Kaz 911 Rescue Service

Jaybird SB2 Bluetooth Headset Review

2010-12-21T10:20:00.001+04:00

I have been working out a lot to make my fat deposits ready for Christmas – plus I have a back condition that goes from painful to life crippling if I do not give it some training.

But I do find training boring – extremely boring. So I bring my iPad – and use the time to watch news via Slingbox/Slingplayer – or stupid TV series.

But being caught up in a cord between iPad and my ears is not my favourite position. Especially on Treadmill or rowing machine it is not so safe. So I started out with a Jabra Bluetooth headset where I could attach any type of headphones. The unit looked pretty solid and robber coated – but that lasted only about 2 weeks before it died. Died by sweat ingestion.

Jaybird SB2 Sportsband Bluetooth Headset

So I started researching Bluetooth Headsets for sports. Unfortunately there are not a lot available. But the company Jaybird specializes in Bluetooth headsets for sports. So I decided to try them first. So I ordered the “over the head” SB2 model and the older JB-200. Review of the JB-200 will follow later on.

I ordered the Jaybird SB2 online from Jaybird directly. Everything went smoothly but they are not fast to ship. It took them quite a while to get out of the door. But eventually I got it. Customer service while ordering was not very good. I tried to add some ear pads 10 minutes after putting in the order – but their order system would not let me change the order. And their support was absolutely no help at all. So big minus so far on Speed and Customer service.

Then the headset arrived. You get the headset and a USB charger cable with it. But the Jaybird SB2 uses a very old fashioned very thin “pin” based charger in the headphones. I have not seen any of those since my old V-Tech Bluetooth headset. So if you loose your charger cable – you will not be able to find one one in a high street shop. Why they did not use a Micro or Mini USB I do not know.

If you look at the picture – the headset looks very attractive. Well images are lie. The headset is plastic – with a genuine “China” plastic feel to it. It just feels cheap. It fits okay on the head – but it is heavy.

Pairing with iPhone and iPad was no problem. With iOS 4.2 you can use the headsets full feature set – and they worked quite well. You turn on the headset and it automatically connects to the iPad. No issues.

Jaybird and me of to the Gym

So off the the first gym sessions. And the headset preforms well. A little low on bass but apart from that sound quality is good. After 1 1/2 hours in the gym – I start to feel the hard and sharp edges of the headset band pressing on the top of my skull. But everything works. I was quite happy to have found something that works and is sweat resistant. It stayed on even while running – and felt quite stable. Call quality was okay on the iPhone – and volume adjusted up and down quite nicely.

After about 2 weeks of happy use – suddenly the headsets volume buttons started playing up. Volume down worked but not volume up. That rendered the headset useless. No way to get volume back up equals not a lot of sound. I guess it might be sweat – so I left it to dry and used another Bluetooth headset for a couple of days. After 4 days the volume-up button started to work again – so I took the Jaybird SB2 to the gym – and hey presto – after about 20 minutes – the headset just died completely. Not a squeak or sound coming from it and it would not turn on.

I left it to dry – for about 2 weeks. And it still looks like it charges – but it still does not turn on. Sweat damage I guess. I could send it back for repair – but since I am in the middle east – just shipping it back will cost about $50,- which is half the price of the headset. Jaybird have a “limited lifetime” sweat guarantee on the SB2. But read the fine print.

Conclusion on Jaybird SB2 and Jaybird store

So can I recommend the SB2 – no – not at all. Can I recommend Jaybird store direct – No not at all. If you want to get a SB2 – fine. But find a retailer locally that stocks them. Make certain that they will exchange the SB2 without hassles if (when) it dies.

So my quest for a Bluetooth sweat resistant headset is still going on. Recommendations anyone?

Coming reviews: Jaybird SB-200 and Plantronics 903+ (plus) “behind the ears/neck” headset.

Wikileaks founder accused of rape in Stockholm

2010-08-21T15:10:00.001+04:00

Julian Assange arrested in-absentia for rape in Stockholm writes Swedish newspaper Afton Bladet. According to the Swedish prosecutors the case is about rape and molestation.

In an e-mail to Afton Bladet Julian Assange denies the accusations.

Julian Assange was in Sweden for some time planning a potential expansion of Wikileaks since Sweden has one of the strongest laws for the protection of sources.

The news in Swedish here: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article7651572.ab

A statement from Wikileaks twitter: “We were warned of dirty tricks. Now comes the first” and one quoted as a statement from Julian Assange himself says “the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing”

Follow Wikileaks twitter here: http://twitter.com/wikileaks for more updates.

So is this just big boy politics and an attempt to silence Wikileaks. Or are there really two Swedish girls who have been violated by Assange. Only the future will show. But if it just is a case of politics – it is a sure sign that Wikileaks is feared – but a rape case is kind of taken out of a bad spy novel.

UAE threatens to block all RIM BlackBerry services

2010-08-01T12:16:00.001+04:00

All United Arab Emirates BlackBerry users today received this message:

Dear Valued Customer,

The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has decided to suspend BlackBerry services from Oct 11, 2010. In accordance with this decision Etisalat will soon announce alternative mobility products and services.

Please visit www.etisalat.ae/blackberry for further information and updates

After UAE telecoms company Etisalat sent out their data snatching “virus” about a year ago – the UAE telecoms authority have been negotiation with RIM to open up for “data sharing” of UAE users BlackBerry data transfers (Messages, Mail, Web usage etc) – it seems like the negotiations has come to an abrupt halt.

To cite the TRA (The UAE Telecoms Regulatory Authority) – “In the current form certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns in the UAE”

In plain terms it means “We want to snoop on your messages and data transfers without a court order – and if we can’t we will just block the services”

I see this of course as a attempt to force RIM/BlackBerry back to the negotiations table. But if it will work is uncertain.

So will the UAE really block all BlackBerry services as of October 11 2010? I don’t think so. Every single statesman and woman from Sheik to Sheika are BlackBerry users. Most of the Government owned investment companies (Sovereign Wealth Funds) – uses BlackBerry.

Sony Ericsson X10 rooted

2010-06-24T00:05:00.001+04:00

Seems like some of the good guys on XDA (jerpelea, Bin4ryDigit and biktor_gj) have rooted the Sony Ericsson X10. Check a picture here. How it was done is not quite clear yet. But I think it has been the hardest root of any Android until now. But it gives the owners of X10 devices the possibility to “upgrade” early to Android 2.x – probably long time before Sony Ericsson can deliver.

The X10 is a great phone – with a great screen and lightweight. I guess with Android Froyo it can get some of the market share it deserves. But Sony Ericsson development is kind of slow. Maybe if Sony Ericsson did not spend as much time trying to secure the operating system – the delivery of Android 2.x would speed up. But well - the guys nailed it.

A lot of the critique has been focused around NOT being able to stop some of the factory selected Applications from running. So you will see things like Moxier Mail and Sony Ericsson Timescape “taking” up working memory on the phone – even if you don't want or need them.

So a true root will be a welcome addition to the Sony Ericsson X10.

Join the discussions on XDA Developer here and follow progress while they “cook” the next ROM/Firmware in their bit-kitchens. We are ready to taste any output.

iPhone OS4 or iOS 4 is ready for download

2010-06-21T21:27:00.001+04:00

Seems like iPhone OS4 -iOS4 is ready for the general public. So tune in to iTunes 9.2 and start downloading.

And lets see if Apples servers can take the pressure. My iPhone 3GS is updating as we speak.

I look forward to trying new e-mail and multitasking

Update:Seems like servers are not the fastest in the world. So for 50% downloaded. Some 370mb and 185 done. But I’m in the Middle East…

N900 sms Nokia on upgrade

2010-05-28T17:31:00.001+04:00

ouch – lots of heated discussion in the world of N900 users. First Nokia can’t really decide who the phone/mobile computer is aimed at – and then after letting users wait for 5 months for a crucial update called PR1.2 – Nokia finally releases PR1.2 with some of the functions that are needed to make the N900 a killer device.

And what happens? Well when a user finishes upgrading to PR1.2 – the N900 sends an SMS– from the end users handset to Nokia.

Nokia does show in the Terms and Conditions that they will do that – but hey – Nokia – stop fishing money of out MY wallet and sending details via SMS - that I HAVE TO PAY FOR - to Finland. And what are they putting into that SMS?

It makes me feel a bit – jolted – and my trust in Nokia is gone.

But this is just a case of Nokia miscommunication – once again.

Not to mention that N900 is already “out” and won’t get any more major updates. No wonder 2nd hand prices on N900 are so low – lower than N97…

More here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=53565

Nokia N900 Mini Review part 2

2010-01-06T22:12:00.001+04:00

I have now been using the Nokia N900 for about a . The device is great but still have quite a lot of issues that needs to be solved before it can be a mainstream product.week and a bit

So here are a few more comments

Battery life: Well in default setting battery life is not the best in the world. Since it is dependent on usage quoting figures are not that relevant. But enough to say that you hardly get a work day from the battery. If you optimize a bit – you can get up to a work day. Wi-Fi power and Bluetooth are heavy drainers – so keep Bluetooth off and set Wi-Fi transmit power to 10mw. Default is 100mw. It will impact wireless range but better than running out of juice.

Applications:

Mail For Exchange: That is the biggest disappointment. It semi works – but only if you run Exchange 2007 with specific service packs. You cannot really call it “support” for exchange. It is very limited support – and it seems like it was not born from the codebase on the S60 MfE. This rules out out as a business phone for many. No remote wipe/key. Syncs all folders you have. If you run in scheduled mode (like every 15. min.) it seems like if MfE looses the data connection – then MfE will not connect again unless you do a full manual sync. Very annoying. You can’t move mails to another folder.

Message Pop Up: When a new message pops up – why can’t you delete the message? Button is greyed out.

Message Notifications: Unfortunately the message notification sound when you are on a call is the same as “Call Waiting” – so you get bugged down checking the phone again and again – only to find out it is a message notification.

Ovi Maps – enough said – just lousy. Give us V3

Camera: Camera takes great pictures in the right conditions. But give it a bit of light that hits the metallic frame around the lens – resulting in distorted and blue tinted pictures that are less than good looking.

Web Browser - Web Gestures: Does mostly only work if you use the stylus. Does not work very well unless you have a pointy finger or long nails. Most of the time the browser is fast. But sometimes it gets kind of stuck and takes forever to load pages. It has been reported some flash applications can stay running even if you close the browser – and thereby eat the battery without you noticing it.

Touch: In general nowhere near iPhone. To many mistakes resulting from touch. Browser is terrible with touch – even with stylus – and have a habit of confusing scrolling with tapping on links every time.

Screen : For indoor use it is great. But not as clear outdoors as the iPhone. Resolution is good. Screen cover is really bad and needs a screen protector. My phone is already so scratched it needs a new “glass”

Bluetooth: Hmm not really ready for prime times. Crashes my Nokia BH-905 headset so it needs a complete reset. Limited support for using the Phone as DUN device (sharing Internet access with your computer)

MMS: Nope not available (yet) – I don’t care – since I do not use MMS – but for some people it is important.

Skype: Works quite well – but not as well as Skype on the iPhone. Lots of fall-outs in speech in my testing. But great Skype can stay loaded in the background.

The worst thing with the N900 is the constant “fight” with Linux Geeks who sees the phone as the 2nd coming. They can make up all kinds of excuses to why the phone (yes phone) is not a phone, why the applications are not up to scratch, If a user asks the wrong question about how to get things to work or why they do not work in another way – they are like vultures attacking dead pray.

The product is an end user product. But the biggest threat to success is the availability of high quality software and the Linux community attitude to “You are stupid if you don’t know how to operate this device”. That is what is killing Linux on the Desktop and it can kill the N900 just as well. So guys – help people. Always think that your mother or grandmother should be able to use the device. Think of your fellow users as people who are not stupid – but people who you can and should help understand all the great things about a Linux based phone. Help fellow developers develop with end users in mind. Not just for users who create arbitrary RegEx statements while playing Doom and know what Bash and BusyBox is.

If nothing is done the N900 will end up being another niche device where interest will dwindle within a short period of time.

Rain has cleared the air in dubai

2009-12-12T13:54:00.001+04:00

Seems like the air smells fresh and clean. Testpost via pixelpipe on N900

Nokia N900 mini review

2009-12-06T14:15:00.001+04:00

As you might have noticed – I don’t care a lot about things like “processor speed” or other specs on mobile phones. It is a bit like comparing – yes you know what.

What I do care about usability – can it do what I need and want?

So very high on my needs list for running my businesses and taking care of my personal life are:

1. Microsoft Exchange Support
2. SIP Phone Support
3. VPN Support (PPTP and/or more)
4. Good and fast web browsing. Don't care about Flash at all.
5. Good Voice quality for Phone and SIP calls.
6. High resolution screen – in an ok size so I don't have to fiddle to much.
7. Capacitive Touch
8. Potential for real navigation with GPS when you are in a tight spot
9. Good quality media player that can eat a lot of formats without conversion.

So I got the “Mobile Computer with Phone support” the N900 to see if that fits my needs. The N900 is a descendant to the Nokia Internet Tablets like the N800 and N810. It is based on a Debian Linux with a Nokia GUI on top – but have more or less same specs and the N97 running Symbian. It is also comparable to the latest Android based phones.

