Apple launched its Find My iPhone service, which provided MobileMe subscribers with lost device location functionality. Apple expanded its Find My iPhone (and Find My iPad) service to all customers in November, including those who didn’t fork over $99 annually for MobileMe. Earlier today, Research in Motion (RIM) launched an open beta of BlackBerry Protect — a free service which duplicates some of Apple’s Find My iPhone and MobileMe sync functionality, providing BlackBerry users with remote backup and restore, lost device tracking and wipe, and the ability to remotely activate loud ringer mode, so you can annoy the hell out of your friends for hours after losing your BlackBerry in their couch. BlackBerry users can download Protect through App World.

There’s been a lot of discussion about leaked passwords this week, from the massive Gawker Media breech to customer data stolen from McDonald’s, so today is as good a time as any to change your password. There’s obvious incentive to choosing a simple password that you’ll never forget — such as the word password, or a child or dog’s name — but these simple passwords are very easy to guess, and easy to decipher as well, even if encrypted. You can still choose a memorable password while making it incredibly complex. Consider combining simple words with familiar numbers, such as a social security number, old phone number or employee number, dividing it into segments, then swapping any numbers for similar-looking letters (o for 0, s for 3, b for 8).

For example, if your social security number is 123-45-6789, you have an old phone number that’s 555-1212, and you really like soy (s0Y) biscuits (813cu1t3), then consider making your password 45s0Y555813cu1t3123! One of my passwords is structured in a similar way, and has become so familiar to me over the years that I can type it in about two seconds. Stay safe!

Each January, tens of thousands of consumer electronics industry affiliates flood Las Vegas convention centers for the Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place this January 6-9. I had an opportunity last night to preview some of the tech that CES attendees will see in Vegas, and was blown away by Dynamics, a vendor offering a variety of next-generation credit cards, all incorporating paper-thin computers and unique security and convenience features.

Dynamics founder and CEO Jeffrey Mullen was on hand to demo his products, which include Hidden, the card seen above, which features the company’s Electronic Stripe technology, displaying remaining account numbers and writing card information to the magnetic strip only when a correct pass code has been entered. Enter an incorrect code three times and the card disintegrates, vanishing into thin air. OK, fine, I made that last bit up, but the card is pretty awesome as is, and definitely has a lot of potential. It’s a very attractive option for battling credit card fraud (a single-use code is sent to the magnetic strip each time the card is activated, rendering card skimmers used in restaurants or gas stations obsolete), and may prove very convenient if you happen to lose your card while traveling or living abroad, for example. Simply pack a backup card — there’s no need for the bank to deactivate your lost Hidden card, as it can only be used by the pass code holder.

Other Dynamics products include Redemption — a card that allows users to press one button to pay with a transaction using their credit account, and a second to pay with rewards points — this card is currently being tested by a limited group of Citi cardholders. There’s also MultiAccount, which enables multiple accounts to be stored in a single card. Of all the technologies on display at CES Unveiled, products from Dynamics have the most potential, in my opinion — I’d be very interested in taking advantage of an IPO, if that eventually becomes a possibility. A more likely scenario, a card issuer (Citi, perhaps) would purchase Dynamics and its portfolio of products, and license the technology to other banks; or not. Either way, I’m definitely keeping my eye on Dynamics.

Watch Mullen discuss Dynamics on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

The Korean Demilitarized Zone is the closest you’ll get to North Korea without a visa (which I’m determined to get before my Chinese visa expires next May), and a DMZ tour is a must for any visit to Seoul — the border is a mere 45 minute drive from the South Korean capital. Built in 1953, the DMZ is a buffer area extending 2km beyond the North Korean border, and 2km beyond the South Korean border. Since the creation of the DMZ, there have been several incursion attempts by the North, including the creation of the Third Tunnel, which has since become a tourist attraction.

Tourists can take a peek into North Korea at the viewing station in the photo above.

Click the “read more” link for more photos from the DMZ!

Cameras are strictly prohibited beyond the yellow line in the photo above, taken at an observation deck.

