iPhone Style iTheme for Symbian S60 Mobiles

iPhone Style iTheme for the Series 60 Mobile Phones released. S60 3d Edition Phones can now look like iPhones, but this will no way make u an iPhone user nor give you the feel. But this is just a cheap imitation. If you love to use it, you are welcome..[huh]











[Via Darla Mack]

Windows Live Writer Team Responds After The Beating!

"Windows Live Writer Team" Responds After The Beating! in my article on Live Writer a few days back. They have promised to come up with a great interface, and fix these

Windows Live Writer Team Responds After The Beating!

problems. Hope we all see a good Writer in a few weeks, and it helps us blog the better way. Here is what Joe Cheng Of the Microsoft Windows Live Writer team wrote to me:

Believe me, nobody is as unhappy about this bug as the members of the Windows Live Writer team. It is not directly within our control but we are doing everything in our power to see this fixed in the next release!

Techblo's Top 5 Under $200 Digital Cameras

This is Our Special Edition for this Holiday Season: Top 5 Under $200 Digital Cameras
[Only Compact and Ultra-Compact Form Factors are suggested here under]

Canon PowerShot A630: Canon leads the Digital Camera arena and this is a steal for under $200 coupled with a underwater waterproof casing this is you perfect Snorkeling Vacation Camera! Canon A630 is the best in category with a 8Mega Pixel resolution complemented by a 4X optical zoom. 80 to 800 ISO range allows you to shoot in bright beach light and in very low light conditions, wonderful 9-point Auto focus allows you to capture a large group of friends in your small camera - with great face clarity! That is enough of cream for a under $200 camera, and this monster give you more, like a Tilt and Twist LCD, Manual and Preset White balance, Lens thread with adapter facility (so you can add a tele zoom lens), stores in the most common SD Memory card and supports MMC as well, runs on typical AA cells(so you never short of them), video out to view your pictures directly on a TV Screen, and hey it is quite heavy enough for a steady shot(315grams) !

Casio Exilim EX-Z70: Under $200 this is a very cute little camera that sits in your pocket without bothering you, providing 7.0MP, 3X zoom, Video Clip capability, and very easy to use menus. This ultra compact digital camera has to be driven by a Lithium Ion rechargeable battery and that sets you back by the limitation of it's charge. Otherwise this is just a wonder and we recommend this for the traveler who likes a light weight camera. [I suggest this for Traveling Elders, Parents, and Grand Pa's - Ideal Çoz it is light and easy to use]

Nikon Coolpix L12: This popular Nikon Coolpix model gives you a 3X Zoom on a 7.1Mega Pixel camera. This camera comes with a great feature called IS (Image Stabilization) which is good for minimizing camera shake. Perfect for a vacation, where you are not a focusing on a perfect shot, but a shot to register the moment! So go ahead enjoy the moment and point-and-shoot leaving the rest to the IS of this camera. Manual white balance, Continuous drive, and a large 2.5" LCD screen makes this edge out in the under $200 category. [A bit advanced model, for the enthusiastic traveler]

Fujifilm FinePix A610: Just announced Jan'07 this is a wonderful compact digital camera, with great user reviews all over the world, very popular and less expensive (under $150) delivering crisp pictures and great prints. The 2.5" large LCD display and the 3X Zoom makes it a great camera with power to shoot video, and the best part is it runs on 2 AA batteries and you are safe on your trip, with AA batteries all around the world.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7[party-goers camera]: Lumix LZ7's got a good grip, and it fits well in your bag/pouch, small enough to fit your pocket too. Loaded with a mega 7X Zoom and 7.1MP effective pixel rate, this camera comes with ISO settings from 80 to a Mega 3200(HI ISO) to shoot best at low light conditions. If you are the type that parties a lot during holidays, or everyday - this is the best bet under $200 to shoot low light pictures. The 60 sec Min shutter means this is made for low light conditions in mind, and it serves the purpose very well, beating the other competitors for this specific feature. Runs on AA(2) batteries sporting a large 2.5"LCD and an added advantage of Image Stabilization. [I would call this the party-goers digital camera]

Note: I would never suggest a Sony Product for the fact that it makes use of a proprietary "Memory Stick" for storing data. This sets you back tying you to this Memory Stick in all your digital equipments, meaning you have to use Sony Products only or use different memory cards for each of your equipment. I would not suggest this, you better look for the Equipment that sports a common memory card like the "SD Memory" or the "Compact Flash". This saves you hundreds of dollars and saves you in certain situations - you can swap memory cards from your mobile to your camera, or MP3 player or PDA.

Never Loose Memory of your Photos - Geo Tag Web2.0

Following our Sony GPS post, we have an interesting Web2.0 Site - Locr that allows you to geotag your photos with or without a gadget. More over, you can share your photographs with friends and fmily and stranges as well with the site's capacity to collaborate.

Any photo can be geotagged using two methods (manual or automatic). The geotagging is done on the locr web site or by using free locr PC software, which you can download here: Downloads

Once you tag them, you can see your pictures on their site on a sat map, or a hybrid map (Like Google map or Flickr Location).

Have fun, and you may never loose note of your photographs again. You will never be asked where was this taken?!

You might like to read these related articles:

1. GeoTag Your Photos While You Shoot
2. Archos - Arachnoid of the PMP Arena - "Ditch Your iPhone Dreams"
3. Best Photography Storage Devices For the On Road Warrior!
4. Canon Shelphy CP740 - Canon Hand held
   

GeoTag Your Photos While You Shoot - With This Cool Gadget

Taking pictures can be fun, but tagging them with the limited memory you have is a pain. How about tagging them with precision?, with which latitude and Longitude the picture was taken? - this is made easy with the GPS Tracker equipment for your camera[like the Place This Photo On A Map of Flickr]. Any model with a Date/Time facility would be ready for use with this wonderful little gadget.