You might have noticed I called the N900 for a “Mobile Computer with Phone support” – and that is ONLY because a lot of the N900 fan-boys tries to say “Phone Support is not super yet – but please do not look the N900 as a phone” to cover Phone criticism. I think that is stupid to be honest. It is a device from Nokia with a SIM card – so you should expect a great Phone integration. So N900 fan-boys - stop crying “foul”every time someone says something bad about the Phone Interface. Suck it up - and put pressure on Nokia to fix it.

So in general – the N900 falls short in a few of my requirements. It does have SIP – but does NOT have VPN. VPN should be SO easy to implement on a Debian platform that I don’t understand why it is not there.

Another annoyance is the N900 has resistive touch screen. That is really not very good. It is more luck than effort that you can use it for on screen navigation. Compared to iPhone it is really bad. Not as bad as the N97 but very close. Tapping on the screen (like double tap in web browser to “zoom in” and double-tap again to zoom out”) – again – is more luck than anything that it zooms. Often I need to try 3-4 times before it zooms. Never had that kind of an issue on the iPhone.

Exchange Support is “ok” but not more than okay. It is Nokia’s own “Mail for Exchange” application that manages the connection – and it seems to work a bit different on the N900 than it does on the N97/E90/E71. On the “other” versions of MfE – your Inbox get synchronised. But on the N900 – ALL your folders get synchronised. For me that meant the first sync I tried – did not even finish in 24 hours. I have maybe 70-90 mails pr day – and keep my inbox quite nice and clean – but organise all other mails in folders and subfolders. So I’m used to all other Exchange mobile implementations – to take all mail from Inbox and keep that in Sync. But my N900 wanted my entire 9GBs of mails from all folders. What a waste – I don’t need all my old mail in my pocket. I need only my Inbox and maybe selected folders. But there is NO way to disable folders from Sync.

The huge amount of e-mail MfE tries to sync – also seems to mean that my N900 often “forgets” to sync. “Last sync failed – Exchange Server Not Responding” it screams. But with a mobile device I need to be sure that my mails arrive on time when I’m out – without having to check Sync status all the time. If I set it for every 15 min – I want my mail every 15. min – not after 3 hours… I do not have those issues with my iPhone – so why should I accept them with the N900?

Navigation – well the N900 is delivered with a crippled version of Ovi Maps. I love Ovi Maps 3.0 – but the version in the N900 is a weird mix of Ovi Maps 3 and some older versions. Seems like a Quick and dirty “hack” just to have a map application on the N900. You do get the 3D buildings as in V3 – and you can use it for navigation – but you don't get a Navigation screen – only the map. No turn by turn instructions – and biggest issue – no sync of your online Ovi Landmarks. I have a lot of landmarks in my Ovi Maps Online Application but can’t access them on this version.

Web browser is okay – but not a speed daemon – it works okay and display pages quite well. But not a fluid experience like on the iPhone.

Media Player seems to work fine and can play mpeg 4 video with good results on the screen – it fulfil my needs anyway.

Now I will take a break and come back with more later. :-)

Nokia BH-905 Short Review

2009-12-03T13:55:00.001+04:00

I have been looking for a Bluetooth and wired noise cancelling headset for a long time. One you can use on flights and for the computer – and for any Bluetooth phone. When Nokia announced the BH-905 I knew i wanted to try them and they seemed like the could handle my requirements.

The BH-905 is a very capable package. I have used it now for about 3 months and are quite happy with it – but they are not perfect. So here are my complaints you need to be aware of.

1. Noise cancelling

a. BH-905 seems to convert most noise into a low level high pitch hiss. For normal use it is okay – but not nearly as good as my Sony MDR-NC500Ds. One flights the noise is quite annoying

b. Nokia BH-905 has a BIG problem with low pitch noise like engine noise (diesel engines) – they get “transformed” into very very low pitch humming – that is more annoying that the noise itself.

c. I took the BH-905 to Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi – but that was a big mistake. The sound from F1 cars made the BH-905 go into overdrive so they popped and clicked so badly you could not even wear them any longer. Had to resort to my good old fashioned “stuff something in your ears..” to keep noise level down.

2. Connectivity

a. It is not easy to maintain connection to multiple devices via Bluetooth – since most computers and phones support both Stereo and Headset profiles – changing source device is a pain in the b*t.

b. Computers have a hard time pushing audio in Stereo mode to the headset – and frequently changes to headset mode. Headset mode has lousy audio quality for music and video. This might not be Nokia’s problem – but it seems like a generic Bluetooth profile handling problem.

c. The Nokia BH-905 supports cable connections. But why does it not support a standard PC Mic In? So you could use the BH-905 as a headset for a PC via Wired connection? That is just stupid. Connecting to a PC gives you and Audio Out only so fine for music and video – but if the VoIP phone rings – you cant answer. Please Nokia – there are room for improvement here.

So in general – as I said the device is on the right track – but still to young to be a major player in the noise cancelling headset sector. For that to happen the noise cancelling needs to get a lot better and the bugs need to get sorted out. One could hope a later firmware could solve it – but for now I need to bring my Sony if I need real noise cancelling.

On the positive side it works with my iPhone 3GS and my Nokia N900. Not perfect – but it works.

Stein Bagger arrested in LA

2008-12-07T08:29:00.002+04:00

The Danish CEO of IT Factory, who committed fraud for so far US$170 ml. has been arrested in Los Angeles, USA early Saturday.

According to the Danish Police, Stein Bagger turned himself in to the LA Police.

Stein Bagger was threatened to commit crime

Stein Bagger sent information to his family claiming he had been forced to commit the crimes over the past four years, since someone was threatening his family.

"We not convinced about Stein Bagger should have been threatened to commit the crimes” says Gert Have from Danish Police to newspaper Politikken.

So who threatened Stein Bagger? Is it true? Still material for a book, TV series, Computer Game and much more. Who will buy the rights?

Stein Bagger update 3

2008-12-05T09:05:00.001+04:00

Stain Bagger fraud US$205 million
Stein Baggers fraud in IT Factory increases to an estimated US$205 million. And more might pop up say the Lawyer who is handling the assets after IT Factory.

Stein Baggers home searched by police
The home of Stein Bagger and his wife was searched by police yesterday says Danish Newspaper Ekstra Bladet. Stein Baggers “friend” Allan Vestergaards home was searched as well. We will post a follow-up on the relationship between Allan Vestergaard and Stein Bagger later on. Allan seems to be the reason the scam fell through and is a central piece to the whole story.

Stein Bagger – call your lawyer
Per Justesen, the appointed defence lawyer asks Stein Bagger to call him. Since charges have been brought towards Stein Bagger, the defence lawyer would like Stein Bagger to contact him. But dear Stein Bagger – we know you are reading this – so why don’t you send your account of the details to us, and we will post your side of the story. (email address is listed on top of the page)

Stein Bagger in Panama?
According to Danish Newspapers Stein Bagger might be in Panama. Travel records suggest it. But now the arrest warrant is out, travel will be a lot harder. We guess Stein Bagger has backup travel papers, but maybe they are with a little different looking Stein Bagger. So maybe Stein Bagger is staying below the radar until he has grown some facial hair and if he can – some more “top” hair. J

Stein Bagger accused of $170 ml fraud

2008-12-04T17:15:00.001+04:00

Danish Police have officially indicted Stein Bagger for fraud for about US$170 million. The US$170 million is based on advanced leasing scam, apparently run by Mr. Bagger and multiple international companies. Mr. Stein Bagger was CEO of Danish IT Cometh IT Factory.

This now means the Police can put out an International arrest warrant. To top the charges the Danish Tax department was investigating a sales tax fraud case him for about US$3.4 million. The tax fraud alone can get Mr. Bagger a jail sentence of about 8 years alone.

IBM is among the latest to disclose they have been swindled for US$25 million by IT Factory. IT Factory owes IBM for about US$9 million in software licenses and US$16 million in “Other products”

Hewlett Packard has disclosed outstanding dept from IT Factory to the region of US$5.4 million.

The future does not look so bright for Mr. Bagger.

The other Investors behind IT Factory are in a state of disbelief, since their holding company (JMI Invest) and other companies JMI have invested in, are now hit by the banks closing outstanding dept for every associated company.

JMI Invest have borrowed money against the apparently valuable shares of IT Factory. Now that the shares of IT Factory does not have any value, the banks are looking to get coverage for as much as possible, as quickly as possible to minimize the total loss in IT Factory.

It is a shame that hits some of the other investments JMI Invest have.

Stein Bagger updates

2008-12-03T08:14:00.001+04:00

The mystery about Stein Bagger is still unfolding.

Here is a list of recent updates

The defrauded amount can be up to US$170 million and not US$100 million as reported earlier.
Danske Bank (Big Danish Bank) admits to having leasing agreements with “IT Factory” for US$60ml, most of which are made in 2008. The underlying assets seem not to exist.
Nordea Bank has leasing agreements worth US$3.5 ml.
Danish Hells Angels member Brian Sandberg has been employed by IT Factory and Stein Bagger for the last 12 months as “Security Consultant” guarding Stein Bagger and IT Factory. Brian Sandberg spoke to Stein Bagger just before he left to Dubai on Nov. 26^th.
Stein Bagger owned 50% of IT Factory through an offshore holding company called Agios United. Everyone thought Aigos United was a 100% Stein Bagger Company, until this week where shareholders in IT Factory learned that Allan Vestergaard was a partner in the Agios United holding company
Allan Vestergaard was attacked last week by unknown persons. It seems to have some relation to the case. Allan Vestergaard then called the Chairman of the board of IT Factory and that started the ball rolling. The Chairman did not know Allan Vestergaard was a partner, and hurried to Denmark and hired a bodyguard.
The leasing fraud was based on Company X sending IT Factory an invoice for computer products for fx. US$10 ml. Then IT Factory went to a bank and got it financed. Then the bank paid company X. Thereafter IT Factory invoiced Company X for US$3 ml for “Software Licenses”, which company X then paid. That left enough cash in IT Factory to pay the outstanding leasing obligations and showed “software revenue”
Stein Bagger claimed that he had a Phd and an MBA. The MBA was according to Edinburgh Business School never completed. The Phd seems to be fake as well. It was “issued” from “SFTU” which according to Stein Bagger was “San Francisco Technical University” a University no one can find...

Scandinavian CEO elopes after US$100 million fraud in IT company

2008-12-02T13:03:00.002+04:00

Case ties in with former Gizmondo CEO and convicted criminal Carl Freer & Mikael P. Ljungman and creates a big black eye to Ernst & Young who 1 week before applauded the CEOs company as best of the best..

Danish IT Company “IT Factory” has been hailed as the “Success of Successes” companies in the Danish IT sector. Lead by charismatic CEO of Norwegian descent, Stein Bagger, the company had an estimated net worth of US$ 1.5 billion – until this Friday. Now it is bankrupt.

IT Factory CEO elopes from Dubai
On a pleasure trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with his wife, IT Factory CEO Stein Bagger suddenly disappeared this Thursday and became impossible to reach. His wife since 2003 started a search together with the Danish Consulate in the UAE, only to discover that the husband left from Abu Dhabi airport at 03.00 am the night to Friday.

Then things started to unfold very quickly. First it turns out that the missing CEO Stein Bagger rented a little office, close to the main office of IT Factory. From there it seems he had been running his “fraudulent” part of the business, issuing purchase orders with forged signatures to IT Factory, managed an advanced leasing scam, forging the Chairman of the Boards signatures and much more.

In a statement to the Danish Press, the Chairman of IT Factory claims the total embezzlement is in the region of US$ 100 million, and had taken place over several years.

The link to criminal Carl Freer
The Danish version of IDG Computerworld had 3 weeks before started to dig into the true story behind the apparent success of IT Factory. They dug out that some of the clients and resellers listed on IT Factory’s homepage was not all what they seemed to be.

Some clients denied ever buying software from IT Factory. Other dealers said they did not know why they was listed as dealers on the website. Others had asked to be removed a long time ago as references.

And suddenly – two of the very big reference names strike the Computerworld Denmark guys as strange. Media Power Inc and eCommerce LLC. Both companies controlled by Mikael P. Ljungman and founded by Carl Freer. (website www.themediapowergroup.com)

Confronted with the dud references, CEO Stein Bagger said “We do not check the background of the people behind eCommerce LLC and Media Power Inc. As long as the behave nice we will keep them on as dealers”

And they Black Eye go to... (drum roll) Ernst and Young
Ernst & Young evaluated IT Factory and did not find anything but “greatness” – they looked through the 2007 accounts and could not find any cause to doubt the figures. They had hour long interviews with the now missing CEO without spotting any wrong doing. And even after IT Blogger Dorthe Toft had pointed out some suspect issues in the Danish press about IT Factory, Ernst and Young “double checked” again 2 weeks ago – and that did not lead to any changes of heart about giving IT Factory the Danish version of the price: “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®”

Black Eye runners up are Danish Computerworld who gave IT Factory 2 consecutive prices as “Best of IT” – before they started digging up the nasty stuff. But Computerworld was also part of showing the real "IT Factory" so they should be excused a bit for their part of scam boosting.

3rd Black Eye runner up is the IT Factory audit company … “KPMG Denmark” who have not been able to find anything wrong with companies accounts the last few years.

The recap
So the CEO is missing. IT Factory is missing US$100 million and is bankrupt, with 115 jobs lost. Newspapers in Denmark are full of stories about the missing guy and the fraud. Now the “former” CEO, who is a former body builder, is tied to Carl Freer and whispers from Danish police even mention Hells Angels relations. So was this planned? Was it all just a gigantic fraud from the beginning or was it a CEO trying to boost his ego by committing fraud. Only the future will tell – if he ever gets found.