This barbed wire fence separates the tourist area from a military guard station.

A South Korean soldier shields his face from tourists (and cameras) as he walks to a guard post.

The bridge in the photo above connects the South and North Korean rail systems, so trains will be able to pass between the two countries if border crossings are eventually permitted.

Dorasan Station is the northernmost train station in South Korea, and will eventually serve as a gateway to the North Korean rail system.

If border crossings are eventually permitted, North Korea will connect the South with rail systems leading to much of the rest of the world, enabling ground-based cargo and passenger transit.

A South Korean official takes a break near Dorasan Station.

The sculpture in the photo above demonstrates South Korea’s desire for unity with the North.

North Korean beer and soju are available for purchase at a DMZ gift shop. The shop manager refused to explain how items arrive from the North — a mystery to tourists considering that border crossings are not permitted.

Yesterday, I almost fell for Thailand’s (apparently infamous) gem scam, which happens to be very well documented on the Internet. A conspiracy involving a dozen people and stores all over Bangkok, I was nearly convinced, until it came time to pull out my wallet. I’m going to pick up right where I left off, so check out the first part of the story to get caught up.

By the time we boarded our second tuk-tuk (this one costing even less than the first, with a driver who spoke excellent English and understood every single word), we knew better than to expect the driver (that’s him above) to take us directly to the sites he suggested. Doubling as a 70-cent tour guide, our driver stopped at several photo spots along the way, pausing for a few moments for us to snap a photo or two each time before aggressively merging back into traffic.

Click the “read more” link to read about the rest of our adventure, with plenty more photos for proof.

Our first stop was the Golden Mount, a legitimate attraction that was once the highest point in Bangkok — a city that seems to have grown as vast as Beijing.

As we climbed up the stairs, I was relieved to see that our day of touring had finally begun, even though it was already after 3 p.m. at that point.

We took several photos and headed back down to our cabbie, who was of course waiting patiently by the exit. He walked us around the corner to another temple (having already established a rapport with my father, telling him he looked like “George Bush, the father”).

Inside the temple, we met a very friendly gentleman who introduced himself as the temple’s “sponsor,” having recently donated $100,000 to keep the lights on. We really wanted to believe his story about how he made his fortune growing rice several hours from Bangkok, and came back to the city to visit often, for several days at a time. Being the temple’s “sponsor,” he naturally needed to spend his days hanging around to talk to tourists. After 10 minutes of his stories (to provide context for what was to come next), he casually suggested that we visit “Thai Center,” as we made our way out.

After we returned to our tuk-tuk, our driver excused himself to the bathroom (why hadn’t he gone during the hour or two we had spent at the temples?), leaving us exposed to the other potential scam artists who were hanging out in the parking lot. Not a minute passed before a “lawyer” approached us, talking about the suits he just purchased at — wait for it — THAI CENTER! Speaking fairly good English, he asked where we were from, and then explained that he loved the U.S., and had earned his degree at UCLA (I guess he figured Columbia was too close to home). He mentioned the specific store where he purchased his suits (which I jotted down on my iPhone), and even added that Obama purchased his suits there (we didn’t want to disappoint him, so we let that one slide)! By then our driver had returned, but politely allowed us to finish talking to the lawyer as he washed the windshield of his tuk-tuk.

We asked the driver to take us to Thai Center (expecting an open-air market, or shopping mall), but weren’t surprised when we pulled up to the exact same suit shop that the lawyer in the temple parking lot had told us about. Of course the driver never asked for directions, and had been in the bathroom when the lawyer dropped the store’s name.

Knowing that we had been set up, we decided to go in to check out the store anyway, to compare pricing to what we had seen at stores in Hong Kong. The very opinionated salesman trashed Hong Kong workmanship (known to be the best in Asia), explaining that Thai suits were of far better quality. “Hong Kong suits, you wear for two months and throw away. Thai suits last for many years.” Well shit, I guess they had been full of it in Hong Kong — I imagine the two suits my father had purchased there were already beginning to disintegrate back at the hotel.

