Witopia now offers PPTP

You remember I bashed Witopia a while ago due to its usage of the Windows OpenVPN client and their stupid refereres trying to cash in on my page rank for VPN. Well now Witopia VPN has launched a PPTP service, which will offer easier integration than the old OpenVPN stuff.

OpenVPN got lots of problems on Microsoft Platforms - and have given me plenty of headackes. But with PPTP you get little less safe VPN than with open vpn – but no hassels on Windows or iPhone VPN.

Head over to Witopia http://www.witopia.net/ and sign up. And I’m NOT affiliated with them in any way! Performance have never been an issue on Witopia - so they are safe. Use the “iPhone or Whatever option” to get PPTP that works with iPhone and Windows without any problems!

Nokia S60v3 E90 VPN officially available from Nokia

It has been a long wait but now in silence Nokia Business solutions have released an updated VPN client for S60v3.1. So now in theory my E90 should be able to connect to my Cisco Pix

Nokia VPN New features:
Policy Maker application – a windows based software that helps you generate the policy file from your windows desktop. No longer a need for hand making a policy file and then “encrypt” and “sign” it. So a one-step policy file maker!

Nokia E90 optimized!

But the big problem is still that you need a VPN setup (like sip) for EACH of your Network connections. So on settings file for each 3G network. One settings file for each WiFi link. Why the Network settings are not just “online or offline” like iPhone or Windows Mobile – I still do not understand.

Nokia – please solve it so we have a “network connection center” and just can tick off which WWAN/WiFi access points that the VPN should use for tunneling!

But head over to download from
http://www.businesssoftware.nokia.com/mobile_vpn_downloads.php

Unfortunately Cisco instructions are still not there – so if any of you are better VPN experts than me – then please ping me with PIX setup instructions.

What's in the Box? The 3G iPhone Lands Down Under

Just saw this on MacTalk forums and though you deserved to know:

The 3G iPhone Lands Down Under?

Late yesterday afternoon MacTalk received the above photo from a very reliable source who can not be named for obvious reasons (fear of assassination by the Apple Secret Police I presume). Word on the street is that resellers across the country have also received similar packages. As seen by the picture, it's contents are protected under NDA until Tuesday June 10 - does that date ring a bell to anyone?

What's in the Box? The 3G iPhone Lands Down Under - MacTalk Forums.

HP Overcharging in the Middle East

As you might know – I do a lot of photography – about 10-15.000 images a year. To print them out I currently have a HP DesignJet 130nr 24” printer. I like the printer – but the head keeps drying up – despite AC on constant temperature, and humidity about 50–55 pct.

But now I want to upgrade to the HP DesignJet Z3100. In the US the retail price is $3.395 – quite okay price. So I went to investigate what the price is in Dubai (where rumor says everything is cheap..) – and much to my surprise the exact same printer here is almost twice the price. $6050. YES - $6050.

And that is EXCLUSIVE of a $1.000 trade in discount you can get in the US. AND excluding taxes which I can only assume is excluding the 4.7% import duty in the UAE. And we are talking the EXCACT same model – the Q5669A.
So why is that?

Of course a premium has to be paid for transport. But $3000? For US$3000 I can get a 21’ container to transport it to the UAE – all alone in the container! Or I could even buy 2 – and have one as a spare parts here.

But who knows why HP is overcharging here. They might think everyone is a Petro Dollar Sheik? Or do HP think people in the Middle East are less clever than in the rest of the world? Or is there something else they are not telling us?

So in the US i can do a trade-in and get the Z3100 for $2.395. Here I have to pay $6050. That is a 152% overcharge…

Short wait for OQO e3?

VIA has launched its new generation of processors – the VIA Nano. And that is great news for OQO fans – because the new VIA Nano is pin compatible with the VIA C7 that OQO uses.

That should mean that OQO only needs to do a firmware update – and then be able to plug in the VIA Nano – and off we go with better performance.

