Bravo, I finally and successfully migrated this blog from the Blogger platform to a custom hosted WordPress platform. The job now is to build a good theme suitable for my blog and connect to the staging sever.
Once all these are done, expect a sea of blog posts on different topics. :-)
Posted from WordPress for Android
I am sprucing up this blog and clean up all the clutter and unwanted content. Yes, I know its high time! I am also changing the theme to a more subtle (yes there can be one) and cleaner one. So this blog will be under maintenance for couple of days. If you miss my articles (publishing an article once in a quarter is practically periodical) you can always catch up with me on Twitter.
Hopefully, after the maintenance it will be more attractive for me to spend some time on interesting articles.
Adios friends, not for so long!
Update: I am moving my blog to WordPress from Blogger and to obviously to different hosting provider. Hopefully everything goes fine.
Well, many of mobile users have their own favourite applications, its high time I listed mine; my favourite, most used, and best applications I have on my mobile. I have been using Nokia E65 for last two years, though Nokia has ditched this model with latest firmware ridden with many bugs and closing their ears and eyes shut for complaints. This mobile is based on Symbian S60 3rd Edition (initial release) platform. This mobile has entertained, shown ways, searched, connected, bought items and helped me in many dire, pleasure and business needs.
Lets see what are my favorite Symbian applications that made me stick with this mobile for so long:
1. Google Maps: This is one of my most used application on my mobile. Coupled with my external GPS receiver, this has most times shown me where I am (yes, I needed it many times), given the right and shortest route to my destination and help me connect with my friends through Latitude. More Google maps features in this and this blog posts.
2. Gravity: This is no doubt one of the most popular Twitter client available on Symbian S60 platform for mobile. The current version also connects you to your Facebook updates and Google Reader. More features on their website.
3. Mail For Exchange: This application is from Nokia and may not be available for non-Nokia devices. This helps me pull my corporate email. Though there is no HTML and is not as fancy as Nokia Email it does the job pretty well.
4. ngpay: This is an e-commerce application for mobile shopping and is only limited to India. This application helps us browse variety of products and services on mobile and buy them online. I have made many purchases like train / bus tickets, bouquets and books, etc using this application. Many more purchases like flight tickets, hotel reservations, gadgets, etc., can be made here. Visit their site for more information.
5. Fring: Well, this needs no introduction, this is a most popular VOIP, chat and video application for mobile. I use this to make Skype calls to my friends and relatives. This has connectivity for most of the chat, IM, video and internet telephony services. They have recently introduced video calling from mobile to mobile.
6. Nokia Sports Tracker: This is also one of the most popular and award winning application from Nokia. This is a GPS based sports activity tracker. I normally use this to track my jogging / walking activity and also for to record my driving activity.
7. GMail: Well this is a Java based application and not a Symbian one. This has a mediocre interface, no HTML but gives a quick and easy access to all my Gmail accounts.
8. Best Profiles: This is one of the application that I don’t use often. Yes, this automates most tasks and makes me spend less time on my mobile. This app switches profiles based on my location i.e., from home to outdoor to office as I start travelling from home to office and vice versa every day. This also switches my mobile to silent/meeting profile if my calender has any meeting entries. More features on their website.
9. Phone Guardian: This is another application that I have never used after configuring it. This is a smart anti-theft application that comes to rescue when your mobile phone is lost. Read more about it in my blog post here.
10. Smart Connect: This is a simple application that makes your life easier by automatically providing you the right access point depending on your location. All my applications are configured to use this AP and it provides me my home WiFi when at home and GPRS when outside.
There are many more applications that’s definitely been very useful to me but couldn’t accommodate here. I will blog about them some time in future.
If there are any other applications that you feel are/is the best or is better than the ones listed above then me and my blog readers would be most happy hear them. Do comment.
Yes, really. Google Apps is out of Beta now and so are Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk. Google announced it on their blog and also tweeted it today and some of its logos already are stripped of the Beta tag. Google Talk and Google Docs still carry the Beta tag at the time of writing this post.
It seems Google has now realized that selling beta services will not be digested or agreed by industry easily. It’s much publicised service Google Apps has been made a ‘Complete’ product now with no Beta components in it. When Google is presenting a case study on how switching from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps is profitable, the industry and people didn’t like comparing a beta service with a stable, popular and secure(!?) mail service from Microsoft. It had history of going down some time ago and Google compensating its customers for loss of service.
Now, we all can free ourselves from the stigma we have been cursed upon for all these years (5 years for Gmail users) and end the discrimination!
Hail Google. Never be Evil!