Nonetheless, the prices were very reasonable, and I ended up purchasing two sports jackets, two pairs of pants, and two shirts, while my father added one more suit and an overcoat to his collection.

We returned to our tuk-tuk, not discussing our purchases with the driver, who spoke of the Reclining Buddha that we were headed to next. A few minutes later, we pulled up to ANOTHER store — this one selling rare stones. We called out the driver on his scam, insisting that he take us to the Buddha instead. After a minute of the driver begging us to visit the store (“for his children!” … wow, these drivers have no shame), we agreed to go inside for a moment.

We walked inside to find the store empty — well, there were plenty of salesmen around, eager to send us home with an incredible deal. We looked at a ring or two before leaving the store. Amused by the day’s events at that point, we returned to our tuk-tuk yet again, assuming that the driver would actually bring us to see the Buddha this time.

I pulled out my iPhone, having noted the location of the Reclining Buddha earlier that day, and noticed that we were heading to the river, and away from the attraction. We instructed the driver to pull over, which he did, only to hop out immediately and pull out a laminated brochure for boat tours. “Just one boat ride and then Reclining Buddha,” he said, not willing to take no for an answer. We refused, and asked him to drive us back to the hotel instead. He started yelling, “No! Too far! Too Far!,” explaining that the boat would drop us off near the hotel. When we refused, he said he would take us to the dock to catch a public ferry for 20 baht (about 70 cents — the same amount as our tuk-tuk fare, and far less than the 1,000 baht for the private boat that he had suggested).

We said we would walk, at which point he set down the boat brochure and pulled out another — this one with nothing but pictures of women. You can guess what he was trying to sell at that point. My father began to walk away, but still sitting in the tuk-tuk, I refused to leave until he told me how much he had been paid for each of our stops. After a few minutes of waiting (literally), he finally admitted that he had been paid 200 baht by the suit store, about $7, and 10 times the amount of our taxi fare.

I exited the cab, feeling at least a little satisfied that the driver had not only admitted (finally) that he was being paid a commission for each of our stops, but revealing the amount (for one of the stops, at least). I asked our driver if we could have our photo taken with him — and to my surprise he agreed, even appearing flattered that we had asked — before he drove off without even requesting the 20 baht fare.

We walked around a market nearby, then met up with a couple friends of mine for dinner, who had spent that day at work while my father and I had quite the adventure in the city. My Thai friend wasn’t surprised in the least to hear our story at dinner, and at least we were only going home with some cheap suits, and not thousands of dollars in rare costume jewelry (the gems may have been real, but were certainly worth nothing close to the amount the stores were asking us to pay, even in the U.S.).

The moral of the story: Don’t trust anyone when traveling overseas, especially if what they’re pitching sounds far too good to be true. And always do your research before making any large purchase. Your credit card company won’t be likely to wipe your record of a $5,000, 2-carat loose sapphire, especially with your signature on a receipt.

Here’s how it all began:

Shortly after leaving our hotel, my father (who is joining me for the Bangkok portion of my Asia trip) and I met “Charlie” (on the street in the photo above), an incredibly friendly, well-dressed Thai man who introduced himself as the head of security at our hotel, explaining that he had seen us in the hotel earlier this morning. “Charlie” seemed suspiciously friendly, but not enough to raise any initial concern, so we allowed him to talk us into abandoning our plans to visit the Grand Palace, instead choosing to check out the wholesale gem market at Thai Center, which he explained was open to the public for two days only — for the first time ever — in celebration of its 25th anniversary. He suggested a couple other sites, including a temple that I didn’t recognize, and walked us down the street to the nearest taxi stand, helping us choose a tuk-tuk, and even negotiating the fare (just $1, including all of our stops) with the driver.

Our tuk-tuk driver spoke English surprisingly well (our far more expensive sedan cab driver from the airport didn’t speak a single word of English), and drove us several miles down narrow alleys to our first site — a non-discript Buddhist temple.