It looks cool, much like your "Thumb Drive" it humbly hangs on your bag or trouser loop, and keep track of where ever you go on this earth! I like the design of this device, it is much simple and trendy with no complications at all. I mean it, no complications, just one button and that is it! Hard to believe, here is how it works:

1. Switch it on, wait to receive (GPS) signals. A green LED light flashes once, slowly.
2. No cables, no hassles, dig out your digital camera, and start shooting.
3. It actually works without any connection, so you have to Sync your photos on a daily basis or in short intervals. (I think this is a little mad idea, but for the cheap cost of the GPS unit, I'm OK with it)
4. Once you finish the day's shoot, you can import the pictures to your PC with your favorite software(Google Picasa or Adobe Photoshop or Just Windows XP/Vista).
5. Connect the GPS Device with given USB cable, download the LOG files with the GPS software.
6. An Image Tracker software supplied with the unit makes it easier for you to match your pictures with the recorded data. The verified positioning information is written to the Image Headers.

The Gadget: Sony Style - GPS-CS1 - Digital Camera Digital Photo Mapping Tool (Geo Tag)

Pros: It is cheap, it works without wires.

Cons: It is frustrating that you have to get to work at the end of every photo shoot or the day to sync your pictures and Geotag them!

Runs on batteries that can last for just 10-14 hours(NiMH)

Note: This is no replacement for the Red hen systems, and so do not compare it with the Red Hens. Red hen systems are for the professional and research photographers, and no one would like to through so much dough on them for fun.

Archos - Arachnoid of the PMP Arena - "Ditch Your iPhone Dreams"

Archos - Arachnoid of the PMP Arena?

I bet you will ditch your iPhone Dreams after you read this article!

Archos must be one of the best PMP's in the Arena, that could have come out from a frustrated iPod user? This packs almost all that one can imagine and more than that!

Let's get to the features of Archos wasting no more time. The looks are simple, and yet elegant, well thought of design, neat colors, and thoughtful button positioning. Ergonomically the Archos beats the " Thumb Driven Zen and iPod" - is that only it? Read on..

Built-In Camcorder - Imagine not a Still Camera, but a full fledged Camcorder on your PMP! Yes that is true, you have a high resolution camcorder that can shoot till you burn all the left out memory! Indeed! 30 to 160 Gigs of memory to shoot for a life time!

Plays Videos - Archos can play every known type of Popular Video Files such as WMV, MPEG-4, AAC, Quicktime and JPEG Photos as well. The all new high resolution screen with a 800x480 pixel resolution makes it much of a delight to watch.


Record TV - Hey this is cool, With the optional DVR Station, you can record your Fav TV Show and watch it later while on your car or Bus to work! You can record from a TV, DVD Player, STBox/Cable Box or even a VCR! [yuk, why did they forget a FM Tuner?]

Photo Viewer - Photos look so good on the Archos, more with Music and Transition effects. Yes you can build a Slide Show in a jiff, add music to it, run it straight on the TV using the Optional DVR Station. [Microsoft Photostory will weep blood now?]

Photo Transfer - One can connect a digital camera and transfer photos directly to the Archos. Transfer it, make a slide show, add background music [throw that bulky laptop dude] from your music collection - See it on any TV where ever you are! - [insane right? - but it is true.! Just the kind of gadget I would Love!]

And yeah it plays Music too, did i forget? - Nah. Archos can play your Music from MP3 to WMV - this will be the least feature I would want to mention! [C'mon man, Archos has got so much why would I talk about Just playing Music?]

Sync with Windows Media Player every time you connect to the system and charge the batteries same time. This is hassle free!

Storage - 30GB can store upto 40 movies[QVGA resolution MPEG-4 at 1000 KBPS] or 3,00,000 photographs or 15,000 songs[128 Kbits/s]
Archos comes in 30, 80 and a 160 GB flavor - which is your choice?

Connectivity - WiFi inside Archos can stream Video/Audio/Jpeg content to your WiFi enabled Set Top Box! - Wires - for the lame! Go WiFi and get tangle free! Use [read Exploit] the best technology can offer!

Display - Sports a high resolution 4.3'' touch screen (800x480 pixels)

Internet enabled to surf the Web, share content, and access Web video sites (eg DailyMotion)

Note: Ok - this is supposed to be the best bet for our Digital Photography On The Go Storage/Viewer Combo. But I thought this was too advanced, and would distract the Photographer from Shooting! So I thought to review this in a seperate post.

Best Photography Storage Devices For the On Road Warrior - Part II

Best Photography Storage Devices For the On Road Warrior - Part II

Creative Zen Vision - A Definite Winner to look up!


I have been using a Creative Nomad for very long, and I know how "Creative's Gadgets" are sturdy and trust worthy. "Firmware updates" to "Ease Of Use", Creative just surpasses the consumer's desire[Yeah Desire]. Well this neat large screen device scores the best accolades from users all over the world, and from critics as well. Creative has grown from a humble Nomad MP3 player to the Monstrous ZEN Vision (30Giga Black) all through the years just getting better and better. From the days of Diamond Rio(must be the first MP3 player in the world, along with MP-Man) till date Creative has been competitive in bringing out various flavors of PMP's [personal multimedia players] to enthrall the consumer.