In any case – this is material for a book and a Hollywood movie deal. Real life often surpasses what fiction writers can dream up. Maybe this will become a feature on CSI Miami – all we need now is a murder and the story is worth a lot of dollars. May I suggest that the remains after IT Factory gets a revenue share deal?

Links

about the bankruptcy and CEO (in Danish)

IT Factory bankrupt and CEO is on the run
Danish Computerworld articles about IT Factory’s collapse

About Carl Freer

2nd Arrest Made in Ferrari Case
Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up

Vista SP2 on the way

2008-10-25T09:38:00.001+04:00

no need to go into to many details – but this is the main new features.

Windows Vista SP2 adds Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches.
Windows Vista SP2 contains the Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology.
Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista.
Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration.
Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones.

and a quote from Mike Nash:

As a part of the development and testing process, we're going to start by providing a small group of Technology Adoption Program customers with Windows Vista SP2 Beta for evaluation next Wednesday, October 29. The final release date for Windows Vista SP2 will be based on quality.

So release date is not set yet.

A travellers dream

2008-10-24T12:42:00.001+04:00

I went to Gitex in Dubai again this year, and failed to spot anything interesting. Not even the SonyEricsson X1 could get my heart to beat any faster. Keyboard is not very good so not for me, and it was SOOO sluggish.

But I spotted a small Taiwan made device from CNet Technologies (no not that Cnet) and got one from them. That is the CWR-635M – and it was a rare gem to find.

It is a micro sized router – with WAN in, 1 Ethernet out, Wireless B/G router and 2 x USB for 3.5G modem and other USB devices. The power supply is built in and weight totally is 185 grams.

So with WAN in you can connect it at the hotel and have your own wireless AP in the room.

With 3.5G USB modem plugged in – you got Wireless wherever you got a power plug and 3.5g coverage.

Configuration took 2 minutes and then I was connected to my 3.5G network.

The USB connectors can be used for WebCam, printer sharing, or as USB storage sharing via built in Samba or FTP plus of course the 3.5G USB modem.

So you can just plug in your USB key and give people file access on the go.

It even got external switch – so you can switch between Access Point, Client or Router mode – simply by a switch.

This devices is now embedded into my backpack ;-)

Don’t expect long B/G coverage distance since it has no external antennas. But for most “one the move” needs the signal is more than adequate.

I just wish they made a version that could run on my Voltaic Solar Cell backpack 5v battery for 100% “no wires needed” travel – and one that could auto switch between 3.5G USB interface and WAN via Ethernet. Then it would be perfect.

Archos 5 – Archos 7 – Archos 5g

2008-08-19T23:16:00.001+04:00

Archos have updated their website with the new models! Archos now calls the players for Internet Media Tablets :-)

But a bit more below. More to come

Archos 5

60 GB to 250GB hard drive with 5” screen (800 x480), for Internet, Media and TV and of course WiFi with Opera Browser with Flash Video 9. And YES – it can charge via USB port! Finally!

More specs here

Archos 7

160 or 320 GB hard drive with 7” screen (800x480), for Internet, Media and TV. Wifi and free Opera browser with Flash Video 9. Does not seem to charge via USB :-(

More specs here

Archos 5g

30GB hard drive, 5” screen (800x480) – WiFi and 3.5G HDSPA network interface. Free Opera browser with Flash Video 9. Specs not completely published – but I hope it can charge via USB.

More specs here

BlackBerry – why it is getting a large following

2008-08-14T09:15:00.002+04:00

I just got my new Nokia E71. Shiny nice phone and looks a lot like a RIM BlackBerry. In previous Nokia business phones you could download “BlackBerry Connect” and use the Symbian phone with BlackBerry Servers. But now it seems – the latest Nokia E66 and E71 will not get the BlackBerry Connect software. I do understand RIM if they don’t want Nokia to take part of their handset market, and it is a sensible business decision.

But why are so many attracted to BlackBerry? Well when you have a BlackBerry Data Plan, you can get “unlimited roaming data” packages. So if I’m traveling a lot – then I don’t pay exorbitant roaming charges. In the UAE you can get GPRS unlimited roaming data with Blackberry for about DHS 280 pr. month ($75). And for a business owner that is a very vise decision if your employees travel a lot.

So now where RIM is shutting Nokia out of the BlackBerry network – it must be time for Microsoft, Nokia or others with PushMail clients to start building roaming relationships with mobile providers so you can get same prices using Exchange or Nokia Mobile Mail – as you can with RIM BlackBerry.

If that does not happen, even more people will join the RIM BlackBerry Service –and now as their only “new phone” option will be a RIM handset. RIM sales will quite probably rise. And I would expect with BlackBerry Bold – the first 3G handset – that you will get unlimited worldwide 3G bundles very soon even in the UAE.

So my E71 will never get BlackBerry Connect - and that will mean a lot less potential clients for the close to perfect phone, who dont want an ugly chunky RIM handset.

Come on – Nokia, SonyEricsson, Microsoft and the rest of you. Look at RIMs network model – and make one of your own before we have too many ugly RIM handsets in the wild

S60 VPN IPSec Client from NCP

2008-08-13T18:58:00.002+04:00

As you can see we have another VPN client. But still an IPSec client. I would really like a PPTP client. How they will compete with Nokias own VPN client I dont know – but I guess I have to review them both. I just wish Nokia would release their Cisco Pix documentation

—from the press release—

NCP engineering GmbH, a leading provider of endpoint security and VPN solutions, today announced the release of its Secure Entry Client for Symbian OS-based mobile devices.

The new IPSec VPN client can be used on mobile devices such as the Nokia Eseries, which run Symbian OS from V.9.0 on S60 3rd Edition.

[Lots of pr text cut out here]

NCP also offers a Secure Enterprise Client for Symbian, which was released in April 2008 and provides centrally-administered, endpoint policy enforcement.

A 30-day trial version offering unrestricted use of the entry product is available for download at: http://www.ncp-e.com/en/downloads/software.html. The software can be purchased via NCP’s e-store and from the company’s sales partners.

Belkin N1 Vision still sucks

2008-07-24T16:13:00.004+04:00

Check the comments page on the Belking N1 – http://kaz911.blogspot.com/2008/03/belkin-n1-vision-review-tale-of-no.html

As you can see complaints keep comming in – and despite a recent firmware update - the problem is still there (I fished the N1 out of the garbage to try again with the new firmware) But still no change - and setting display to power save does not help. It still drops connection and packets all the time, resulting in broken streams, broken skype calls, broken VPN connections etc. etc.

As you can clearly see - everyone have problems and it is a design fault with the Belkin N1 Vision. Belkin should do the right thing and offer every buyer their money back or a replacement router without the problem.

I think there are enough out there now with problems – and many of them do not know it is the N1 Visions fault.

So keep the comments comming on the really poor quality hardware from Belkin!

DELL likes AMD better than Intel

2008-07-21T17:36:00.002+04:00

Sometimes LinkedIn is very revealing

LinkedIn have their new beta feature “Companies” where they track all kind of employee movement - and how the employees are connected to different other vendors.

So I checked DELL….

Where in the world is Intel on this list?

Witopia now offers PPTP

2008-06-29T12:16:00.002+04:00

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

2008-06-29T12:09:00.002+04:00

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

2008-06-06T14:45:00.001+04:00

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

2008-06-05T13:24:00.002+04:00

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?

2008-05-29T16:36:00.002+04:00

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

2008-05-27T21:30:00.001+04:00

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

2008-05-20T20:17:00.002+04:00

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

2008-05-20T11:07:00.002+04:00

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

2008-05-05T15:58:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-30T16:05:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-30T15:26:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-25T16:25:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-24T11:44:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-23T18:47:00.002+04:00

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

2008-04-23T09:35:00.002+04:00

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:

Nice with real headset mini-jackplug (works with my nice Nokia Headset)
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.
Buttons are a bit "cheap" - but keyboard inside is great despite its small size.
The device feels slow. Slower than my Nokia E90. Changing from Landscape to Portrait can take a while
My SlingPlayer works fine with it – and very stable – and uses the full screen. Not like the Nokia E90 version…
Battery cover has small (very small) pins for locking – I think they will break if you are not careful.
Speaker is crap compared with my E90s – low in volume and distorts.
Call quality is nowhere near the E90.
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.

Top Danish IRS Director Sacked – for Tax Evasion

2008-04-22T14:25:00.003+04:00

Well isn't it great. One of the reasons I left Denmark was the tax system – where only the rich and wealthy can afford tax advisors who know the loopholes to avoid paying tax and your top tax bracket is 68%. Yes you read right – 68% of your last earned Kroner go to the IRS.

Now it seems like a Danish Top Executive (Now Ex. Director Claus Kaaber) in SKAT (The Danish version of IRS) have been sacked for … "Aiding Tax Evasion"

The bugger bought a piece of land from someone in Spain – and agreed to pay part of the purchase price "non-disclosed" to the Spanish IRS. So the seller did not have to pay tax from the proceeds.

The truly disgusting part here is – SKAT has sacked him – but with 8 months pay, 2 months' pay for the years he was employed – and 6 months dismissal pay. How come that someone in such a high position can get so much severance pay – for aiding potential tax evasion? Unreasonable!

Damn the Danish society looks nice on the surface – but beneath the surface it is muddy waters.

Links to the Story in Danish from Boersen (Danish kind of "Financial Times")

Sorry this does not really belong here on a Tech blog – but I had to get it out J

Nokia E90 Review – Longtime opinions

2008-04-09T12:07:00.002+04:00

Now I have used my Nokia E90 for a long time (for me more than 2 months with a Phone is a very long time)

So despite the E90's shortcomings in many fields – it is a great phone. I bought my first E90 in Dubai – with Arabic keyboard –but went back to Denmark and bought another one – just to get a keyboard with fewer items on each key. (With Arabic keyboard you have both English and Arabic signs on each button – and makes it quite a lot harder to use in the Dark with Backlight)

So why is it still my primary phone?

Well here are the "long time pros and cons"

I love the E90 because:

The full keyboard
The internal screen is absolutely great
RoadSync for Exchange Sync (despite its shortcomings)
I can use SlingPlayer (again – despite SlingPlayers shortcomings on the E90)
WiFi works most of the time (except for a few WPA2 issues)
I can use Voice over IP without extra software

I hate the E90's shortcomings though. Here are a few

The browser keeps breaking down. (Try to do a search from iGoogle….) –
JavaScript is not 100% Google compatible (iGoogle that is)
The WiFi range is very poor compared to HTC phones (Not too funny when using VoIP…)
WiFi is not always WPA2 compatible
The detection of the E90 is in Open mode or Shut mode – is NEVER right – giving you the wrong keys on your keyboard in Open mode. Really a bummer when entering Passwords. Then you need to close your phone – and open it again – and then find your way back to the web browser or email you was about to write
The Internet Connection system. Internet is not "On or Off" – no each application has its own opinion on how to control and use your internet. Some applications are hard-coded to a profile (like RoadSync or SlingPlayer) – other applications can't co-use the internet if something else is using the internet. ("Internet Connection is in Use… Please disconnect and …")
Where is the VPN? It is a Business Phone for crying out loud. Even the iPhone got PPTP VPN from v1….
No firmware updates in 5 months to correct even the obvious bugs in the phone. (I know we are dinosaurs for using the E90… but come on…)
Yes my phone is wobbly when placed on a flat surface.. (Made in China..)
Yes my phone gets finger print markings on the screen from touching the keyboard

Someone in Nokia Management should be FORCED to use the E90 for 3 months… Then the bugs would certainly be fixed.

But I hope future firmware will solve the issues – and Nokia once again will be seen as a company that takes their business customers seriously. But I think Nokia is far too busy to fix the "iPhone" problem – to spend so much time on the E90.

But despite the cons list being twice the length of the pros's.. I still love my E90. The only thing that might change that… Is the Xperia X1 from Sony Ericsson or a 3G iPhone with Exchange Sync and a usable keyboard/keypad.

Ups - Nokia releases beta E90 Firmware 200.34.72

2008-04-04T19:21:00.002+04:00

Someone in Nokia has goofed up. A Beta firmware for the E90 was accidentally set free to users of the Nokia NSU (Nokia Software Update).

A few people got to install it before it was pulled from the NSU site.

It seems like it was not the feature complete firmware since it have Maps 1.2 in it – and a few bugs. But in general an improvement, with faster application load. But more to be seen over the next few days.

Check in on My-Symbian for more info

Netgear HDX101 Powerline Ethernet Review

2008-03-23T10:36:00.002+04:00

I live in a building with lots of concrete walls. That is not funny when trying to get wireless coverage in all rooms. Plus due to the amounts of sunshine here – the windows are very isolating – and isolates WiFi quite well. The flat is rented as well – so drilling holes are not really an option.

So for a long time I had no Internet access in some of the rooms. But then a while ago I thought – hmm, living on 33. floor with nice terrace I might be able to cover my neighborhood with WiFi and get coverage in the other rooms – I went out to find a Powerline Ethernet adaptor. By luck I found some cheap 85Mbps based on HomePlug standard – and used them to put 1 AP in the workroom – and 1 Alcon outdoor access point outside. J But with 85 Mpbs you get maybe 5-12 mbps in real life. So the solution is not really great if you do big file transfers or backup.