In the temple we met “Chef Tony,” the “Executive Chef at the Four Seasons in London,” who broke the ice by asking if we were Buddhist (!!!), before explaining that he was in town to visit his family, and to take advantage of the incredibly low prices for rare gems, which he was purchasing for investment.

“Chef Tony” spoke briefly about his family and life in London (which he claimed to absolutely despise) before quickly changing the subject, focusing on his gem purchases.

I STRONGLY suggest that you click the “read more” link to continue.

As if on cue, “Chef Tony” pulled out a map of Bangkok, identifying a market where he found the best deals. Then he pulled out a notepad and pen, drawing a flow chart while explaining the advantages of buying gems directly from the source in Thailand, rather than spending “several times more” to purchase them in the States. Slightly insulted that our new friend felt the need to draw a flow chart to explain a basic supply chain, we listened attentively, admittedly curious about how we could take advantage of similar deals.

Just as quickly as he pulled out the map, the chef reached into his Louis Vuitton handbag to display two certificates of authenticity, which featured photos of his two recent purchases (and displayed Monday’s date). I didn’t consider questioning Tony until I was unconvinced of the authenticity of the certificates themselves.

Just a few moments later, Tony pulled out a brochure from The Exotic Center — the same rare gem market that “Charlie” had mentioned an hour or so before.

Even this didn’t raise concern, and we returned to our driver, asking him to take us to the market (which he found without asking for any directions).

As we arrived at The Exotic Center, our driver emphasized that we should take our time shopping as he waited outside. Really? All that waiting for a single dollar?

After we walked into the market, we were whisked up to the third floor by a woman who met us at the entrance, and made our first stop at a long jewelry counter. After a sales associate pulled out  a tray of mens’ rings, I began asking questions about the market, anniversary promotion, and typical distribution channels, since the market was set up like a large jewelry store with unique items, rather than the wholesale market I had envisioned.

Only interested in gems for investment, I asked to see loose stones, and was brought into another room with tiny gems, with prices ranging from $3,500 to $10,000 and up, depending on quality and carat size (typically just over 2 carats) for each stone. I admittedly know absolutely nothing about gems, but thought it was a bit odd that the store’s blue sapphires were priced higher than diamonds, especially after Tony had mentioned that prices were three times higher back home.

I decided to leave, but reconsidered when the saleswoman explained that the direct-to-consumer sale ended today, in just under four hours. Instead of leaving, I asked to use their computer to do some research. The first woman we met led me downstairs into a back office, where she showed me to an empty desk so I could search the Web. After about five minutes of digging (and finding not one reference to the market under its current name), I stumbled upon a website called “Bangkok & Thailand Scams,” and this post (click for link) in particular.

I emailed one of the comments to my iPhone, and brought it upstairs to show my father. We quickly left, and returned to our tuk tuk, which was still waiting outside. We asked the driver to take us to the Grand Palace, but after a few minutes of driving I noticed that the blue dot on my iPhone was traveling in the opposite direction of our requested destination — into a questionable-looking area — and instructed the driver to pull over and let us out.

We paid the agreed-upon fare and hopped in a real taxi (the kind with four wheels and four doors), and set off for the Golden Palace. We didn’t walk 100 feet before a good samaritan approached us, explaining that the Palace was closed for the day, and that we wouldn’t be able to enter wearing shorts anyway. He suggested some alternatives, and walked us over to a row of waiting tuk tuks, negotiating a fare of about 70 cents, including all of our stops, of course.

To be continued! Check back tomorrow to read about the rest of the day’s scams, including one that actually ended up costing us some money.

Update: Read about the rest of the day here.

Q: Well, how was Beijing? Should I go?

A: After spending two months living in Beijing, I’d hesitate to recommend the city to tourists looking to soak up Chinese history and culture. Sure — there’s plenty of that in Beijing, but there’s so much more to China that you won’t be able to see through Beijing’s environmental and propaganda haze. I came to tolerate life in the city towards the end of my journey, but only because the Olympics were in town, and many familiar Western conveniences became available, such as an Apple Store and Cold Stone. Unless you speak Mandarin, communication with locals is almost always impossible. Some are learning limited English, but are unable to pronounce words correctly due to a lack of native speakers to practice with.