(All Google logos courtesy of Google Inc, of course)
Many of our feature rich high-end mobile phones or Smartphones carry a lot of our personal and business data, be it photos, videos, email, notes, documents and not to forget, the precious Phone book. These toys are very pricey, many shell out large part of their salary. It pains a lot when one loses their valuable phone. The pain is multitude as the loss of data adds up to the loss of mobile itself. Many I know still don’t have the habit of taking backup of their mobile data, even if it supports. This is an elementary task, a responsible person should be doing for their mobile as well as PC and should need no whipping from others.Well, what we are discussing here is not how to whip somebody, but actually about an anti-theft and tracking application for Symbian S60 mobile phones called Phone Guardian. This software is developed by SymbianGuru. You have this on your mobile and it gets lost, the phone will be locked on a SMS command or change in SIM. Every time a new SIM is inserted, your mobile will SMS the new phone number to the two preset SOS mobile numbers in it. Not just that, it can also send back details including the Cell tower number, IMSI number and GPS coordinates (using inbuilt GPS, if any) on special commands received through SMS. With the help of all these details you can easily track your phone and possibly get it back.
Most of feature rich and Smartphones from Nokia like E-Series, N-series, XpressMusic and many other models are based on Symbian S60 platform. Samsung and LG too have many of their phones based on this platform. If you have a Nokia phone you can check if its a S60 phone on the Nokia Forum website. For other manufacturers, you can check your phone features or catalogue or at Phone Guardian site itself for list of compatible phones. Some of its unique features are:
Once installed, you can configure the activation number, lock code, SOS numbers, alarm and other settings and it will never bother you again. Of course, it will not remind you if the SOS numbers entered go defunct. It has a low processor and memory footprint and runs in the background with no icon in application menu or in running task list. The application can be launched by dialing the unique activation number and the process is visible only by applications like Y-Tasks or Nokia Device Status (a retired beta application).
Here are some of its options:
Notice above, it also has an option to change the GPS period to save the battery power.
After it is enabled, it cannot be removed or uninstalled unless the same lock code is provided. All the SMS are sent invisibly, i.e., they are not seen in the sent items. And if the phone is locked, its firmware cannot be refreshed or reinstalled too as it requires the mobile to be unlocked and set with General profile. But of course, a dedicated and expert thief will try more options to recover the phone and if so at least you can have your data deleted by forcing him or her to flash its firmware.
Some conditions for this application to work: the new SIM should be enabled to send and receive SMS, the phone should be switched on and be within the network coverage of service provider.
I have been using this application for a long time on my Nokia E Series phone and in my opinion, is a best and excellent application in its category. Though I have not lost my mobile, I am sure it is going to help me if I lose it ever. Some features I desire to have are remote wipe of phone and card data and live location update on Google maps like Google Latitude. I hope SymbianGuru will consider in new version of there application.
Download the Phone Guardian for trial from their website and a full version will cost you just $12.99 (just around 700 Indian Rupees). Not a big price to protect your favourite mobile!
(Some images are courtesy of SymbianGuru)
I recently purchased this new device Visiontac VGPS-900, a Bluetooth GPS Receiver and Data Logger. This is a unique GPS receiver with data logging functionality having more than 2 million waypoints (which is way over than 100 thousand waypionts in a conventional GPS data logger) and voice recorder.
# 51ch. MTK chipset with enhanced positioning system technology (up to 1.5m accuracy with DGPS support)
# MicroSD Slot with support up to 2GB capacity (about 25,000,000 waypoints, more than 2 years)
# “Voice-Tag” function with built-in microphone allows adding live voice labels to any waypoint
# Push-To-Log (POI anchor key) enables you highlighting a POI at any time
# Unique SPY mode allows continuous standby logging of more than one month
# Smart operating lights and prompt sounds
# Auto ON/OFF function with car cable
# Built-in high capacity battery for up to 24 hours of operation
# User-defined speed alarm
# Slim design with impact resistant polycarbonate and stainless steel
# Time Album software supports Windows, Mac and Linux
# Built-in Bluetooth supports SPP profile
The battery backup is splendid, which lasted for 20 hours of continuous logging for me against the 24 hrs as claimed by the manufacturer, nevertheless, 20 hrs is just fine, I think. An interesting feature is the unique spy mode, when enabled, logs the GPS data to the Micro SD card in a continuous standby mode for up to 30 days with single charge.