So I researched a bit and found the 200 Mbps units – and found that Netgear HDX101 was available in Dubai. So based on my previous experience I bought 2 x 2 sets – and thought the exchange would be quick and painless.

But no..

The design and looks of the HDX101 is great – a lot better than the old 85 Mbps units. The LEDs are a bit bright though, so in a dark room it will light up the room quite a lot.

The software for managing security on the device was available in a Vista version – and download and installation was quick and painless. But it installs a windows pcap device driver! Remember to remove that again since it is not a happy thing to have your computer equipped with packet capture software.

So I installed the 3 devices. One at the main router, one on the terrace, on in the 3^rd WiFi free room. The Netgear software then came up and asked if I wanted to upgrade firmware. And that was the first problem. I off course said YES. The upgrade took ages – and failed after 8 minutes. ("Protocol Timeout Error") I tried that a few times – gave up and found my trusty Sony UX90s with Windows XP to do the upgrade. That helped a bit but with 2 of the units – the upgrade kept failing. Okay…

Then I started testing speed. My main router is in the living room so I was doing backup test while watching the news via my Motorola Digital Cable box. My computer was backing up over the Netgear units. Suddenly the Netgear unit my X61t was connected too disconnected and shut of power to the Ethernet port. I growled a bit and then re-set the HDX101 and tried again. This time it only took 30. seconds, then the X61t was disconnected again. I tried a few times – but with same result. I took the spare unit and started again. That seemed to work a bit better – but speed was not a lot better than my old 85 Mbps units.

Then I started noticing that my TV signal stopped – maybe 30 seconds to 2 minutes. That had never happened before. Then TV resumed, then TV stopped, then TV resumed. I then got a nagging feeling that the Netgear HDX101 was the culprit. So I turned off the HDX101 close to the TV box. And voila! TV signal got stable. I turned the HDX101 on again – and Voila! Stuttering TV signal. So some interference between my Motorola IP tv boks and the HDX101, makes my TV signal back.

So in short.. Do you want to buy 4 slightly used HDX101? My old 85 Mpbs units are back in place, and I have 4 units I can't use.

I think the HDX101 might be okay in some situations – but not for me. The advantages in speed was marginal compared to the 85 Mbps units. But the problem with noise is a big one. My 85 Mbps units have never given problems like that.

Pros: Speed and Vista "Compatible" software

Cons: Noise, PCAP driver for software to work, 1:4 defective from factory. They become VERY VERY hot.

Belkin N1 Vision Review - The Tale of No Support

2008-03-21T21:21:00.003+04:00

You might know by now that I have a liking for gadgets. So when the Belkin N1 Vision came to the market – I rushed out and bought one – for 2 reasons. First reason is it looks nice – that pleases the Misses J and it could be in our living room without house anger. 2^nd the display on the unit would give me early warning signs if my line was being abused. Nice 2 have.

I got the unit. And it is nice. Quite easy to setup – and display is fab. But some oversights on Belkin side – was obvious.

First problem – the nice graphs are ONLY on the front panel display. None of the information is available in the web interface. Why? In general – the Web interface will disappoint you a lot if you are used to "Full feature routers".

Second problem – the keys on the front panel are almost un-usable – so sticky are they. You can't just push them and they move. You need a firm grip with both hands usually to press any buttons on the device.

So far so good – nice device – nice feature set – great design - but….

The Belkin N1 Vision has a big problem. My Girlfriend kept complaining that Skype Calls was disconnected every 10-15 minutes. VPN got disconnected all the time. I checked with another router and it did not have issues.

Then I wrote to Belkin support:

My Letter 1: "The router "losses" internet connection every 5-15 minutes (or actually halts internet traffic) - this means fx. skype calls are disconnected every 5-15 minutes. This happens on both wired and non wired connections. This does not happen using another router on same line. It happens all the time - even with only one device connected. It happens on wireless and wired connections. Firmware: F5D8232-4_WW_1.00.11"

The letter of course detailed all info on the router OS etc.

The Belkin Reply 1: "(standard answer) – please reset router to factory defaults" (signed Harold Tomlin)

So I did…

But of course – no change.

My Letter 2: "Done it - but still same problem. Every 5-10-15 minutes the connection halts - disconnecting skype - streaming media etc."

The Belkin Reply 2: "Upgrade your firmware standard letter" (please notice I was running latest firmware: F5D8232-4_WW_1.00.11 as written before and still signed Harold Tomlin)

Guess the guys have problems reading mails…

My Letter 3: "I'm AM running latest firmware! Please read my MAILs!" (I'm starting to get annoyed)"

The Belkin Reply 3: "Please try to change your wireless channels (standard answer 3)" (still signed Harold Tomlin)

My Letter 4: "IT IS NOT A WIRELESS interference problem! Guys please put me through to some people who do not only send me standard letters. Put me through to SOMEONE who is just a tiny bit technical and process my case"

The Belkin Reply 4: "We understand that Every 5-10-15 minutes the connection halts - disconnecting skype - streaming media etc. We have had several reports of a problem with the F5D7230 version 7000. The issue appears to be caused by a bug in the SPI firewall code incorrectly dropping packets for mistakenly regarding them as not belonging to an active connection. As a workaround, this specific test can be disabled on an undocumented page in the web interface: Go to http://192.168.2.1 and login to the router. Go to the hidden page http://192.168.2.1/firewall_spi_h.stm. Untick the option `TCP Connection` under the `Stateful Packet Inspection` header and click Apply Changes." (still signed Harold Tomlin)

I thought at first glance that this was the answer.. Perfect!! Until I noticed it was for another router. The F5D7230 – not my F5D8232-4. And the page they referred to – do not exist in the N1 Vision.

My Letter 5: "My router is not a F5D7230 - but a F5D8232-4 and I don't have a page called http://192.168.1.1/firewall_spi_h.stm. Is such a page on F5D8232-4? And in that case what is it called then. (tried .htm .html etc.) Please reply to the question and do not just send me another standard answer."

The Belkin Reply 5: "Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support. We regret the inconvinience this might cause. if you need further assistance please feel free to write back to us and we will be happy to assist you. If you have any other questions or problems you may also call us toll free at 1800-223-5546 (Extn. 2064). Alternatively, call us on 310 898 1100 Ext. 2263" (still signed Harold Tomlin)

Another standard answer – but without any answer at all. I gave up. The N1 Vision is now sent away on an extended vacation to the garbage chute. And I'm NEVER Buying another product from that company. The firmware is still not updated – so there must be people out there with the same problems.

So from my point of view:

DON'T BUY BELKIN PRODUCTS!

Belkin is simply not worth the hassle!

Dubai blocks access to blogger.com

2008-03-21T20:13:00.002+04:00

Someone in the UAE does not like blogger.com. It might be due to some of the "nice" articles written on Secret Dubai Diary and other blogger.com sites. Anyway from DU networks it totally blocked – and not only DNS blocked. Through my VPN I got no problem seeing all the content and posting to this site. But without it…. Funny - since through Etisalat - the other big Monopoly Telecoms company here - still got access to blogger.com.

Why they block all of blogger.com domains I don't really know. But it might be a "We want to make certain no offensive information reach the UAE – so better just block ALL"

Do they block access to The Economist too? The Economist published not the nicest articles about the UAE and Dubai.

The problem is just – the more you block – the more people want to know. When are they going to learn that.

Calling you from 41.000 feet

2008-03-21T12:37:00.002+04:00

On my mobile that is!

Dubai based carrier Emirates Airline was first airline with In-flight voice mobile phone calling Thursday 20^th of March 2008. A flight between Dubai and Casablanca the service was introduced.

The AeroMobile system supports using your own phone in the sky – so far for SMS and calls. But only 5-6 people can be on the line at the same time. In about 12 months time the system will support GPRS data as well.

The system automatically kicks into service when reaching cruising altitude. So far the system has been tested with SMS only in Australia for about 1.000 flights but Emirates was first with Voice on their Airbus A340-300.

The roaming charge is about $4 pr. speech minute, hopefully keeping talk to a minimum. But it gives me a nagging feeling that we now can't get rest when we travel, due to some people's lack of respect for each other. But SMS and Data would be nice.

Get Evernote Beta 3 Free today

2008-03-21T11:54:00.002+04:00

Since a lot of you like Evernote – I just noticed this one on Giveaway of the day

Giveaway of the Day - Evernote Beta

Evernote Beta lets you capture any information from your real and digital life and then find it all easily anytime.

The latest version of Evernote, currently an invitation-only beta, gives users more options than ever before to create and find their memories - a Windows version (main download links), Mac version, Web version, Windows Mobile version, Mobile Web version, browser web page clippers, and more. All clients can be synchronized to one another via the web, ensuring that anything created in one place is accessible from all others.

In addition, all users now have access to Evernote's powerful image recognition, which recognizes text inside of images so users can take camera phone snapshots of anything from whiteboards to wine labels.

To register for the beta, first create an account by clicking this link.

Then download and install the client you want, or use the web interface at preview.evernote.com.

Mac version (OS X 10.5 aka Leopard)

Windows Mobile

Main Download / Mirror 1 - 56.1 MB), normally $49.95.

New Sony UX UMPCs with 64 bit – Sony UX72, Sony UX92 and Sony UX490

2007-09-25T10:12:00.001+04:00

According to Akihabara News Sony has release much awaited new models of the Sony UX. I got the UX90S J and it is one of my favourite gadgets. But the new models are: UX72, UX92S and UX92NS. The new models have the new 64-bit Core Solo chips on board (U2200 1.2 GHz and U2100 1.06 GHz) and the smallest model will feature the Celeron M523 (32 bit).

Unfortunately no new keyboard it seems. So i'll keep my old trusted 90S...

A new option of us who loves SSD drives – the UX can now be delivered with the 48GB or 64GB SSD drive. J

One of the US versions (that of course have different model numbers) will be called 490NC – specs below: Price with B&H Photo after rebates: US$ 2500,- and seems like another kit (with Intro Kit?) will be available for about $3100

Processor 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Solo Processor U2200
Cache L2: 2 MB
System Bus 533 MHz
MemorySlots: 1
Type: 400 MHz PC2-3200 DDR2 SO-DIMM
Installed: 1 GB (1x1 GB)
Capacity: 1 GB
Display Type: Widescreen/Touchscreen LCD
Size: 4.5" Native Resolution: 1024 x 600 (SVGA)
Graphics Display Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 251 MB Total Available Graphics Memory

Storage and Expansion
Hard Drive Bays: 1x
Installed:48 GB, NAND
Type:PATA
Optical Drive None
PCMCIA Expansion None

Input/Output Connectors

Ports
1x USB 2.0
Port Replicator Connection
Port Replicator
1x 4-Pin FireWire-400/iLink
3x USB 2.0
Display Output
1x VGA via Port Replicator Only
Audio
Speakers: Integrated Monaural Speakers
Headphone: 1x
Microphone: 1x Input, 1x Integrated
Video
Digital: 1x In/Out via FireWire-400/iLink on Port Replicator Only
Analog: 1x A/V Output via Port Replicator
WebCam
1x Integrated 0.3 MP Digital Camera (Front)
1x Integrated 1.3 MP Digital Camera (Back)
Flash Media Slot Memory Stick DUO Media with MagicGate Functionality

Mobile phone manufactures agree on universal cable standard

2007-09-21T20:20:00.001+04:00

According to a press release from OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform) they have now agreed to make the micro USB cable the standard for connections to the phone and charging the phone.

Many Phones - ONE charger - PERFECT :-)

Nokia's participating member and driver behind the standard, Markku Verkama says "The OMTP's work to bring consensus for what is such a simple yet significant recommendation will have wide reaching benefit. With the reduction of cables needed for mobile data connectivity, we can further enhance user experiences in our devices while reducing the burden to the environment."

Read the press release here

Thanks good – this will reduce the amount of crap chargers and make other devices follow the lead. An iPod Touch with micro USB charger would be nice.

And now there will really be a market for building micro USB connectors into cars, stereos and other gadgets – if not for fun and charging – then for usability.

Unfortunately Micro USB is not in so many phones yet. (Moto Razr? Only)? I have inserted picture – thanks to mobileburn.com. Mini USB on the left – Micro USB on the Right. But a bright future we have we have. J

Let's clap our hands! And cheer for micro USB in all our gadgets.

iPod Phone in UK Nov. 9th

2007-09-18T14:42:00.001+04:00

Damn – it will be out in the UK on the 9^th of November according to Engadget.

But who in EU is bonkers enough to buy a £279,- phone PLUS data package? For use on the EDGE network only? Apple - Europe is 3G now – remember?

Despite free "unlimited" UK Wi-Fi Roaming with TheCloud (or included in the price) and with maximum of 1500 page views pr. Day.... – again hmm..

Mum is the word – and the word from my mum is "Get lost and make a decent phone with 3G"

And my comment – it is not even on my wish list. Get it a keyboard and 3G and 16GB and we talk.... Then at least it would be an upgade to my E90 or HTC Advantage X7500

HTC Shift Battery Details 7.4v 2700 mAh

2007-09-18T11:02:00.001+04:00

Finally I got the details about the current battery.

Had another chance to play with the Shift – and I still like it. It might NOT be the shipping battery – but feast your eyes on it.

Seems like quite efficient machine in my book.

I have cut away the serial number.

In the recent model i played with – the Sync between the "Non WM6 WM6 with HTC Shift Vista Windows Mobile Sync Center seemed to work."

Still no browser though – only messages (email/txt), calendar and weather stuff.