VIA claims up to 4 times the performance on same thermal usage, so you should be able to get 4 times the performance. (Well let’s see about that…)

VIA says that especially in the multimedia area – the new processor will shine. So that might solve the bad DVD Rip playback on the current OQOs.

Here is the processor range in full:

IDIOT WITOPIA ADVERTISERS

Dear Donald from helpnote.net and the about 3–5 other people a day, who try to put comments into my blog on how great Witopia VPN is…

Sorry – but I’m not sponsoring your referel fees. If Witopia wants to advertise on this site – they are welcome to ask. But we do not post referals from affiliatie collectors – and Witopia is one of the worst VPN systems out there. Nothing but problems if you are on XP or Vista.

Stay with PPTP VPN if you use Windows, where you DON’T need 3^rd party drivers or software, that might f**k up your network completly. I have spent to many hours helping people who got stuck with bad Witopia installations.

3G iPhone on June 9

The rumor mills are saying we should expect the new iPhone on June 9^th.

Not a big lift in features – but at least I hope for 3G and Exchange. Next on my whish list is VoÍP, SlingPlayer (soon to enter beta I hear) - and then I might jump from my E90 to iPhone 3G.

Why SlingPlayer and SlingBox is so popular

I have 2 SlingBoxes – one in Europe and one in Dubai, which lets me watch news and other “local” stuff wherever I am – as long as I got a reasonable internet connection. I have ORB and Media Center as well, but for watching live TV, SlingBox can’t be beaten. Of course there are some issues, but they are small.

But I started wondering why I like the Live TV on my SlingBox. And one of the things that clearly set SlingBox apart from competition – is that a channel change happens very quickly.

If you try to change channels in ORB, it takes quite a long time before you have a reaction – but on a SlingBox it is close to instant. And as most men.. I’m a zapper – moving from Channel to Channel. So I don’t really like waiting 10 seconds for the stream change to reach me, which is what happens in ORB.

So I was thinking a bit about how SlingBox makes it so instant. And their solution is very smart.

When you start watching a channel – SlingPlayer actually builds up a buffer of 7 seconds video (default), and until the buffer is full, the SlingPlayer actually slow down the program you are watching. Not so much that you notice it – but enough for the buffer to fill up to full 7 seconds. When it reaches 7 Seconds – play speed is set to 100%. Until buffer is full – it floats between 90-93% of normal speed.

Then when you change a channel – the buffer is instantly cleared – and the SlingBox sends you the new stream, first in quite bad quality – and then as the buffer fills towards 7 seconds – the quality slowly increases – and when you reach 100% buffer – your video quality is back at “best possible”

This gives you the almost instant channel changes on SlingBox. Just try it at home if you are using a cable box. Try to change channels on the remote for the box. The channel change will take 7 seconds to show. But if you use SlingPlayer to do the channel change – it takes less than 1 sec.

This is very smart – and makes the Zapping Experience a lot more smooth – and user friendly.

So in my book – this is the reason I use SlingPlayer and not ORB for live TV.

Now we just wait for SlingPlayer 2.0, Sling Catcher and a SlingPlayer mobile client that supports my Nokia E90.

Archos 605 Wi-Fi review

A few weeks ago – I took delivery of an Archos 605 Wi-Fi with 80GB hard drive. The specs are impressive, and capacity is fine for me even though bigger versions are available. So now I have had time to really put it through its paces.

The general impression

The screen specs are fine – 800x480 4.3” with touch – plays back most AVI files with a few exceptions. On the left hand side you have the headphone mini jack. On top On/Off and Lock button and on the front you have a small speaker and “multi-swivel buttons” for control of the unit (volume, up/down, menu etc) and that is all fine and works okay.