This Monster ZEN Vision, is the Crown in Creative's gadgets so far, it is also a best bet for the Road Warrior who likes to photograph like mad, and store it and view it in a great device. This is not a tiny gadget, but a decent Big Screen gadget that allows you to store and view from your camera through various input methods including the much wanted Compact Flash Slot. The DSLR buff can be happy that he has a viewer and storage unit that can read on the fly from his Compact Flash Card. No need for any external OS Driven devices, to read from the Card. Just insert and the Zen starts to display what is inside the CF Card. The Zen comes in a variety of flavors(storage) and hence the 30GB would suit your need, store 3-5Gb of music and video and keep the rest 25GB for the Photography Enthusiast in you. [You shall decide the best ratio, this is just an idea I would go about! :p ]

There is nothing bad about the Zen to talk about, so I stay away from the CONs of this device, it is a wonderful thing, and will make you feel great. It comes with a variety of extra features like the Outlook Sync to your PC, Ultra High Resolution Screen[really good], Records from FM[plays Fm indeed], Supports recording video from TV - and above all it is priced very reasonably priced[under $400] for a 30GB Hard Disk!! Battery life is amazing with the Audio Player, and the battery is removable - means you can carry a backup cell.

[will continue in the part III of Best Photography Storage Devices For the On Road Warrior!, I would tell the Best Device Combo for the Voracious Travel Buff!]

Best Photography Storage Devices For the On Road Warrior!

Off late I have been searching for a device for assisting me storing my snaps on the go. I used to carry my laptop for this before, but that has become a extra baggage. I wanted the same convenience of a Laptop but a less bulkier device, something like a portable hand held computer(PDA?) or an alternative. Some of these were my choices:

1. Portable DVD Player - That which can read from SD/xD Cards.
2. A Pocket Storage device that stores in Giga Bytes.
3. A PDA hand held Computer

Cost is a big factor, and so is the feature set, always we expect a better bet right? I look for a good storage device that can store all my snaps during a long trip. Say anything from a 6GB to 150GB monster would do the trick. I have searched for some time now, and have seen many gadgets that serve this purpose, but would it be nicer if we have a storage device coupled with a JPEG viewer?

Yeah that is why i have filtered on few devices with a large to medium LCD Scree, but the Pocket Device(a Digital Wallet) is only a storage device with no display feature.

A) One Portable DVD player that supports SD Memory is the Toshiba SD-P2600. This is a large screen portable DVD Player that can address your on the go Picture Viewing issues. It can read from a SD(Smart Disk Memory) or a CF(Compact Flash memory) which is why this fancies moi. One big blow is, it does not have a storage unit. Would be nicer if Toshiba's Compact Storage Wing gets an eye on this article, and thinks to add a storage unit to this DVD Player.

The crystal clear LCD display makes it a wonderful choice, it couples as a entertainment gadget and a picture viewer. You can watch DVD's while you are caught on a long bus journey or cramped in a eatery while it rains outside like mad!

You may think this as only a viewer and not a storage unit, so I vote out for this.

B) There is Toshiba always in the race with new storage devices that beat the record for the "Size Factor". Toshiba has announced the 2.5 Inch USB Hard disk Drive that can store up to 200GB, and that is an awesome amount of storage for a size of a coin. These HDD's come in 100GB/120GB/16GB/200Giga Bytes flavors, to suit your immediate need. These are affordable(under $200)[under $120 Pexagon 2.5" Hard Disks, Firefly SmartDisk's are available too] devices for the consumer, and made sturdy with scratch proof coating.

One feature to notice is, it is a regular USB device, so you may need a broker in between to store your Photos from your camera, like a PDA or a laptop - this votes out this Tiny Wonder 2.5 Inch Toshiba USB Hard Disk out of the race in Photo Storage Devices. ironically if you were able to store to this device you might as well invest in a iPhone [get Amazing iPhone wallpapers here]or a Video iPod that can be a great storage device apart from your personal entertainment system.

C) Here comes the Leader, ...

[..to be Continued in Part - II]

Next Version of Flickr - What do you want?

Flickr community has been my turf for a long time. It is surprising that i have not written about Flickr so far, but this posting will not talk about the best of Flickr, but the best that can come up in Flickr. Would Yahoo listen to us and make the necessary feature additions so that we have a much more beautiful turf to have fun and learn?

1. Flickr user profile does not have the list of "Equipments" that one uses. First thing anyone would look for while watching a Photograph is - What Camera? - This is available from the EXIF data. But while you look at a particular user's profile, he might be using more than one camera, and these are not listed in his profile. It would be nice to aggregate the Camera Models that he uses, and show it in a single page. [what do you think?]
2. Flickr Groups are run by individuals, and it is a big hit. But there is no proper layout and feature set for the groups application. It would be nice to have a drag and drop type of front end UI[User Interface] for the groups administrator.
3. Groups could have been made just like Blogger, and they can allow Text Advertising least! So that the Group Administrators make some cash in their spare time and be encouraged to run groups in style.
4. Groups must have better features like Ajax(Yahoo Beta) type of layout, better user ban, a limit to the Number of listings, showcasing styles(think CSS).
5. Skins would be nicer, to separate each group from each other, why not give source code control to certain areas(HTML?)

Did you know:

• You can Check for the quality of a Digital camera by Flickr Camera Search
• Decide on a Digital Camera by using Flickr Camera Finder
• View category-wise photographs of a particular Camera Model(Portrait, Landscape, Macro..etc)
• Flickr is a virtual Camera Model Database, with living examples of pictures taken by photographers and consumers worldwide?
• Flickr has communities where you can learn more about how to use your camera
  
• Flickr has tons of Adobe Photoshop tricks?
• Flickr has "Tutorials" to make your photograph picture perfect?
• Flickr has Camera Model wise photograph searching capability
• Flickr has a inbuilt mailing system with which you can make friends and grow a community or your relationships?[will love to see the system work like orkut scraps]
  
• Flickr has tons of wallpaper quality photographs - do not search for wallpapers in wallpaper sites that demand your email and other cumbersome process to get a single wallpaper!
  