I have been using this for my daily commuting, workouts and long travels and can say I am most satisfied for the money spent. I use it along with Nokia Sports Tracker, GPSed, and Google Maps on my Nokia E65. The other advantage of this is it can be used as standalone as data logger without any additional device. It gives a good fix in open areas but takes little longer in shaded or indoors and some times it even took more than 5 minutes to get a fix after a cold start. There have been good reviews of this product and one I recommend if you are interested for an in-depth review is Kevin’s blog-shmog.com.
This product is also being sold as Columbus GPS-900 and can be purchased for a good discount on buygpsnow.com and semsons.com.
 |
 |
| Google result (click image to enlarge) | Wolfram Alpha result (click image to enlarge) |
First, lets notice the Google results, though it at first tells what the GDP of India is, the information is with minimal meaning and slightly misleading too as there is no mentioned of currency nor what the type of GDP is, parity or in exchange rate. (Of course, those who know little economics and mostly some common sense know that it is not in rupees!) Also note that this information is not from Google but from a third party source. To know the right and complete information you have to click on links in the search.
Now you would ask why have I not compared Wolfram with Google Squared, Google is still in “Coming Soon” mood for Google squared. After the first visit to the Google squared site, one might feel it is very elementary. But you never know what Google might be to!!
Every Ram, Rahim and Robert in our country would have used the Google’s products, like the Google Web Search, Gmail, Google Maps, Google News, Youtube, Orkut and the lesser known ones like Local search, Google SMS Search, Google Voice Search, Google Mobile, by the geeks but may not be the Google’s not so publicized project The Internet Bus. Google recently launched this in India in February this year. The pilot project was launched in Tamil Nadu state of India, the city obsessed with their language Tamil, TV and screen.
This bus is equipped with Internet enabled computer consoles where apart from communicating over IM or email one can explore and watch their favorite videos, songs and even movie sequence on Youtube, pictures of their movie idols , friends and relatives on Picasaweb, locate their house or city on Google Maps, etc. Google’s aim is to provide the Internet experience to the rural people who are not so connected with technology or Internet in particular. But it is not clear how Google expects these computer or Internet challenged folks (I might be not all accurate here) to use and operate the computer. Even if one expects the screen to be touch enabled, it would be very difficult to let people know how the use and operate the interface. But again, who knows they might catch up with it soon as they did with the Hole in the Wall, the tremendously successful and award winning study done by NIIT few years ago.
After touring Tamil Nadu’s 15 towns for one and half months, The Internet Bus is now heading to the Karnataka state and below is the bus route:
| 04 May Kolar | 21 May Bhadravati | 15 Jun Gadag |
| 06 May Mandya | 24 May Chikmanglur | 18 Jun Hospet |
| 08 May Mysore | 27 May Tumkur | |
| 13 May Bengaluru | 30 May Chitradurga | |
| 14 May Hassan | 02 Jun Davangere | |
| 17 May Arsikere | 06 Jun Hubli-Dharwad | |
| 18 May Shimoga | 11 Jun Belgaum |
You can also track the route and updates on their website here. The bus will tour Karnataka for around a month and half. It’s good that they are touring smaller towns more than the IT capital of India Bengaluru (Bangalore). It’s the smaller towns and villages where this awareness is required than for the most pampered, spoilt lads of Bangalore city.
Google’s intention of education people about advantages of technology may be wise but it wouldn’t go along with numerous and humongous problems with farmers suicide, shortage of fertilizers and basic amenities like food, water and power to the rural people of Karnataka. There have even problems with implementing city infrastructure in Bangalore and other cities of Karnataka.
If you or your friend could catch it in your town do provide your experiences or links to any videos or photos here. It would certainly be an enchanting experience for all my village friends. Even if you could not catch the bus you can always leave your comments here.
(Image Courtesy Google)
When Google launched the new Latitude application few months back, users were ecstatic (!); ideas and feature requests were poured out with all the imagination available as where and how this can be used (or misused).
Now, Google has come out with applications based on Latitude; first among them is sharing your location with Gtalk buddies or display as a badge on your website.
Don’t relate this with the new lab feature in the Gmail where one can share his or her location in their email signature; as it uses Google gears API and not Latitude. This will not be so accurate if you are connected with an ISP at the airport or with an ISP registered with another country, as the location shown would be obviously wrong.
This is how it looks if you enable for your gtalk. You can also see how it looks if embeded as badge on your website or blog as shown on the left in this page. You can read more about these applications on the Official Google blog and go to Latitude apps page to enable them.
For those geeky developers there is more juice on Google Geo Developers blog. The catch with this is anyone can copy the code and learn and show your location with others, even if you remove it from your page. To disable you have to login to the Latitude Apps page.
And now with free API available and free integration of Latitude with other apps, privacy advocates will fret, argue and debate more.