Archos USB stupidities

But the really stupid thing (Number 1) is.. On the bottom base is the Archos connector. The Archos connector is a propriety connector for plugging in to the docking station or plugging in the USB to Archos Connector cable. Why Archos cannot deliver a TRUE USB connector on the SIDE of the unit is beyond every intelligent persons understanding. You see – the problem is with power attached via USB cable – the unit can’t stand by its own. It needs extra support. And you need to carry the USB to Archos cable around with you to charge the device or transfer data to it. So Archos why can’t you just deliver a REAL mini USB?

Archos Travel Adaptor

I then got the “Travel Adaptor” with extra battery – and a REAL Mini USB interface, since I thought – okay – with that at least I can charge and the device can stand by its own accord. But no. Despite having the USB interface – the only way the travel adaptor will charge is with an AC adaptor. Thank you again Archos.

Battery performance is “okay”. I get about 3 hours watching movies, and have not tried to run it dry on music. But it is okay for my usage.

Archos 605 Touch Screen

Then on to the next absolutely stupid design mistake. You get a device with touch screen, and you do get a Pen for it in the box. But there is not a single place to store the pen in a safe place in the device. You need to keep the pen safe somewhere. There is not even a “tab” for the pen in the very cheap pouch Archos delivers. So the pen is bound to get lost very quickly.

Syncing the Archos 605

Then on to putting data on the Archos 605 Wi-Fi. I had hoped I could sync my DivX files via play-for-sure on my Vista Premium Media Center. But no. Lots of files won’t convert. Mostly DivX files I have done of my DVDs. So I had to install SyncTool – but that works fine. Not as advanced as with MediaCenter sync – but most files do not require any conversion to be played back on the Archos Unit. Not really Archos fault I think. But still…

Archos 605 Volume

So now on to usability – I like the device – it is small – plays back movies as it should. Only had a couple of errors playing back DivX and AVI movies. Sound quality is okay – but the volume is very very low. The latest firmware has helped a little bit – but still – my iPhone plays louder than the 605 Wi-Fi, and Apple are conservative with the volume output.

Archos 605 Wi-Fi and .. Wi-Fi

The Archos 605 have built in Wi-Fi and with that you can browse the net – play files from UPnP devices like my Media Center. Wi-Fi support is okay – but a bit old fashioned in usage and in connecting to Wireless Access Points. But now on to the bad part. When you use Wi-Fi you have snap-crackle-and-pop in your earphones – all the time – and very loud. Not acceptable Archos – not at all. So Wi-Fi is limited to browsing without sound. Nobody should buy this device for its Wi-Fi – that’s for sure. You can’t watch a movie, see a flash video or anything else via Wi Fi – it is unbearable! Wi-Fi coverage is lousy anyway – so compared to E90 – you get less than 1/3 of the range.

Archos 605 Screen Performance

Back to the screen. In dark rooms the screen is great – god contrast. Black levels are non existent though, so screen is more grayish than black and grayscales are not very good. As you know – I live in the sunny part of the world – so outdoor usage is absolutely a must for me. But the Archos 605 WiFi is unusable outdoors – even in the shade. I don’t think I have any other devices with such bad outdoor screen performance.

Archos Plugins

To do Web Browsing – you need to buy a plug-in. The (Opera) software is in the device – it is just not activated. The web browser plug-in works fine and browse is quite close to my Nokia E90 browser in rendering. But I had problems with the rendering not working very well – especially when dimensions were set to “Fit Width” – especially in the last version of the firmware. There you could not even see Archos own website. Everything just went black.

To view MP2 video files – you need another plug-in –and to view H264 video – you need yet another plug-in. Remember – before you are done – and the device works as you want – you might have to spend another €75 / $100.

Archos has just delivered a new plug-in – so now you can hear Internet Radio and watch Internet TV. And of course it comes at a price (another €20). The plug-in is just the V-Tuner application ported to Archos. And €20 seems a bit steep for that. But it is nice to have the radio stations at hand.

So to recap Archos Stupidities

1. The unit can’t stand by its own with the stupid Archos to USB connector. Big minus!

2. No Standard USB connector on the device

3. The travel battery/USB adaptor does not charge via USB? Only through AC adaptor. So why put Travel in the name? You have to bring your AC Adaptor for it?