Let us plug in Opera J PLEASE and let it use the full screen.

Sony OLED TVs in the market for Christmas

2007-09-11T22:57:00.001+04:00

One of the best things I saw on Gitex 2007 was the Sony OLED Screens. On display was the 11,5" demo screens.

An OLED screen has several benefits over LCD. First of all there is not a backlight shining light through it. Each pixel is its own light source, just like plasma.

Energy consumption is a lot lower as well, and picture quality and colour range is very good compared to LCD displays. That means better, thinner and more lightweight screens.

OLED screens are already available in some phones and car radios etc. But OLED screens are still hard to manufacture in large sizes.

But it might seem like Sony will bring the first products to market in Japan for Christmas this year. The Sony staff claimed that the 11,5" TV and a 27" OLED TV will be first to be released.

No news on when it will hit Europe or USA.

Check the pictures J

The HTC Shift Official Specs – Scanned Brochure

2007-09-11T22:10:00.001+04:00

Well some people don't know me yet J so some "Doubting Thomases" have claimed my specs from HTC might not be the right ones. Well – here they are...


Press here for High Res Download	Press here for High Res Download

Direct from the Hand that feeds you the news. J

All brochure content is of course (C) HTC.

The rebirth of the Turbo Button

2007-09-10T10:16:00.001+04:00

I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember the first clone PC's? Well my professional track in the computer field started about the same time the PC was launched in about 1983.

The first mass sold IBM PC XT computers as they was called – ran at 4,77 Mhz.. (Yes.. Mhz...) – and so did the first clones. But it did not take the Asian clone manufactures long to add a turbo button – increasing (over-clocking) the pc to 5, 6, 7 and even 8 Mhz.

You pushed a button (the big red "Turbo Button") on the front of the computer and – voila – the computer increased the speed. The reason at that time for not running at high speed all the time, was that some software was dependent on the slow "original" speed of 4.77 Mhz. Some games did look pretty funny when processor speed doubled...

Well – at Gitex I found the Turbo Button re-incarnated – but this time in a notebook – and not to slow down games – but to slow down battery drain – and over-clock the CPU when you need it. The current generation of processors really over-clock well – and MSI is taking advantage of the over-clock possibility for a Gamers Deluxe Notebook.

So look at the pictures of the MSI notebook – a giant silver and red turbo button. Damn like fashion the IT industry seems to revolve in about 20-25 year turns. (Remember Blade's – mini mainframe technology that came a good 5 years back)

So say welcome to the MSI GX600 Extreme Edition with MSI's Exclusive Turbo Drive Technology... that turbo drives a Merom T7500 from 2.2 Ghz to about 2.8GHz.... J And btw. I know this is not "new" news – but to me it was – and I was chuckling to myself all the way to the next hall.

Kaz911 Interview with Kevin Chen about HTC Shift

2007-09-09T20:13:00.001+04:00

Today I was lucky enough to meet up with Kevin Chen (Picture), General Manager for HTC Middle East, Africa & CIS. Kevin is a very nice and open guy, well.. as open as you can be J when the world is on your back regarding information on the HTC Shift.

I asked Kevin a lot of questions especially about the HTC Shift. So I have filtered out all the stories about old days, as we know some of the same people in Taiwan (they might come in a follow up – remember I'm an "old" IDG PC World Editor J ) and concentrated this write-up on the bare HTC hardware and software questions most of you guys have posted to me.

First of all – as some of you know – Qualcomm is suffering some patent setbacks in the US - but according to Kevin the current Qualcomm problems will NOT affect delivery to USA. HTC expect to launch late November or December to the US market place. Availability in UAE and possibly Europe will be early Q4 – maybe first weeks of October. This question was from Rob and the guys @ www.gottabemobile.com and hope answer was clear enough. :-)

Second – Kevin and HTC keeps saying... "The HTC shift does NOT have Windows Mobile embedded, but a (in my words) a Wireless data modem with advanced BIOS and some of the same applications as you would see on a Windows Mobile Device. Well – again in my interpretation it is Windows Mobile – but very limited version. J - There are no plans for any voice capability or full Windows Mobile Office for that matter. It is ONLY there to perform as a modem and provide push mail technology while the rest of the computer is in sleep mode. But anyway my pictures clearly show a Windows Mobile kind of OS J so let's see what can be done about it from 3^rd. Parties.

Regarding the screen. I asked Kevin why they chose a tiny resolution LCD, and the answer is simple. The screen is only 7" and since power consumption has to be low, HTC decided on the low resolution screen. That's it final J

Well that was all I could get out of him so far J but we agreed to touch base closer to the shipment date. But while browsing round at the stand J I overheard that something else will be ready for the HTC Shift launch – maybe we are talking SSD drives or high speed internal ready boost memory? I keep you posted – as always.

Last thing missing is now figuring out the Voltage of the battery for Chippy from www.umpcportal.com J but that should be coming - so we can calculate how efficient the HTC Shift spends its battery juice.

Well – in my wish book for the perfect UMPC for the Road warrior is:

Take the HTC Shift and the Sony UX90s and put them in a blender and let the best parts survive. J I HATE the keyboard on the UX90, but I love the screen – even though it could be 5,5" to 7" and not 4,5" for 1024 x 768. Take an enhanced TyTN keyboard and put it on the UX 90s – would be a big step forward J then embed a true Windows Mobile - and I would be happy – and finally – add an ACTIVE touch screen with a good pen and it would be perfect. J Add a 5-7 hour battery life and I would never look back.

My other HTC Shift Postings

HTC Shift Official Specs

HTC Shift WM6 UI Pictures

HTC Shift Sneak Preview

HTC Shift launch at Gitex in Dubai

PS: If you look at the second picture – to the far left is what is now the tallest building in the world – Burj Dubai. Estimated final height between 650 and 800 meters.

Gitex 2007 picture review of i-Mate Ultimate 8150

2007-09-08T23:08:00.001+04:00

i-Mate officially announced the Ultimate 8150 and Ultimate 6150 today. Specs to be found elsewhere – fx. On www.msmobiles.com.

Release date is said to be first or second week of October according to the staff at i-Mate.

Here are a few pictures of the Ultimate 8150. For pictures of the 6150 click here. Again – fair use please – use the pictures as much as you like as long as you give kaz911 the credit and link back directly.

HTC Shift Official Specs

2007-09-08T19:18:00.001+04:00

Just arrived in my inbox...

The final Specs (as HTC Claims them) (c) kaz911 rescue
Remember you found them HERE FIRST :-)

WM6 new pictures - here
Older info and mini review- here

update - yes it is the official specs - got them from HTC today - but nothing is ever final is it?

Processor and Chipset	Intel Stealey 800 Mhz (c) kaz911 rescue Qualcomm MSM 7200, 400 Mhz
OS	Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition
Memory	RAM 1GB
Hard disk	1.8" 40GB or 60GB hard disc (60GB option)
Dimensions	207mm (L) x 129 mm (W) x 25 mm (T)
Weight	800g with battery
Display	7" 800x480 TFT LCD display with adjustable screen angle and touch sensitive screen. (c) kaz911 rescue Supports AERO with 3D flip
Network	HSDPA/UMTS; Worldwide UMTS (Tri-Band 850, 1900, 2100 Mhz) HSDPA: Up to 3.6Mbps for download and 384 kbps for upload (c) kaz911 rescue UMTS: Up to 384kpbs for up- and download GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Quad-Band 850, 900, 1800, 1900 Mhz (c) kaz911 rescue (The device will operate on frequencies available from the cellular network)
Keyboard	Slide-out QWERTY keyboard (c) kaz911 rescue
Mouse Control	Left/right mouse buttons and MicroPad
Wireless Connections (c) kaz911 rescue	Bluetooth 2.0 Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
I/O	1 USB 2.0, VGA out, and 3.5 mm stereo audio out with Microphone. (c) kaz911 rescue
Card Slots	USIM/SIM card slot (c) kaz911 rescue SDIO slot with hot-swap functionality
Security	Fingerprint sensor
Web Camera	Colour CMOS VGA camera for video conferencing
Audio	Built-in microphone and dual speakers
Battery	2700 mAh rechargeable Lithium Ion polymer battery Windows Vista operating time: Up to 2 hours SnapVUE standby time (push e-mail enabled) Up to 53 hours (c) kaz911 rescue SnapVUE standby time (push e-mail disabled) Up to 11 days.

Gitex Pictures HTC Shift WM6

2007-09-08T18:27:00.001+04:00

Part 2 of my Gitex Pictures Review

Of course I went to HTC J too see the HTC Shift and get some more pictures for you guys – since you all really wanted more WM6 info.

Well still looks like a very limited version of WM6 – with only mail and calendar.

But today's NEWS UPDATE is – HTC Shift HD will be upgraded from 30GB to 40GB before shipping in Q3.

2. update - read the new complete official specs here: Kaz911 Official HTC Shift Specs

Check the pictures incl. Device info. J Remember you can use the pictures if you credit kaz911 rescue AND provide direct link to this site!!

My latest info says – there will so far be no voice capabilities but it might change due to popular demand. HTC still says WM6 only support 640x480 so still black bars in the side. And as you can deduct from the pictures – no office – only Calendar, E-Mail, SMS, Weather, Contacts and settings. So far missing in my book are WiFi from WM6 without shift being online and Phone and Web Browser? But we can cross our fingers and HOPE it will be included.

And to startac – here you go – fast enough for you? J (got a comment about 3 min. ago...)

Gitex 2007 Picture Show – i-Mate Ultimate 6150

2007-09-08T17:55:00.001+04:00

Hi Guys,

Just returned from day 1 of Gitex J and thought I'd get you the pictures ASAP. Please notice all pictures are (C) of Kaz911 Rescue and you can use them on your own website – AS LONG AS YOU PROVIDE DIRECT LINK to kaz911.blogspot.com, and credits kaz911.blogspot.com for the pictures. No other strings attached. But it must be direct link – no redir statements or any tiny URLs etc.

i-Mate Ultimate 6150 pictures

I had a chance to play around for a bit with the i-Mate Ultimate 6150 J Seems nice and sturdy – but a bit slow for a high speed device. But that might just be either that it is a late prototype software or due to all the Arabic software installed on the unit. Would i buy it? No – the lack of real dialling keyboard is a deal breaker for me. But the screen looks nice (640 x 480).

End of part 1 J Ultimate 8150 and Garmin Nüvi 700 + HTC Shift Windows Mobile + Sony OLED TV pictures coming.

HTC Athena / Advantage X7500 WM6 officially available

2007-09-02T10:34:00.000+04:00

Get WM6 for X7500

Now the upgrade is available for all WWE editions. Register at www.htc.com to download the WM6 update.

You can read my comments here

Recap of the latest news

2007-09-01T18:04:00.001+04:00

Symbian Related

The Nokia E90 Bug list – I got it and I like it – despite the bugs

No VPN for Symbian – Why ?

Installing Exchange Certificates on S60 – Tutorial on S60 VPN

Nokia N95 - RIP – dead and gone – never Nokia N95 again

HTC & WM6 Related

Sneak Peak at HTC Shift – Mini Review HTC Shift

HTC Shift to Launch at Gitex In Dubai – The Launch is confirmed

HTC Athena / Advantage X7500 Windows Mobile 6 Review – the WM6 Mobile ROM review

12 New Phones from i-Mate – i-Mate launch at Gitex

Being HTC Touched – HTC Touch Review

Skype Related

Skype in Dubai – Skype is again working in Dubai without tricks

Sneak Peak at the HTC Shift

2007-08-31T19:01:00.001+04:00

As I'm writing here now – I'm sitting with a HTC Shift prototype. No not the final – but a late prototype. I had a chance to play with it for a while.

My initial impressions are that it is a really solid device. Much better than I anticipated. The screen tilt stuff works well and you can position the screen as you like. The screen supports is really only 800 x 480 but supports 1024 x 600 resolution – but at 1024x600 it can seem a bit "muddy to look at"

The current model only got a "limited" Windows Mobile 6 built in. No Mobile Office in it. Bit of a shame. But it does support e-mail. I don't know if you can install custom applications like Skype on it. But it is connected to the "pc" part so it will act as a modem in Vista for your Mobile Data Connection. But it does have parts of the HCT Touch (the phone) front screen interface with calendar, clock and weather + direct access to mail. It did not seem to enable the Vista Windows Mobile Sync interface to sync the Windows Mobile part. But one can hope that changes for the final version – so you don't have to double sync your outlook to get calendar and mail in to the Windows Mobile part.

Unfortunately Windows Mobile do only support 640 x 480 – so when in Windows Mobile mode the screen is "enlarged to fill the 600 pixel screen height – but leaves 16:9 equal empty bars at either side.

The mouse works well and the device seems quite snappy. It claims a Vista Performance index of 2.0 which is quite reasonable for such a small pc. But it does have a camera on the front for Skype J and other Web Chat systems. Nice.

But the keyboard is very very small. You can't touch type on it – but tactile feed is great and I do think you can get away with writing on it at a reasonable speed when you get used to it – but 2 finger typing seems best J But a lot better than my Sony UX-90s.