• Flickr has free wallpapers in almost all screen sizes?

I'm a Flickr fan, if you are one, please post your thoughts about what you would like to see in Flickr in the days to come as we eagerly wait for the next version of Flickr!!

HowTo use iPhone Keyboard Official Tutorial - No Keyboard on iPhone?

Official iPhone Keyboard Tutorial:

Jobs calls it "MAGIC" - so here we unveil the magic behind the Keyboard Less iPhone.

Apple's Official iPhone Keyboard Tutorial:

1. Large 67MB Video Tutorial - Download
2. Watch it online Choose: Medium or High Resolution
3. Watch the iPhone Guided Tour
   
4. Where to buy the iPhone
5. See the 360 Degree View

Awesome TV Ads of the iPhone, I love these ads, just have a look at them!

iPhone is a Compromise so was the iPod

The wait is over[sighs], the much awaited iPhone is out in the market and at $600 you could demand much more. It's a phone, it's a picture viewer, it's a Video Player, it's a Audio Player and much more advanced technologies go into the making of this little wonder form Apple.

Think again, Apple has been notorious to make under standard gadgets and market it well enough to make it a big hit, enough is one sample the iPod. I'm not a big fan of the iPod, being a patron of the Creative Nomad Series from the first days of the Diamond Rio MP3 players. I would say what the iPod was just a piece of junk, with many holes in the making; so is the iPhone? read on to learn.

iPhone is a Compromise so was the iPod, Battery replacement woes, No memory Extension, No 3G, Expensive, a meagre 2MP Camera - You want this? Read On

The iPhone is a beautiful gadget on the first look, it has a lot of features to hide the worst of holes in the making. Let us see the best part of the phone first, to avoid any hatred in first case! Hey we all want value for money and when that is not given, we tend to send a product back to the box. That is what we are trying to do here, and we have nothing in person against Apple or the iPod or the very new iPhone - :)

Alrite here is what the Wall Street Journal has to say: "Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer."

The Blackberry can rest peacefully, it will have it's own pack of followers because of the Corporates that would not entertain the use of iPhone as a corporate phone or allow the iPhone network to be accessed from office networks.

Good deals like the battery life of 5+ hours of talk time and 8+ hours of WiFi usage is way ahead of other smart phones and will never be matched by the existing competitors. This is real cool! Note this down.

Memory cards may not be a bother like many reviewers say(bias aren't they?), I would still say it is a dumb idea not to have a Memory Card, coz a multimedia device such this will be the best companion to the avid photographer, and will serve as a viewer and a storage device if at all the memory card extension was a part of the gadget. [I suggest the Creative Zen Vision 30GB for Digital Photographers]

PMP's should [Personal Multimedia Players] adhere to a certain set of features to make it a perfect companion. PMP's as the name suggests are becoming more personal, I welcome the idea of a phone + PMP which has become a reality with iPhone and a million thanks to Jobs for this initiative, and rest assured the market will be flooded with 100's of such devices in the coming days[keep an eye on the Taiwanese and Chinese market :) ]

Here is what David Pogue of New York Times had to say: "... so sleek and thin, it makes Treos and BlackBerrys look obese."

True, this is one feature that many Mobile + PMP makers will look to mimic, and a job well done by iPhone as they always do, a good design.

I heard the iPhone phone is not SIM based, making it a big pain in the [neck] to the gadget lovers outside the USA and the At&T carrier. You cannot slip it thorough the customs and use it in your local network, so that makes no sense to buy it without a package from the ISP. Wonder how such a weak design could be made and brought out so successfully!! Huh!

I heard the WSJ reviewer was searching for the Comma key for almost 2 weeks! Hell that is a pain, you won't find such information on the manual either! Ha ha.,,

But this is what we learned from the various experiences over almost 7 days of thorough testing and usage of the iPhone:

"New Standards for the Smart Phone has been set. None of the existing competitors like Nokia can get near it for the next quarter till they come up with technology that matches the touch response screen of the iPhone, though this is a very innovative feature it could make some very basic functions lengthier in process"

This is common in all the new technologies, once the next version is made available these glitches will be rectified[we hope so at least].

The EDGE network is a pain as far as AT&T is concerned, and this will make life miserable for the iPhone users with huge expectations like watching videos from Youtube and Metacafe on their Multimedia Phones!!

A robust E-Mail application combined with a wonderful browser makes the iPhone stand way ahead of the other Smart Phone category contenders. Apple iTunes software for the MAC and Windows makes life easier with it's ability to sync with the boxes.

One fact and easy breather for the guys who invest so much cash into the iPhone is the awesome screen resolution and unmatched maneuver of the Stylus and Touch Screen. These two features make other Smartphones look meek and filthy! Yea you heard it right - Filthy!

The keyboard glitches have been brushed off by standard testing procedures, people who are used to using smartphones should not find it difficult to use the Virtual Keyboard on the iPhone! Whoa that is something people will love to hear, now all you people who pick up the iPhone spend some time with it before you start to complain. Spend the whole week, testing and typing and using it with flair, you shall find it convincing!

AT&T - that is the catch. All others with other plans just sit and stare at iPhone users, and iPhone users suffer the poor quality of AT&T! And hey foreign users, well take a hike! [do u think you would by a $600 phone and take a AT&T roaming plan and call it cool? ]

Verizon rulez!! Sprint is good enough!!

Well the breather is, WiFi's quite fast and works like a marvel, but you shall not fancy switching between WiFi networks while on the move would you?