4. The screen is un-usable outdoors (but okay indoors)

5. Everything else is “extras” so expect to hand out €70/$100 before you are happy with it.

6. Wi-Fi is close to un-usable – really bad coverage –and noise in headphones most of the time.

7. Where can you put the pen?

8. The Pouch is damn cheap and does not have a Pen Holder.

9. Where is the SlingPlayer application? J (sorry could not resists)

10. The volume in headset is very low.

The good stuff or what Archos made right

1. It actually works with most of my AV Files without any conversion. BIG PLUS

2. Indoors display is good (but not perfect)

3. It works with ORB! But via Flash –and the Flash video quality is “random” at best with washed out colors.

The Archos 605 Wi-Fi review conclusion

So would I buy it again? No - not at full price. iPod Touch 32GB is so close pricewise. I’d rather have the iPod Touch than the 605 Wi-Fi. But since I got this one for a really low price, it’s a keeper for now.

That’s all for today – thanks for listening.

Mobile SlingPlayer(s) updated

A few updates have hit SlingMedia SlingBox mobile users today.

The new versions are:

SlingPlayer Mobile for Pocket PC 1.6
SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Smartphone 1.6
SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian OS 1.01
SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm 1.0.1

I have only tried the Symbian 1.01 - and the new features seems to be limited to bug fixes and a few extra handsets supported. (Nokia N82 and N95 8GB)

But still no support for E90 - so E90 owners still have to live with stamp-sized video on their E90s.

Access Points can now be defined as “Ask Everytime” which is nice since the E90 is quite stupid in its Network handling.

Buhuuu SlingMedia for not providing support for more phones. (And for not releasing the SlingPlayer 2.0 and SlingCatcher!)

Special offer - 3G data - $6.500/hour

It can be expensive to surf away from your normal network provider. The Swede – Kristoffer Sandberg got a bit of a surprise when he received a bill for Mobile Data Roaming for SEK 40.000 (About US$ 6500)

In Sweden Kristoffer pays SEK 99 ($15) pr. month for unlimited data on his 3G subscription with Mobile Operator 3. But on a trip to Norway Kristoffer surfed on YouTube for about one hour on Telenords 3G network via the roaming agreement with 3.

One hour use – resulted the bill of $6.500.

So now telecoms critics in Scandinavia are scratching their heads – since why should something that costs SEK 99 for one whole month – cost $6.500 just because you are on a “roaming” network.

Well we can just hope this leads to lower roaming charges across the world. But pour Kristoffer….

Story from IDG Norway (in Norwegian)

Skype for Mobile Java

Finally – Skype for Java is available in Beta. This means native skype support is not longer just for Windows Mobile.

So far quite a few mobiles are supported from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson!

So head over to (on your mobile) http://skype.com/m

Or from your browser: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/mobile/

BUT – In this beta version, anyone can receive calls, instant message and see who’s online. If you want to call phones, mobiles, or any of your Skype contacts, this is limited to people in Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden and UK

So go over and try it. Unfortunatly it is not available for my E90 :-( yet. So still Fring Dependent…..

A few more i-mate Ultimate 9502 comments

Now I have used the device for a few days. And it is a nice device. But despite the 1660 MA battery – the battery life of the 9502 is not very good.

A charge lasts maximum a day with my usage. That is 1/2 of my E90 – and I use them in the same way.

I installed Opera Mobile 8.65 on it – and it works fine – apart from every time I start up the application I get an Error message with a fault in Opera.exe file. Ignoring the error and pressing continue – gets me straight into Opera and everything seems to work.

Then I checked the Micro SD. And what a sunrise – only supports standard Micro SD – no capacity higher that 2GB. Come on i-mate – this is 2008 - and 12GB Micro SD cards are available. My 8GB SDHC card does not work in the Ultimate 9502.

I don't really care about “VGA” output for presentations. I want a Phone that works like a charm.