The Pen is a typical HTC "fold out" pen. Not the best really. And I hate not having an active touch screen like on my ThinkPad X60. But newest "rumour" is it will support multi touch for a lot of things. J Fx. Place 2 fingers on screen and move fingers closer together to zoom in – and move them apart to zoom out. Nice touch (no pun intended)

HTC Shift shipping and price

Price point will be the same as the HTC Advantage x7500. So in UAE Dirham – about 5.000. (US$1.362) Shipping is said to start no later than 4 weeks after Gitex. Nice and small christmas gift then :-) More info from Gitex during 8-12 of September. :-)

Will I get one.. Yes I ordered one FIRST in LINE... J It will replace my Sony UX-90 I guess.

more HTC Stuff:
HTC Shift to Launch at Gitex
HTC Advantage X7500 WM6 Official ROM Review

Over and out for today.

HTC Athena /Advantage / HTC X7500 WM6 Review

2007-08-30T00:39:00.001+04:00

HTC X7500 Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) First Impressions

As you might have read, I just got the upgrade to the HTC Athena / HTC X7500 to Windows Mobile 6. It is an official ROM – named "shipping". The full file name of the ROM is RUU_Athena_HTC_WWE_2.21.405.

So I guess if you keep searching on Google for RUU_Athena_HTC_WWE – you might find it popping up somewhere very very soon. But I can't share this ROM with you L since I want to maintain my great relationship with my HTC contacts. So don't even bother to ask J

Release date? My guesstimate is end of this week or beginning of next. The file is build time stamped the 21. August J so I guess HTC is just waiting for final go before official release.

The WM6 Version Numbers

OS Version : CE OS 5.2.1238 Build 17745.0.2.3
Radio – 1.50
ROM Version : 2.21.405.2
ROM Date : 07/20/07

Initial Impression of WM6 for HTC Advantage X7500

Well the news and improvements are small and but some of my issues with the X7500/Athena has been resolved, but the most annoying "feature" is still the same. Namely not TRUE OS supported VGA support despite screen being 640 x 480. Now if you are only surfing on Internet it does not matter at all. But if you want to use the X7500 as a desktop "replacement" from time to time – it is really annoying that you cannot utilize the high screen resolution. I had really hoped that with WM6 native support for 640x480 that this would have been resolved. L

Open Mobile Excel and you only got 5 x 8 Rows to work in and all menu texts are oversized for a 5" screen. My Nokia E90 – has a slightly larger resolution (800x352) but manages to present me with 14 x13 rows of data and that is still readable.

Open Word – and your typing is great if you are near sighted. But everything again is "oversized" and not really great to work on.

Mail – is also oversized and not using the great real estate the screen offers.

What a shame – It actually turns a potential business tool in to a toy, which for me is a total deal breaker and therefore my X7500 goes up for sale, and I'll stick to my Nokia E90 for the time being. (and get the HTC Shift when that comes out..)

Another thing missing from my ROM is the VoIP part of WM6. HTC has some issues including it – so I hope another upgrade is on the way.

Another thing that would have been nice is the "HTC Touch" front screen, to which I have grown rather fond. But that is not included in this ROM. So only the TyTN II / Kaiser will get that it seems. (Well officially anyway)

Last thing that does not really bother me – but is "the talk of forums" is the powerbar only moves in 10% steps – and with the new firmware this has not changed. Still 0-10-20-30-40-50-60-70-80-90-100%... Nothing in between.

Last bug just found.. I got 3 SMS's while writing this. Read them –and noticed after a while that I still had one "Unread" SMS. But none unread in my Inbox. I deleted all SMS's – but still shows 1 unread.:-)

But on to the good things:

The Touch Screen works a lot better. Much better finger control and more consistent "pressure sensitivity". Before when pressing on screen – the device would ignore finger presses if you was not careful. This issue has been resolved.
Phone seems to react quite a lot quicker.
Windows Update is working now – but did not find any updates J
Wi-Fi seems to work a lot better than before. When streaming from ORB before i could never get "re-buffer" free streams at more than 160 kbps. Now I can do 320 kbps without a hitch. Coverage test will follow later.

This was my Initial Impressions – out with the X7500 for now... And let's see if someone can make a High Res WM6 device where all the applications are using the big screen as they should. (Remember Windows 2.11?...)

I really look forward to Gitex J - greeting from Dubai.

Official WM6 for HTC X7500

2007-08-29T22:23:00.001+04:00

WM6 for HTC Athena / X7500

Just got it on a memory card J and are upgrading as we speak.

Full version name is RUU_Athena_HTC_WWE_2.21.405.2_1.50.00.00_Ship

Upgrade complete – now customizing J So far no problems.

The GPS for Dubai?

2007-08-29T09:52:00.001+04:00

I don't know if you know Dubai. A now very big city, growing day by day. It is a MAJOR hassle for any GPS map producer since road change on a daily basis.

But TomTom is showing the way forward with the new TomTom MapShare, where users can amend their own maps. Quite a nice idea. And as the name implies – you can share your map updates with other people.

Let's just hope that TomTom then decides to come out with base Dubai maps. TomTom just launched the MapShare for their TomTom 520 and TomTom 720 GPS units.

Let's cross our fingers and hope! J

Click here to learn more

12 new phones from i-Mate

2007-08-22T14:29:00.001+04:00

The Very Quiet i-Mate company has confirmed they will be launching 12 new Windows mobile phones soon in 3 different product ranges.

After the break-up with HTC in November, i-Mate and owner Jim Morrison has been very quiet, and i-Mate posted its first loss since operations started in 2001.

But now, just before Gitex the Middle East IT Exhibition opens, i-Mate starts talking.

All the phones will feature Windows Mobile software, but of course no longer manufactured by HTC – but from a range of manufactures. So the new phone ranges will be:

I-Mate JAMA
The low end versions with a price point of about US$ 350 – small and lightweight. Two new models will hit the market within the next 6 months.

I-Mate Urban
The Mid-Range I-Mate Urban range will be introduced within the next couple of months. Expect about 4 different models priced at about $550.

I-Mate Ultimate

The Ultimate Range of phones – already well know in the market. 6 different phones with almost same specs – only screen, format and keyboards are different on each model. High end phones with a price tag of about $950.

It is confirmed that the Ultimate 6150, Ultimate 8150 and the Urban 201 will be on show at Gitex. More information as it flows in. I will of course participate in Gitex and give you updated information plus hopefully great pictures.

All above is from the mouth of Jack Craine – i-Mates new global sales director. J

Welcome to a turbulent market Jack!

VPN for Symbian – astounding figures!

2007-08-22T13:35:00.001+04:00

I know there is a need for S60v3 and Symbian VPN. I just did at statistics run on my search engine referrals.

35% of you come here to find out about some kind of VPN solution for Symbian devices – and we are not talking small figures.

Now which supplier will come out with a solution to give the users Symbian Based VPN?

Nokia WAKE UP!

anthavpn WAKE UP! Get Movian VPN out in a E90 supported Configuration!

Stop sleeping there is a gigantic need for VPN for Symbian Devices!

Skype still working in Dubai

2007-08-21T12:33:00.001+04:00

Skype got the servers up and running again. And much to my joy I can say that Skype is still working without a hitch on my DU internet line. Skype In / Skype out works perfectly. So I have been bold and once again enabled my SMC and Netgear Wi-Fi Skype phones, updated the firmware on both, and are now "contactable" on my Skype in numbers wherever I got a Wi-Fi signal.

I would love to hear if Etisalat users have access to Skype without VPN too. Leave a comment please!

I'm still waiting for a resultion to the problem between my Netgear 854T and the SMC Phone. Updates will follow.

Logitech Harmony 890 and Logitech Harmony 880

2007-08-21T12:24:00.001+04:00

Fancy exchanging all of your remotes with just one unit? Forget about separate remotes for TV, Radio, iPod, DVD player and most of your other gadgets?

To that I can only say... I do...

So I have been through a range of Universal Remotes, from Kameleon to high end Marantz and Philips Pronto expensive programmable remotes.

The first thing that hit me was all the touch screen based remotes was they are actually unusable for me. I like to be able to find buttons by feeling and not by looking at a screen. So any remote without real buttons turned out to be a no go. You can survive with a couple of buttons like volume or change program – but real buttons beats them all. So out went the Kameleon, Marantz and Philips Pronto, despite the heavy price tag.

Programming them was a hell to btw. You have to do so much manual labour to get them to work as an integrated solution. Not really what I fancy spending my time. I gave the Philips Pronto a last chance when they came out with the RF based version where you via radio waves can send remote control messages to other "remote" locations via Radio waves – so I could control my skylight in my bathroom from my Remote. But once again I quickly found that programming the Pronto was more of a headache, than I liked. So it went on the growing "slightly used gadget shelf" not to be ever seen by daylight again.

The Logitech Harmony 880

Then my world changed. I got a Logitech Harmony 885 (equal to the Harmony 880 in the US). The setup was a "reasonable" bliss. Using the Harmony Manager for the pc you setup the remote by telling the software which devices you have. Then the Logitech software downloads the "Remote" codes from their gigantic database of devices. On top of that – Logitech then analyses your setup and proposes "ideal" setups for you, asking you which "main" devices is used for sound and display and how the Logitech should change between the input sources.

So in about 30 minutes you have your entire home control setup. And you can just press "Watch Television" and the Harmony 880 turns on the TV and your surround sound system, and tunes both to the right settings. Press "Play a PS/2 game" and the Harmony 880 switches input on your surround system to the PS/2 and changes TV to PS/2 – and turns on the PS/2 Slimline. (Old PS/2s do not have Infrared receiver without extra hardware) Great show! J

I won't dig into technical details about the specifications etc. since so many other sites deals with that. All I can say is user experience is very good. The Software could use some work to make it faster. Sometimes it is a hog and takes forever to go from screen to screen.

The Bad stuff about Harmony 880 and the Harmony 890.

Well there is no such thing as a free ride. The Logitech Harmony 880 and 890 have some issues that could be better. As I said the PC software for configuring the device is pretty shabby and slow to say the least. Takes a damn lot of resources too. It is good though that your configuration is stored online at Logitech's database, so if you lose your remote, you just login and the configuration is re-downloaded into your remote. But that gives you another problem. Logitech's system only allows you to own one remote.... That being – if you have more than one remote you need different logins at the Logitech "Database". Crap....

I have now bought the 890 which is an 880 with additional RF transmitter / receiver, so I once again can control my skylight in the bathroom remotely. Owning 2 remotes as said was not a breeze with Logitech's software.

But an even worse problem is the build quality of the devices. They could do with some slightly better quality hardware. I could not understand why charging the device in the cradle on both devices was "unreliable" to say the least – and the remote very often "rebooted" – when the remote was moved. I thought I might have bashed them – but both?

So I investigated a bit. And it turns out that after a while the battery compartment seems to lose grips of the battery – leaving the battery to sail a bit around in the compartment. Enough so that the battery sometimes lost contact with the electrical terminals in the remote. That leads to a "remote" reboot when the battery touches the terminals once again.

How to fix the Harmony 880 and Harmony 890

But then I made a quick fix. J I folded some newspaper tight and shoved in between the plastic bezels behind the battery, giving it more "push" force towards the battery terminals on the remote. And since then I have not had a single "reboot" in either remotes. A quick and cheap fix. Just make certain you have read the newspaper you shove in J But again – Gives us a bit better quality please Logitech!

Skype is back and working and Skype works in Dubai

2007-08-18T10:27:00.001+04:00

Now all Skype problems seems to have gone again.

Nice J and I can still confirm that Skype works without a hitch in Dubai without VPN or other tricks. At least on my different DU lines. (version 3.5.0.202).

I have not tried on Etisalat yet.

Weird problem between Netgear 854T and SMC WSKP100

2007-08-17T16:30:00.001+04:00

When Skype worked a couple of days ago, I tried using my Wi-Fi SMC WSKP100 Skype phone for my Skype calls.

But every time after 12-15 minutes of Skype talking the Netgear 854T reboots and throws all connected clients of.

I tried 5-6 times – and it happens every time.

Any of you got any solutions? I'll report it to Netgear today J since it should not be possible to bring the Access Point down from ANY client.

Update 17th. August - Reported the bug to Netgear - lets see how long time it takes for them to look into the issue.

Now Skype works – now it does not

2007-08-16T19:30:00.001+04:00

Yesterday I was so happy that Skype worked in Dubai... But today Skype got a problem with their servers – not allowing any logins.

You can follow progress on Skype Heartbeat – but today it is not only in Dubai it does not work.

I guess yesterdays Internal Skype software update took the systems down. They say 12-24 hours before they are up and running again (Posted on skype heartbeat at 14:02 GMT) L

I hope skype works again for ALL including the Dubai residents tomorrow.

Skype in Dubai – working today

2007-08-15T14:20:00.001+04:00

As some of you might have noticed, my residence is in Dubai. A country where the government has an active protection policy towards Internet usage. That means that a lot of things are blocked, so you can't access them.

There are two telecoms companies here. Etisalat and DU. Both are partly owned by the government of Dubai. And each has different "content" blocks in place, protecting people from themselves. J

But that bad thing is – that both are blocking access to use Internet Phones now. Before only Etisalat was blocking access, but now both block by active packet inspection. That unfortunately means no access to VoIP without VPN (Virtual Private Network).