Scratch resistant casing and screen makes it a sturdy gadget, weighs well above the Treos and Blackberrys. There is no technology I have heard that is smudge resistant, so forget that. The other sad stories are, the standard headphone would not fit the socket, your car adapter would not be recognized to play it in your car, only charging is recognized, volume buttons are placed awkwardly, there is no memory card facility, there is no memory extension possible(San Disk, San Media, Stick Pro, Mini SD, Micro SD, Compact Flash - nothing!), hey did I say, you cannot Copy Paste in a Smart(?)Phone [stop laughing yo], he hehe, then there is no Multi Tasking, that means you need to close an application to play a song, or stop the song to view a picture, or to change a picture you need to close applications and come back. Funny that such a piece of art forgot to have such elementary features on it.

Verdict:

No Instant Messaging, No Video Recording, No Adobe Flash, No Games no, no, no Dam you man why tha hell do you wanna rope in $600 on this piece of [@##%$##]

ForecastFox - Non Intrusive Weather Forecast AddOn for Firefox

Firefox lovers should have already installed this Add-On, if you are left behind - follow the bandwagon, here is the review that will throw some light on this awesome AddOn!!

AccuWeather.com® is a major worldwide weather reporting service, Firefox joined hands with AccuWeather.com® to give this awesome AddOn - ForecastFox. I have been using this small light weight FireFox plugin for more than 3 years now and have watched it only grow from good to best.

ForecastFox brings weather forecast to your browser, it is non intrusive, and light weight. There are a few advanced data and daily need data available as well. The user does not have to do anything[like clicking or keying data], the data comes to your desktop without any special applications installed, hence less security issues. I prefer to keep the Local weather report visible all the time, Forecastfox allows to keep Current Conditions, and up to a 5 days forecast in your status bar. For the advanced user, the tooltip and the radar allows detailed information seeking, one can set the refresh rate to a certain lapse[like hourly or once in 3 hours] so that the plugin will pop up the latest weather conditions with bright colorful Icons. I love the very idea of these meaningful icons that depict every single weather condition, it adds to an easy usage and it is noticeable even when you are busy like hell.

The advanced user has a few settings that will show how much details the developers have put into this neat little AddOn. I personally like the idea of having multiple profiles, for the business or casual traveler. You can switch between multiple locations by just a click, and it is as easy as licking! Once you do this, you can see the current weather conditions for the newly selected profile, you can add as many locations as you want.

The Tooltips idea has been a very popular Windows strategy always, and the idea has been improvised by many developers (including me) and exploited to the fullest I would say, from keeping up with latest Soccer scores to weather updates. This feature is again customizable by the user, and some settings are needed (understanding the keywords, and the "/nl" usage etc.,) which may not be a very easy feature for the average user. But advanced users and programmers would like the very idea of customizable reports(I expect this to be a click and use feature in the future soon. - are the ForecastFox developers listening?)

Another wonderful idea is to export these settings to a "settings file" that you can store in your backup-dvd or thumb drive. This settings you can keep it on your Gmail Drive and import it into a different computer later, or restore after a crash.

Download it here: ForecastFox

Final word: This is non intrusive, interactive, easy to use, Usable, wonderful piece of Code. A must have for Firefox Lovers.

BeMused - Audio Remote for Nokia N95, N6600, N800.

BeMused Be Amused, yes that is what the company expects you to be, Be Amused with your Nokia Handset! Be it the primitive Nokia Symbian handset or the latest funky(expensive) N95, you can make it your Audio Remote!

Yep you heard it right, your Bluetooth Symbian phone can be your remote to manage your Laptop/Desktop. The SourceForge project BeMused can remotely manage your Media Player(Winamp/Windows Media Player) and Your Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations.

BeMused can control Winamp2, Winamp3 and Winamp5 versions seamlessly, and believe me it is fast, like lightning, the search and media scan is over, and you are the Wireless DJ of the loads of Music that lies on your hard disk. I use it while I party with my friends frequently, the house is a mess, and BeMused is very useful while I party. It allows me to scan for media files, by Name, Ascending order, by parts of words, by the starting letter and search is easy and fast, I become the DJ on the move!

BeMused allows me to control my Videos, I connect my Laptop to my HDTV and hence playing the video files from the couch is just a touch away!! Imagine you can play a range of videos from your Hard Disk while easing on the couch with your girl friend! This is just wonderful!

I use it during presentations, I do not have to go near my Laptop during important presentation at work!

Icing to the cake, you can download the supported Audio/Video files to your handset wirelessly while playing it. This is an added feature from the older versions of BeMused.

What are you waiting for, get BeMused and be Amused - that is for sure, want more? - beMused can be skinned. You can download the cool colored skins, and decorate your handset application. there are many skins to choose from, that should fit your mobile theme!
Check out some skins here.

There are 2 parts to the BeMused suite of applications, one the Server(resides on your computer) and the other, The Client(that is installed to your Symbian device as a .SIS file). The Server Application has to be configured to point to the system directory where you store your Music files, you can confine the scan to certain directories by mentioning them, or leave the full drive(s) to be scanned for a wide range of input.

Next, configure your BlueTooth port, so that your system and the mobile can talk to each other seamlessly, thus beMused can do it's job well. Mostly com port 7 is used, but this is not mandatory, you can set the right port that is convenient for you.

You can specify the file types to handle/scan for. I prefer to keep most of the file types my Winamp can play(like MP3, WMV, WMA, WAV, VOQ, MP2, MP4 etc). You have to specify the path to your music player(Winamp or Media Player), an option to keep both would have been nicer!