I guess i-mate lost out great when HTC pushed them out and so far I can’t really see a recovery for that – apart from buying your phones from HTC and not i-mate.

The screen is nice though – but gets damn greasy – and does not really work well in the sun. Even though it is nice and bright indoors – outdoors you can hardly read it on highest brightness settings. And this is despite i-mate HQ is in a very sunny city of Dubai.

The Power button has problems as well. Very hard to press to get the screen to turn on. It is in an awkward place for most people – and really annoy me. After pressing it it takes 0.5 – to 1 second before you have any reaction.

So in my book -the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – is not really a winner. At maximum a limited device to a very limited user group. So on to Souq with this one (the eBay of the Middle East..)

Now SSD available with Lenovo T-, X, and X series Tablet

First we had the X300 with SSD drive – now Lenovo is offering the same SSD drive for a few more laptops – including my favorite at the moment - the X61t (Tablet)

Yes – I can´t live without my tablet and OneNote – and now with an SSD option I might upgrade before the X200 tablet or X300 tablet comes out – or what ever the name will be.

The SSD drive option of 64GB adds another US$1030 to a standard X61 Tablet (in exchange for the 80GB 5400 RPM option)

The SSD drive should hopefully give you a bit more HD speed and battery juice. But some SSD implementations are not the best (like OQO that wont play HD movies from SSD drives)

But since Lenovo usually delivers – I’m hoping for the best. (Yes I'm colored – but have had about 10 different tablets so far - and my X61t is clearly the best of the bunch so far)

But unfortunately it seems like it is not available in the high res screen option. Another thing I can’t live without….

So Dear Lenovo – I want 4:3 1400x1050 screen for with your next tablet edition – AND SSD drive - and a screen that does not smudge so much… and :-) :-)

Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502

Just found a new gadget in Dubai. Expensive L but got it anyway. Available in Sharaff DG in Times Square Mall Dubai as of today. I do already know I'm not keeping it – but just wanted to try it for a few days. J

Here are a few un-boxing pictures for your pleasure J

Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – The Box	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – The Phone
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Phone and Accessories	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Front and Back uncovered
The Belt Pouch	The Belt Pouch
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 -Charger and Tips	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – the Ugly Headset
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – AV Cable	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Software
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – The Manual	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – The Spare Pen
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – The Battery	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Side View
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Side View	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Top View Power and Pen
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – First Boot	Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – Date Setting
Unboxing the i-mate Ultimate 9502 – okay - READY

 

So here you have the Ultimate 9502 – with pictures. I have now used it for 12 hours – and my initial thoughts are:

1. Nice with real headset mini-jackplug (works with my nice Nokia Headset)
   
2. Screen is very nice – but a bit small for this big device – and it is a shame it does not tilt like the TyTN II.
   
3. Buttons are a bit "cheap" - but keyboard inside is great despite its small size.
   
4. The device feels slow. Slower than my Nokia E90. Changing from Landscape to Portrait can take a while
   
5. My SlingPlayer works fine with it – and very stable – and uses the full screen. Not like the Nokia E90 version…
   
6. Battery cover has small (very small) pins for locking – I think they will break if you are not careful.
   
7. Speaker is crap compared with my E90s – low in volume and distorts.
   
8. Call quality is nowhere near the E90.
   
9. The nice dialer i-mate had with HTC is not there anymore –and there are not really a lot of "punch" software in the pack like HTC provides
   

So in general – if you want Windows Mobile – this is a great device for you. One of the best out there – HTC does a better design job – but no normal sized HTC phones are available with 640x480 screen. Some of the design elements seem like crude Russian mid 1970s inspired. So it is built like a tank apart from pen and battery cover.

Windows Mobile is Windows Mobile – so not a lot to say about that apart from it supports the 1970s built like a tank (in Russia)

Thanks for taking the time to look in on us J and if you want to buy a slightly used i-mate Ultimate 9502 – ping me.