For photographers, Beijing can be a great place to shoot on clear days, but unfortunately, the sun only breaks through the clouds every so often. If you’re only in town for a week, you may not have a single day without a hazy blanket to get in the way of you and that perfect shot. The Chinese make incredible subjects, and are generally more open to photographers than Westerners. Unfortunately, I think much of this comes from a fear of confrontation, especially when they’re unable to communicate with the foreigner behind the camera.

Q: What was it like to work at the Olympics?

A: I can’t even begin to describe the Olympic experience – it was so incredible to be able to work alongside the world’s top photographers, reporters, and athletes. Just being around the athletes was a thrill – there were so many, from almost every country in the world. There were also plenty of opportunities for staff and journalists to mingle with athletes outside of the competition venues, especially towards the end of the Games.

During the first week of competition, I answered questions for photographers at the road cycling course (and ended up doing quite a bit of computer troubleshooting as well). A few days after road cycling, I transferred to indoor volleyball, where I worked as a flash quotes reporter, interviewing athletes in the mixed zone alongside reporters from around the world. Often, we had to work through translators — it was really an experience unlike any other.

Q: Can I work at Vancouver 2010 or London 2012?

A: Honestly, I’m not quite sure. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) required the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) to hire native English speakers from overseas only because very few were qualified in China. Fortunately for the next Winter and Summer Games, that’s not the case — both will be held in countries where English is the official language. If you’re an expert with relevant experience, feel free to contact VANOC or LOCOG for more information about joining their staffs during the Games. I’d certainly recommend giving it a shot — working at the Olympics is an experience like no other.

I have a few regrets about my experience in China. Some are less significant, and were only realized when I read the United Airlines magazine on the flight back to the States. I can’t believe I spent two months in Beijing and only visited half of the locations they suggested in their cover article. I never made it to the restaurant, Made in China, but I certainly heard great things. My biggest regret, however, is not taking more time to travel around the country. I visited Shanghai and Tianjin, and made a side trip to the suburbs with Vincent Laforet, but I really wish I had taken more time in the beginning of my trip to explore other parts of the country. Some friends flew to see pandas in their native habitat near Chengdu, or visited the Terracotta Army at Xi’an. I’d love to visit China again at some point in the near future — but I don’t think Beijing will make it on my itinerary.

This marks my final post to Behind the Lens at the Beijing Olympics. Thanks for visiting, and feel free to continue sending questions or adding your comments to individual posts.

With the Drum Tower’s second level open to the public, visitors are rewarded with panoramic city views after a long climb up a set of very steep stairs. The attacker jumped over 100 feet to his death from the structure’s second level.

The metro is a different story — it’s clean, fast, and can be very convenient if your hotel is near a metro stop. There are far fewer stops than on the NYC metro, but each is marked in both English and Chinese, and you can access most of the major sites and venues directly from the metro. Tickets cost 2 CNY (about 30-cents) but you can ride for free by waving your accreditation card to an attendant and going through a designated gate. The city has really been beefing up security in recent days. I returned to my hotel this evening to see a dozen brand new cameras mounted on light posts along the street and package screening stations have been set up at each metro station. They’re not yet being consistently enforced (Westerners can often cruise by without stopping for screening) but hopefully that will change within the next couple weeks.

Finally, accredited media can ride the Media Transport (TM) shuttle bus system beginning July 25. The system is clean to clean, meaning media will only pass through security screening once per day (usually at designated media hotels) and will be brought directly from one clean zone to another. This will hopefully cut down on congestion at venue security screening stations. For private vehicles and shuttles, designated highway Olympic lanes go into effect on July 20, and are restricted to vehicles with VAPPs (vehicle access and parking permit) from 6 a.m. to midnight each day. Unfortunately, access is only available with a purchased permit, so waving your accreditation card in front of a taxi driver won’t let you cruise past Beijing traffic.