The automatic COM Port finder was a welcome feature to BeMused from the previous versions. Everything else is cool, and I guess it can better in certain areas like the server GUI and some button placements, and support for more players and Image Viewers (consider IrfanView)!

symbian

HowTo Set operator Logo In Nokia N70, N73 and most Nokia Phones

FExplorer is a very useful utility for both the advanced user and the novice. [I shall call FExplorer as FE here on.] FE is a smooth non-intrusive application for the Symbian S60 SmartPhones like the Nokia 6600, 6630 and the likes. FE has support to most of the Nokia Phones, and I would say most of the S60 series devices.

Released in 2003, FE has an ever growing number of users, which is evident form the 20Million+ visitors to their website. Authored by Dominique Hugo, FE is an amazing tool just like the Windows Explorer for the PC.

There are more utilities to the FE, but the first application is the Explorer capability. Usually the Nokia phones hide the drives that are not necessary to the novice end user. But there are a number of users who are curious and demanding (like me :p) that want to know every bit of information behind the gadget they use.

So here is the tool that will allow you to explore your Smart Phone to the deepest roots [though there are other tools to do much more digging]. Ideally this is a simple tool that should have been provided by the Phone manufacturer themselves, but they have deliberately avoided this tool, to keep some portions of the operating system from the end user.

FE helps you to explore each drive in your phone's memory, like the C:, D:, E:, etc, which is relative to your Smart Phone. More over FE has a built-in search tool, which comes in very handy to the demanding user. You can search with wildcard(*) and Boolean searches. So a relatively powerful fast search for your mobile.

You can use the FE to set the Operator Logo Image of your choice[leave me a message if you are interested to know how]. FE can be used to see how much space you have consumed in each drive. FE can keep track of your mobile Inbox, that means keeping the FE home screen open can help you keep track of many activities on your mobile.

Multiple file selection, multiple file deletion is all possible with FE, there are short cut keys to select, de-select and delete thus making your life easier with the Smart Phone.

One more nifty feature is, The Screen Shot / Screen Capture feature of the FExplorer. FE can take screen shot of your phone in its current state. That means, with a pre-assigned key you can change to a in-call, dialling, sms screen, or virtually any screen of the Smart Phone and take a Screen Shot to post on your MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, or Google Pages or even your own blog. With the help of FE you can make tutorials for people to understand what you are talking about.[Leave me a comment to know more about this utility].

FE can turn your screen light on, [keeping it on for a prolonged time - not a feature available on your mobile by default], FE can turn the infraRed communication ON, FE is fully configurable. Means you can set the color of text, screen color, background color etc.

Another good feature of FExplorer is the HEX editor, and the text editor, which are built-in features of the application. You do not need a separate text editor, though I would suggest a different reader for reading E-Books. I have read full Novels/Stories/Articles on Nokia Readers[ask me how].

Thus FE is a light weight, non-intrusive, cannot afford to miss utility for your Nokia Series S60 phones. I have been using System Explorer too, and find it equally good for some specific tasks[want to know more? ask me!]

I wrote this article with DarkRoom[it is a non intrusive, less distractive Text Writer]

symbian

Irfan View - A Winner By Miles!

Irfan View is the baby of Irfan Skiljan. irfan was graduated from the University of Vienna.

I have been following Irfan View from its first ever version many years ago. Like many other software I cherish and store in my bag of utilities, IView as it is popularly known, finds a special place.

IView can run independent of any plug-ins or any supporting DLL files. Iview used to be a single-exe initially. It never had a setup package, or and installer package. Thus it was a very small and nifty tool to use. There are Jumbo image viewers out there, like the ACDSee, PSP, Google Picassa, etc. But these are hefty comparisons, and I personally do not vouch for them, and all these fall different category.

iView is apt, small, light weight, portable(fits in your thumbdrive, mobile or even the retro-1.44MB floppy Diskette), no need to install.

Iview has come a long way, and have always surpassed the end-user expectation. iView can do so much that I run out of words. I have tried to put as much possible below here:

1. 1-key Operation

Iview always facilitated 1-Key operations. Instead of a combination of keys, Iview brought a nifty 1key operation. This amused me a lot, I'm addicted now to this feature I would say. Like instead of Ctrl+S for save, just press "S", "R"for rotate right, "L" for rotate Left, and the list goes on.

2. Easy Scroll (spacebar/backspace)

It just takes your space-bar and your backspace, or the page-up and down, or the arrow keys to browse through all the images in a folder. Many applications have inherited this feature into their bulky software later.

3. Thumbnail View (t)

Just press the key "T", vola you have a Image Browser that displays all the pics from the current directory in a neat Thumbnail display. You can do more form the thumbnail browser, thumbnail sizes are configurable which means you have more control over the way you browse the folders. starting a slideshow form here is very easy, by pressing "W"

4. Easy Batch Conversion (b) and Easy Batch Rename (b)

Batch rename was always a tough procedure, people used to spend many hours renaming their files from vacation and arranging them in folders and dates. Though there are big players like "Picassa" from Google and the likes of ACDSee, which can automate a lot of things like renaming, arranging, touching up and an array of other features, nothing compares to this "small wonder" i would say. For the ones like me who have the system already loaded with enough memory eating applications, it's best to have some player like IView which does not claim a big share of the pie. I suggest Iview if you like small and smart software.

Things like 1key zoom (+/-), 1click slideshow (w), Copy/Move/Delete/Rename, Easy rotate (L), (R) Flip Vertical (v), horizontal (h), makes IView always a winner. Sometimes searching the mouse for just rotating the picture or zooming takes much effort in terms of the voracious user of the Windows Box. Some easy operations like copy/paste by just using a 1key combination is welcome feature of IView.