The protection is done to protect their phone revenues, since 70% of the population here are expats. So International phoning is a big revenue generator for them. (Some say as much as 80% of their income is from International Phone charges)

But the past couple of days, it actually seems like Skype 3.5.0.202 can get through perfectly without any problems. (On the DU network anyway)

One can only hope they are coming to their senses and are opening up for VoIP use. Unfortunately SIP is still blocked by them L

HTC SHIFT launch at Gitex in Dubai

2007-08-15T12:20:00.001+04:00

The much awaited HTC Shift is rumoured to launch at the Gitex Computer Exhibition in Dubai that takes place from 8^th to 12^th of September 2007. I have heard from an inside source that the entire HTC Staff will have HTC Shifts to demo, and work with from Gitex and onwards (read – HAVE to work with! and they have to ditch their old notebooks for this one). Chippy confirmed Gitex as the launch date as well on the UMPC Portal

The HTC Shift is a portable Vista based UMPC with a built in Windows Mobile Computer. So it is a combination device, giving you the benefits of having a "Real" Computer when you need it and a Windows Mobile device for the quick and dirty stuff.

Battery life is said to be about 3 hours running Vista and 5 days of battery life if you only use the Windows Mobile part.

It is going to be interesting to see how HTC have made the integration between the two devices. It would be a killer if both "machines" have access to the same file system, so you don't need to copy/paste between them.

Well the Shift is on my wish list for Ramadan or Christmas J anyway. Gitex btw. got a big "Gitex Shopping Section" where you usually can buy the latest gadgets - so one can hope it will be available there.

Nokia S60 VPN gone missing

2007-08-07T22:14:00.001+04:00

Guys – how hard can it be to put VPN on a Symbian Phone

I do really love my new Nokia E90. Great screens – easy to use. My Roadsync is up and running with my exchange private certificates (see previous article). But the biggest missing object from my phone is ability to use VPN.

I'm constantly on non-encrypted Access Points everywhere. I don't check anything with passwords, unless I can get through a VPN connection on my computer.

But checking the built in Nokia E90 Communications tutorial – it states:

"For VPN usage..." (go through tutorial..) Contact your systems administrator." - Nokia – are you taking the piss?

But Nokia forgot to inform the world's system administrators on how to provide VPN access to a Nokia Phone. Hacks exists on the Internet on how to use "older" E series Nokia Phones Mobility VPN package, and install it on the E90. But that requires mechanical software skills most people do not have. You have to do a LOT of work to get your VPN up and running, including getting special security certification to "encrypt" the settings you send to the phone. And Nokia has strategically removed the "download" options around the world for the "old" VPN software, leaving even hard ball techy guys in need of VPN with only one solution – find a "pirate" copy.

MovianVPN used to be a solution. But Certicom does not offer that anymore. You can still buy the Movian VPN for S60 from anthavpn but despite 3 attempts to contact them about E90 compatibility I have so far to succeed. Not a single answer so we must assume they have gone bust or are to busy selling anthavpn solution for Microsoft Mobiles. And that is despite Microsoft Mobiles got VPN built in out of the box.

So dear dear Nokia, please wake up and make a good VPN client available for the S60v3 series of phones. I would not mind to pay – as long as it can connect to standard VPN boxes out there like Cisco or my Microsoft Server based VPN – or even OpenVPN. I just need something so I know my browsing is secure and no one can sniff my passwords – and when I am in "Protected" areas, where VoIP is blocked by network operators –that I can tunnel home and establish my phone connection anyway.

My only alternative is changing to the HTC Kaiser (TyTN II) when it comes out and once again be able to surf and call with piece of mind – which pretty much have the same specs as the E90. So Dear Reader – write your Nokia representative J and complain! I did!

Kaz911

I got a Nokia E90 and I like it

2007-08-04T20:56:00.001+04:00

The Nokia E90 buglist and missing features

Last update: August 15th. 2007

I just got the Nokia E90. It comes in Communicator package, but runs Symbian S60 and not the S80 the other communicators use. So basically a N95 with better and bigger hardware. I'm a http://www.my-symbian.com/ user J and have been for a long time. And the My-Symbian forum got a lot of Info on Symbian based phones, including the E90.

So I have been cruising the forum to check for known bugs and other stuff. And while i like the forum, the "Official Bug Thread" is getting crowded – so I though... What about a compiled list of issues with the E90. The Bug Quick Reference guide...

So let's try.. I have split it into hardware and software – most bug's courtesy of the S60 E90 forum users on http://www.my-symbian.com/. The bugs are only reported in the list if confirmed multiple times or I have seen them myself.

Nokia E90 Hardware

Internal keyboard might touch the inner screen, leaving "marks" on the screen. Mostly finger grease is transferred but potentially will scratch phone. There are reports of a slightly newer model with better spacing.
The bottom corner "protectors" are not the same height, making the phone a bit wobbly when used on a flat surface
It is not possible to charge the Phone via the USB connector L

Nokia E90 Software/Firmware fixable

GPS is very slow to acquire satellite fix. As slow as on Nokia N95. New N95 firmware got A-GPS (Assisted GPS, where you download the Satellites position map/almanac via the internet, and don't have to wait for the phone to "download" the data from the slow GPS data stream.) Some N95 users are reporting satellite fix within 15-45 seconds. On my E90 it takes 4-10 minutes in clear sky.
Navigation Application License looses activation when flashing firmware. This is a big problem since Nokia only allow 2 activations. If you need more than 2 activations it takes forever with Nokia Support. (Took me 4 weeks..)
Battery Meter – shows from one to seven bars of power. Sometimes the Battery meter seem to get stuck –and a "turn off/turn on" will set the Battery meter significantly different than before the reboot.
3G network failure when using Data Connections. "Gateway failure"
Taking pictures in Scene modes applies HIGH sharpening to picture, giving them an un-natural look.
Internal Applications does not seem to agree on which button should be "Exit" Some uses lower Softkey – others uses top softkey+menu selection. Flaky design.
Wireless connection when connecting to Netgear 854T with WPA2 – requires usually 2 connection attempts before connection. Connection stays fine when finally connected.
Bluetooth connection to Sony Ericsson HBH-970 Stereo headset is "flaky" – especially when coming out of "connection sleeping"
External Wireless Keyboard mapping is not perfect... Some keys are repeated even on the Nokia SU-8
Some applications do not recognize the ctrl-c (copy) / ctrl-v (paste) (QuickOffice. New version of QuickOffice 4.5 can do cut/copy/paste)
Sometimes Internal keyboard messes up. This seems to be because the phone still think it is "closed" so fx. number keys takes the properties of the front keyboard. (Press 2 for a/b/c - press 3 for d/e/f). Closing the phone and opening it again will fix it. (Updated August 5.)
Spontanus Reboot after a call. (Updated August 15th)
FM kind of loud hiss on GSM phone calls from time to time. (Updated August 15th)
Built in browser does not correctly reconize Anchor tags (#) in URLs (Updated August 19th)
Buildt in Browser JavaScript is not compatible with iGoogle - the personalised Google pages. Some keeps showing "Loading" after page is complete. (Updated August 19th)

Nokia E90 Missing Features from older communicators

Scheduled SMS
Fax capability
Recorder goes on Pause when going to another application (Bug or feature)
People complain about lack of speed – fx. when switching to contacts menu compared to old communicators.
Calculator - 3 digit spacing (eg. when entering number then 1000 becomes 1.000) (updated August 6. thanks to Anonymous )

Nokia E90 3^rd party application Bugs

TOMTOM 6 Navigation does not recognise built in GPS

But despite the above bugs – I still like – a lot more than the N95 anyway. But I'll report back later with my views of the phone and the software. Follow the thread on my-symbian for more info on the bugs.

Word 2007 blogging works with pictures

2007-08-04T13:08:00.001+04:00

And I might have gotten picture blogging to work too.

Let's see if this one wants to upload.

A picture of the HTC Touch Phone I'm playing with at the moment...

Really a nice feature – but only problem is you cannot EDIT your posting after first post. That is a bummer. But anyway – you can Blog from Word 2007 – and pictures gets uploaded to your own "image space" and referenced correctly in the blog. Great feature. Word got so many features that I don't know 10%. But at least I found this one J Better than blogjet which I tried to use – but never got used to.

So Word 2007 can update my blog

2007-08-04T12:41:00.001+04:00

This is nice – being able to write to my blog directly from Microsoft Word.

I wonder if that is useful – but it connects to blogger directly – and can put my pictures on my own FTP server.

I look forward to seeing if this will improve my blog speed, since all my postings are done in Word first – and before I cut-copy and paste to blogger. So maybe this will increase my number of postings.

But I can't figure out if I can add "tags" from here – or I have to go to blogger to do that.

I'll keep you posted.

The Crappy Upgrade Companies

2007-08-01T17:09:00.000+04:00

Dont buy from Polar, Ahead Nero or Corex Cardscan

I have started to get a real grudge against the companies who cheat their users of upgrades at reasonable cost.

If you read more on my blog – you can see my grudge against Polar, who is NOT providing an upgrade of their running software – and prefers to do a name change to convince people to buy a new watch – but the software is still the same – that kind’a makes a bad taste in my mouth. One that really inspires people to be pirates and copy the offending companies software. But now I got a couple more.

But I got TWO new additions to my hall of shame and blame

Ahead Software – Nero. Well you go out buy a nice DVD burner drive and get Ahead Nero. Yepiii you think – only to find out the version included is Nero 6 – and does not work with Microsoft Windows Vista. Vista is even nice enough to tell you that Ahead got an upgrade for Nero 6 to make it work – but Nero tells you otherwise. You need to buy an upgrade to get Vista Support. Only Nero 7 runs on Vista. Great you think – until you find out that the upgrade version is only about $10 cheaper than buying a brand new copy.

Well okay I thought – I got a FULL version 6 I bought once - the discount on that might be a lot higher. But nope – a few pennies more in discount – upgrade cost 80% of new price. Hurray... All i wanted was a freekin’ DVD burning software. But says Nero – we have put so much more in the package.. I DON’T WAN’T MORE – I just want to do my basic tasks such as burning a DVD on Vista. I don’t want a multimedia madness centre that fills my computer with unusable features. If I wanted them – I would PAY for them.

Calling it an upgrade is an insult...

Which moves me on to... CARDSCAN

Corex Techologies / CardScan has been in my arsenal of business tools for a long time. The software works by scanning business cards and putting the data into Outlook – a really nice feature –and I have been a very happy client.

I got 2 licenses – a 5 user license and a single user. To make the story short – I paid $79 for my full version of CardScan 1 ½ years ago. I got a nice mail telling me Version 8 was online and I could upgrade. Cool I thought might finally recognise Danish language, a feature I have been missing for many years.

But surprise surprise - Cardscan has almost doubled the price of the software to $149. And if you are an old customer – they value your upgrade with a 20% discount... Yes – 20% - from $149 to $119. Damn still 50% more than the license I bought earlier. And the news? Well now you can directly print on dymo labels + they have made an affiliate program – giving lead referrers an 8-13% referral fee. Hurray.. Not really ground breaking upgrade warranting a 150% upgrade cost is it?

But thanks god my CardScan 7 works on Vista so no need to upgrade at all – and that was last time my companies have done any business with them.

So in SHORT – DONT BUY UPGRADES or products from Ahead Nero, Polar and Corex CardScan – don’t even think about buying their products unless you are fine by being screwed for your hard earned dollars.

Installing Exchange Certificates on S60 - Update to my N95 Review

2007-07-27T11:04:00.000+04:00

I just got a Nokia E90 for testing, and decided to get certificates to work with Roadsync, so push-mail with Microsoft Exchange works without constant confirmation. Nokia wants signed certificates or downloaded x.509 certificates it seems. So not as simple as on Windows Mobile where you just “click” on the file to install it.

The problem is only present when you have a certificate for Microsoft Exchange you have generated yourself – which our exchange server have. So Nokia has among its many documents hidden instructions on how to generate the certificate. But in the document there is a small shortcut and I’ll publish it here :-)

Basically the easy way is to add a mime type to your web server, rename the generated certificate file from .cer to .der – place it on the web server – and then download it via the phone browser.

I did that – and in less than 5 minutes my certificate was installed – and now Roadsync works like a charm with no bugging messages about server security all the time. Perfect. Roadsync should put this on its FAQ list for sure.

If anyone of you need it – and trust me – you can send me a certificate and then I'll put it on the webserver for you to download via your phone – if you do not have access to a web server yourself.

Instructions from Nokia:

Installing a self-signed certificate to an S60 device

This chapter describes how to install a non-CA self-signed certificate to an S60 device. This is an alternative solution to the one described in Chapter 2, “Steps.”

To install a self-signed certificate, you can do the following:

1. Export the certificate in DER format (without private key).

2. If the certificate file extension is .cer, change it to .der.

3. Copy the certificate file to your Web server.

4. Set the MIME type for the directory where the certificate is to application/x-x509-ca-cert.

* In some servers, this can be done from properties of the Web directory -> HTTP Headers -> MIME Types… and adding the mentioned MIME type for the .der file.

* When using Apache server, edit the mime.types file.

5. Use the Web browser in the S60 device to browse for the certificate.

6. Save the certificate (as described in Section 2.7, “Install the CA certificate to an S60 device,” from step 3 onwards).

Thanks Nokia for the information :-)

Being HTC Touched

2007-07-23T13:30:00.000+04:00

The hype is on – let you fingers do the walking – or in case of the touch phones – the sliding. There are two new touch phones in the market – one is the Apple iPhone and the HTC Touch.

I’m the happy guy with a HTC Touch Phone. The phone is one of the latest models from HTC, with Windows Mobile 6. Since many people already have described the Windows Mobile 6 interface, I’ll try to concentrate on what sets the Touch apart from other phones.

The Hardware
The basic HTC Touch is a very slim and elegant phone. Look absolutely stunning. A phone for the fashion conscious J You can’t really appreciate the tiny size before it is in your hands. It got the typical HTC Extended Mini USB for charging and for headsets – so don’t expect to use any Jack based headsets for it.