8. Advanced Properties/Information (i)

This is a highly appreciated feature as far I'm considered. Press the (i) key and you are presented with a not so geeky looking screen, and a not-so-well-done screen, details of the picture you are viewing. Details like the file name, which folder is it placed in, its resolution, dimensions, available print size, color count, Unique color count, picture's current directory index(5th image of 43 total), file date and time, and how much time it took to load.

One other feature EXIF data viewer makes IView the most comprehensive image viewer. One can see the EXIF data(if the picture came from a Digital Camera) like Camera Model, original resolution, camera Software Version, YCbCrPositioning, ExposureTime, FNumber, ExposureProgram, ISOSpeedRatings, ShutterSpeed, Aperture, Focal Length and a lot lot more that you have to see for yourself to appreciate better. This particular feature makes it very nifty and inevitable for the amature photographer and the photography fans. A lot can be learnt from the EXIF Info of a digital photograph, one can say if the picture is original or treated by seeing the EXIF Info.

[more to come.. following the user response]

Technorati tags: Irfan View, iView, Graphics, Renaming, Tips

10. Screen Capture (c)
Have you ever wondered how to get the "Screen Shot" image Makes it a interesting feature
12. Resize/Re-sample (R)
13. Basic Image Editing - Convert to Grey-scale, Enhance, Sharpen
14. Basic Filters - Red Eye, Button, 3D, Smoothen, Blur etc.
15. RGB - Color Swap
16. Multi-Language
17. GIF Animation - Stop animation, extract all frames.
18. Send Image to (Send mailer)
19. Wallpaper Functions (SHFT+CTRL+C/T/S)
20. Automatic Viewing (not same as slideshow) - Shift+A
21. FullScreen Operations
22. Insert Text (CTRL+T)
23. Custom Selection

Microsoft Yahoo Buyout - true?

3d May, CNNMoney thought Microsoft would buy Yahoo, Market Shifting yelled at this by January 2006, CNet News analyzed the Pros and Cons of the Microsoft Yahoo buy out! Well is this really going to happen?

Why would Microsoft want to do this after so much of speculations form very many angles? That's what we call pressure!

I guess Microsoft Needs to just look forward with what they are doing best, and do it to their potential. Microsoft was always trying to do things that Google is doing successfully. That means, Microsoft failed in certain areas, like Collaborative software or Online Applications(to put it in simple terms).

Microsoft once purchased Groove Network (in 2005) with huge anticipation they can achieve great heights in this domain. But the factual need of every user was a light weight software, and not bulky Space Hogging, Memory Eating Monster software. Groove never grooved to the beats of Microsoft, it was supposed to do wonders in the Longhorn edition, but in vain; Poor Ozzie!!

Microsoft always had this eager appetite for Large applications, needless we say how the Windows is a hungry software that eats up almost 2GB of your precious Hard Disk space. Well apart from all that, Microsoft was never able to leverage what the end-user liked.

Microsoft was way too ahead in under estimating the end-user preferences, and thrust what they thought was right for the user, just because they made Windows. I have been an ardent lover and fan of some cool Microsoft products, and I hate to see Microsoft fail in such attempts, in a over zealous venture.

I watched Groove really make some impact in the launch of "Live office", still Microsoft clings to it's jargon like IE and Active-X, people have been blindfolded in the past, but the fold is off now, and they have started to vision the next generation software, way ahead of Mr.Gates and Mr.Ray Ozzie.

"Microsoft once purchased

Groove Network (in 2005) with huge anticipation they can achieve great heights in this domain. But the factual need of every user was a light weight software..."

Ozzie, you have been wonderful in those days of Lotus Notes and Groove, it's high time you made some solid decision to get things right, and come out of the "monopoly dreams", else things will get worse, and not even Mr.Gates can help Microsoft out of the S**t they will be in. Hope this Yahoo buyout is changing how Microsoft thinks and markets it's products, let's all hope Microsoft follows lead, and gets S/W that are small and sound!!

Following the $50Billion mark bid, the market value of Yahoo [YHOO] have soared high, from a 38.2Billion mark to 44Billion [around 6B jump]. WSJ confirms the Redmond giant's serious advancements, and thus the jump in value.

Well looking at the revenues made by the Three Giants (source Agencies) $44.3 Billion, $5.25 Billion, $10.6 billion by Microsoft, Yahoo and Google respectively - there is much to catch up for Google to reach the revenues of Microsoft. With it's manpower of just 12,238 what Google has been able to achieve is noteworthy, but it might take ages to catch up with Microsoft "in reality". Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Mr.Bill Gates, with Paul Allen and has over 100 products developed[see the List] in English and an array of Products developed in Japanese. With Japanese being the most used language on the Internet(Not English Mind you), Microsoft has quite a large market share.

Google has to grow three folds to match the revenues Microsoft makes, and will never be able to match the kind of products that Microsoft has in pack. Well that does not make it true that Google products are "not worthy".

I would say the platform from where Google started it's venture was different form Microsoft. One should never compare the technology behind Microsoft and Google, because they are two different worlds. Microsoft was never a search company, it would never be, Microsoft added Search to it's arsenal as only a make over, it was the call of millennium.

Google tries it's hands in the Document and Spreadsheet arena now, how many of you agree with me that it is poor brother and a cheap clone of the Microsoft Word, or the true WordStar. Though you will argue, they are online editors, the idea is all the same, what makes them best is they are online and light weight. Microsoft fails here, still the Office Live platform talks about ActiveX technology to get it's work done. This is where the end-user is pissed off, he does not want something to be downloaded to his system, he wants it to be fast, and free of space. So there lies the trick, where Google scores in bounds!!

So where does this all lead to? What is in the Microsoft buyout of Yahoo Inc.? Well Microsoft will be a search company when it buys Yahoo. With the 11,000 odd employees in the Yahoo camp, that understands the niche techniques of Online Application trade, it will be a sting in the Google Camp! - Is that simple enough and make sense to you?

Look further, Yahoo boasts Online Apps like "The Search Engine", which Microsoft always craved for. With the addition of the quite powerful search engine in the pack of Microsoft Goodies, MS is going to relish the infinite number of Yahoo user base.

Yahoo Portal[Ajax Enabled], will make the Microsoft home page look smarter, and less demanding, cross browser compatible including the wonderful Mozilla Browsers, at last Microsoft will be giving it's users a non IE focused application?,

"It will not only be a merger of two Giant companies, but two class of people get in tandem, and experience the best of online suites"

Yahoo Mail[Ajax Again], with Yahoo Photos and Flickr[flash Applications and Ajax Exploited] wrapped with The upcoming Yahoo Pipes is going to be a mind boggling experience to the user base Microsoft has. It will not only be a merger of two Giant companies, but two class of people get in tandem, and experience the best of online suites.

The Online Radio[Musicmatch Jukebox] integrated into Yahoo Messenger with the powerful "Yahoo Go" VS the Media Center[a free application, that Microsoft Ships with it's operating System] along with Yahoo TV is going to be yet another powerful and deadly combination in the entertainment sector. I guess this is an unmatched combination of power, with the media player and Musicmatch player joining hands. Wow, think off the kind of output the team can make[if team gels well - lol], an IM like Yahoo having the best of world's Radio, TV, and Pic-In-Pic capabilities that can support the most number of TV-Tuner cards! That is what we all can dream off, what technology can do to you is immense. Just wait and watch.

On the advertising front, there has been talks about Microsoft and Google fighting head to head, buying DoubleClick. Yahoo Search Marketing plus Overture plus the RightMedia buyout is enough power to handle the ad-wars between Google and MS.

Moreover with niche Web2.0 tools like Del.icio.us, Bix, Yahoo Answers, MyBloglog Microsoft sure has the edge! watch out Googlers [including me!]

A Revealing Response to the RAC post!!

"When dealing with serious projects Ian Ippolito and rentacoder staff make mistakes. And they are proficient to blame someone else." - Kamen

One of my readers have come out with a revealing news in reply to our previous post. He claims that Ian and his RAC team hide the errors they make while maintaining there website RentACoder and blame it on DOS or other type of lame excuses. This is a shocking theory keeping in mind the many hundred coders who slog hard to make some serious money. Well Off people like Ian should understand that they have to practice some honest ethics in the business and not let the coders who make their every day earnings. What ever money people like Ian have made have come in penny by penny from the hard work of coders, and the clueless service buyers.

You can read more of my reader Kamen's experiences in his blog as he mentions below here.

When dealing with serious projects Ian Ippolito and rentacoder staff make mistakes. And they are proficient to blame someone else. So I suppose there is no DOS attack. Probably this is just another mistake of rentacoder staff.You can read more about my experience with rentacoder at http://kamen123.blogspot.com

Do Not Compare Copernic with Google!

Copernic is a "search engine agent" that makes your life easier, by giving an elaborate result from many search engines. Copernic is not an indigenous search engine. So we leave it as such and proceed to look how it can be useful for an online research.

Copernic will help you search many search engines at the same time. It is as simple as it looks, but the software does so much work behind to get the results in a condensed and simple view. Copernic can be configured for how you want to search and which engines to use, you can manage the categories under which you do your search most often. You can analyze a couple or more results to make the most out of the results. All that you cannot do with your favorite search engine like yahoo search or google search or aol/ask search can be done here. A search engine is just a search engine, here we are talking about a full fledged research software with tons of features that you can elaborately read here.

Snap recently has been boasting of the "preview" of a web page as it's Selling Point, but this has been introduced in Copernic some 7 to 8 years before and few other software too. Well the news is, you can see a snap-shot or a "screenshot" of the result pages. Your searches can be saved under a name, for future reference and research. You have beautiful filters that can save a lot of time, there is a highlight feature that will help in highlighting the filter results in multi-configurable colors. Copernic can show broken links from the result, that means the software is intelligent enough to check for broken links to avoid misleading you.

Google Base - Find Anything - All Integrated

Google Base(beta) - Here is something that we all have always wanted. Google base, a one-stop solution to search, post, buy and sell. If you have a product, service, house, photograph or any gadget to sell, you can post it here in Google base, and it is integrated with AdSense, Google Maps, Yahoo Real Estate and virtually everything you can imagine off.

Wow the plan is great, and hope this works out well enough to reach the Amazon.com or ebay.com figures soon. Because its more faster, and integrated i think this is a very good idea. Hope the interface gets better by the time it gets released, (it's just beta now) we should expect the Ajax standard in the full version.


You can see the screenshot of a property search in Virginia and the results here.

ADVANCED WINDOWSCARE PERSONAL 2.1.0.655

Slow down, freeze, crash and security threats are over. Advanced WindowsCare
Personal is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes an one-click approach to
help protect, repair and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and
super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. All work will be
done with 1 click and 1 minute. This fantastic program is available free of
charge. Compared with its nearest competitor, Advanced WindowsCare
Personal provides the more essential and practical formula for Windows:
Removing Spyware and Adware, Preventing Security Threats, Privacy
Protection, Fixing Registry Errors, Temporary Files Cleanup, Startup Cleanup,
Repairing Windows, Speeding up System and 1-click Mechanism.

GET IT HERE

Version 2.1.0.655 adds application priority boost function and improve autoupdate.
Source: Download.com