SIM card and memory card is hidden on the right hand side – a bit hard to get to – but works okay. Camera is a “standard” 2 mpix picture with okay quality but no autofocus. Quality of pictures are okay – but not better than okay.

Call and Hang-up buttons are very small – and a bit unhandy and hard to press – but in the “keeping” the design small – and nice looking I guess there was not a lot more they could do – or was there?

The “Rocker” pad is again a bit small for me. (The button you use to scroll up/down/right/left). Too often I find myself hitting the middle pad (enter) by mistake.

But the glass front on the touch is excellent. It makes it very easy to clean the screen and to keep it looking nice. It does not collect the dirt in the corners like other of the HTC phones with “embedded” screens does. Absolutely a nice feature. But it also seems like it hinders Pen operation a bit, since you feel like you have to “push” a bit hard on the glass for the pen to react. Hopefully a firmware update will change the sensitivity a bit. The screen itself looks okay. Very sharp but seems a little low key on colour resolution. The Colour dept just seems a bit low compared to some of my other PDA devices. But absolutely does the job.

The speed / processor / memory in the phone seem a bit “under” average. The phone is slow to react in many situations. Available memory is quite low, and quite often you will get the “Not enough memory to execute program” error message. But thanks good HTC has a “close” program feature which not many Windows mobile phones has as standard. (Hold the pen on the close “X” for a sec. too really close the program)

WiFi sensitivity is excellent though – just as good as my HTC S710. It can pickup and use WiFi where my different notebooks give up. (Sony UX90s, ThinkPad X60 tablet, and a lot of other devices). On connection with a Zyxel access point, the Internet Explorer shows some “fun” errors though. (Does not work) but any other access point I have tried works like a charm. Opera browser on the same access point works fine – what a puzzle..

Phone is only GPRS/EDGE based so no 3G. But speed seems usable.

Software
Well the big thing here is Windows Mobile 6 + HTCs custom touch interface. The Touch interface is a shell / GUI on top of Windows Mobile 6, so you can operate your touch phone with your fingers – a lot easier than you can in standard Windows Mobile 6.

It works really well – a lot better than I expected. Using your fingers to navigate to your different applications is great. The only problem is that is a shell on top of the standard Windows Mobile 6. So in the middle of your joy and ease of use – you launch a program not optimized for touch (mail, browser, office pack and any other standard Windows Mobile software) you are then back at the standard not finger optimized piece of software, forcing you to get out your pen.

And this is where the concept fails. All the glitz and glitter falls apart and you are back at a standard pen based PDA.

But since most people do not really spend that much time editing documents on the PDA – I think most people will find the HTC Touch a nice phone for daily use. Most navigation is done with fingers between mail/sms and phone book, and here the Touch shines. Reading mail and sms works fine with your fingers – but replying to them does not. But the most used features are supported by the Touch overlay on the phone. So all in all – a big step forward in the usability of the Windows Mobile PDA interface. Now just modify the Message applications (SMS/E-Mail) so you can write on the screen with your fingertips. That would then cover 80% of the device usage. Then optimize the media player and we are at 90%.

Maybe this concept phone can show Microsoft some of the things needed for a great touch interface, and HTC and Microsoft can cooperate on optimizing future versions of Windows Mobile to be truly touch enabled. At least Apples iPhone is forcing them to look in that direction.
In conclusion – a great phone for its intended audience. A competitor to iPhone – I don’t know yet since I have not tried it on.... But my feeling is that is a semi worthy contender. Size is perfect, battery life is okay, WiFi is superb. Price is right and Windows Mobile is now actually a usable phone interface. So go get it :-) It is worth it!

Star rating (subjective) 8 out of 10. The last 2 stars will be awarded when majority of applications support “Touch” with your fingers.

iPhone – what is the buzz about?

2007-07-01T13:52:00.000+04:00

The world is a strange place. Apple launches a phone with specifications worse than any top range phone. They provide a nice design, but a mediocre phone. Touted as the first ever multimedia phone the adverts are well “less than true”

I have tested more than a fair share of phones – from Symbian (Nokia/Sony Ericsson) to every other Microsoft phone (HTC/I-mate and many others)

Right now my phone is the HCT S710. A Microsoft WM6 based phone, with browser, media player, WiFi, GSM Edge/GPRS and basically everything I need for business. It even got a real keyboard. I can stream files from my Microsoft Media Center to my phone in great quality. The WiFi is the best I ever seen – the phone can pickup and use wireless signals from every room in my flat where often my notebooks, other phones and gadgets can’t pickup any signals. (2nd best is actually my Sony US90s...)

But the real iPhone deal breaker for me is that it is NOT a business phone – its a consumer phone. No integration with Microsoft Exchange – only POP3 and maybe IMAP mail – not good enough in our day in age.

And what about forcing you to have iTunes on your pc? What a piece of crap software... just to run your phone? I wish Apple could make nice software and not only make up for it by making it “look nice”...

So the only iPhone i consider buying is the Cisco/Linksys one :-)

On phone with HP Middle East

2007-05-20T11:41:00.000+04:00

Me: I got a OfficeJet 7413 that stops working after 1 or 2 days. The XXX led’s starts flashing and the All In One Printer refuses to print and receive faxes – eg. Non operational until reset the power.

Service Engineer (Middle East): One moment Sir

Me: okay (getting hopes up…)

Service Engineer (Middle East): Sir – the printer does automatic maintenance every 12 hours.

Me: Okay and?

Service Engineer (Middle East): Sir – you just have to recycle to power every 12 hours on the 7413 to keep it working.

Me: Are you serious? What when I’m away from the printer? I can't have a fax/printer that can’t receive faxes when I’m not here? I receive faxes 24/7 and you want me to get someone to reset it every 12 hours?

Service Engineer (Middle East HP): yes sir, printer does auto maintenance.

Me: Take me to your leader…

Service Engineer(Middle East HP): okay sir

A typical day trying to get qualified support in the middle east. Thanks god I know better.... But I worry about the poor consumers that do know what the 7413 is supposed to do. Someone here might just hire a guy to reset the fax every 12 hours......

Nokia N95 arbitrary – RIP

2007-05-20T10:14:00.000+04:00

It is with sadness in my trembling voice I’m sending my N95 to the eternal gadget heaven. I have decided to give it its last power charge, and now let it use its last charge on a spare SIM card while I empty its brain for usable information.

The N95 came with a desire to be the phone / pda of choice, a genetically modified species, supposed to surpass every other mobile handset in the world. Unfortunately the built in features was not fully tested before reaching the market. And some of the features supposed to be “cutting edge” were a dull as a 10 year old paperknife.

Yes – it was light weight, yes it had a built in GPS, but running time was very low, and a lot of features in the phone made it break down – so it had to be restarted again and again. Something I previously only associated with software coming from Redmond....

The Navigation was ok. But the license system lacked a lot. The last 4 weeks after a firmware upgrade, the N95 could not agree with license service that it could get permission to guide me from place to place. The Gen therapists at Nokia have not been able to solve the problem yet.

Dear N95, I will miss the features your designers said you had – but I never found.

Rest In Peace….

The Joys of (missing) Upgrades

2007-05-17T20:45:00.000+04:00

I’m the lucky owner of a Polar 625X running and exercise watch. A gadget that follows me on every exercise. And in short a gadget that keeps me going back to the gym again and again.
The reason is that all the data it collects, including how far I run (??) is stored in that watch and then transferred to my pc - so I can follow my progress and if I become better and get more miles to the gallon. :-)

The software is called Polar Precision Performance v. 4 (actually 4.03.046). Great software with updates from time to time (latest April 2007) but a bit of a Windows 3.11 (yes..) interface and a bit harsh on the eyes. But in general it works. And to update it – you NEED to have the software installed or have the old original CD available, so you can install the old version and then upgrade to the latest version. A bit annoying but “ok”…

Then I checked out Polar – and they have now made some new watches – like the RS800 and the RS400 – clearly with a couple of new features – and damn – a NEW software called Polar ProTrainer 5. And I thought – what is this ProTrainer 5 software. I got the Polar Precision Performance 4?

Well in short – the software is not new. It is just the old Polar Precision Performance in version 5 in a slightly new dress-up.

But to avoid giving out upgrades to the old owners – and thereby giving them the opportunity to “BUY” a new watch.. (read the sarcasm) to get the software – they (Polar) must really think the average user is stupid.

What a shame. ProTrainer 5 is not that big an upgrade to v4 – but now the graphs and other graphics are updated to an XP+ kind of look – and seems a bit more user friendly – and it even works out of the box with my 625X watch?

I am a capitalist and like supporting brands I use. But not even giving me the opportunity to throw in a few dollars for an upgrade to V5 – seems a bit stupid. Maintaining two products will in the end turn out more expensive than charging me $5 or $25 for an upgrade.

But trying to cheat your users calling the software a new name?.. Well do they think we are stupid sports-jocks all of us? Polar - get a grip and stop treating your user base as idiots. We just might stop buying your products.

And since it is illegal to tell people to be software pirates I’m not able to tell you the software might be available for download on some – what is it called? Torrent Sites?? As ISO files… bypassing the need for transporting your original V4 CD with you all the time.

But Polar – I would PAY for an upgrade if YOU provided one at a cost relative to upgrade value of the software (somewhere between $5 and $25 – anything else would be highway robbery)

Your turn HP - CTRL REBOOT

2007-05-16T23:57:00.000+04:00

I’m the lucky? owner of an HP OfficeJet 7314 – a All In One printer with fax/copy/print functions.

It works quite well – got wireless access, nice display, memory card reader etc.
But sometimes it just gives up. I don't know if it is stress or whatever – but every once in a while – it gives out a cry for help - flashing a FEW lights - and no response before re-cycling power (CTRL-ALT POWER).

It does not really matter so much when I’m in the office. But when I’m out… Then it is a pain – suddenly no FAX…

HP doesn’t have a clue… Called their help line.. Clue-less… Now I’m waiting for an official response – since they claim they have not seen that error before.

Driving me mad

2007-05-12T21:38:00.001+04:00

Nokia N95.. Damn still drives me mad. One should think it was created around Seattle…

Received an sms – and was a bit quick to press the button. End result – hung phone – needed battery removed.

Nokia – why?

Still haven't gotten my Navigation to work after firmware upgrade – and Nokia is very slow at picking up the “pace..”

Next phone will be an HTC or I-Mate WM6.

Put ICE in your Phone

2007-05-08T20:50:00.000+04:00

The Rescue Services in co-operation with the Medical Emergency services in Copenhagen Denmark has a big problem – and a great and quick solution.

When people come in to be treated, sometimes is can be hard to find information about relatives and next of kin – for example who do you contact in case of emergency? Well we should all carry a “contact card” on us – but most of us have a wallet full of stuff anyway.

But the Rescue Services and Medical Emergency services in Copenhagen have a great idea – and a simple solution.

Since most people today have Mobile Phones – they suggest that we all put the phone number of our “In Case of Emergency” contacts into the mobile, so the Rescue Personal can look it up quickly if needed.

But write them down so contact name is ICE (In Case of Emergency) – and if you have multiple contacts – then ICE1 – ICE2 – ICE3 etc.

I think it is a great idea and very simple.

Of course it only works if the phone is not locked with a pin-code. But maybe if we show the mobile phone manufactures that it can work and people do it – then they might make it a “std” feature in the phones someday – so ANYONE can look up or call an “ICE number” on a mobile.

Pass it on!

The head does not know what the body is doing

2007-05-01T12:33:00.000+04:00

Today I wanted to restore my user profile to my Samsung Q1 using Windows Easy Transfer. Quite a nice way to get same settings on all your new Vista PCs. (I got an X60 tablet, a Samsung Q1 and a Shuttle X100 2.33 GHz Dual Core) all running Vista.

But imagine my frustration when all I got on the Q1 was a message saying.. “Sorry you can’t do that… Windows Easy Transfer requires a minimum resolution of 800x600” Damn Microsoft – you guys should start talking together inside. Your OWN specifications for the “Origami” Machines lists 800x480 as minimum resolution – so why do your tools not work on your own g.d. specifications? And what could possibly be the reason for an 800x600 minimum requirement apart from bad screen design?

Another design flaw in Windows Easy Transfer is that you can only select to restore ALL settings from your old machine. My old Vista was running Office 2003 – so imagine so much crap being loaded into the registry..

Now I have to try to get the Q1 into a “virtual” state of running 1024x768 or 800x600 to restore. Bugger since the drivers are not really Vista “perfect..” Or alternativly connect to an external screen - which i don't have right at hand...

Well that was my sour grapes of the day.

Thanks again Microsoft….

The Windows Vista Power Hungry Monster

2007-04-25T11:13:00.000+04:00

After upgrading to Windows Vista Premium on my ThinkPad X60t, I have noticed that my power does not last as long as before. Plus when resuming operations from standby or from a “cold” reboot, the system takes ages to be back to peak performance – wasting about 10% of my 100% battery power – just to get the system ready for operation.

I started wondering what could be wrong – was it a driver malfunction? Or just my slow 5400 rpm hard drive that took so much energy – since the hard drive seems to spin and spin and spin during boot.

Digging into Resource Manager in Windows I quickly discovered the first culprit. Windows Readyboost… After every standby it seems like the Readyboost Cache on my 2GB Ultra III SD card needs to be flushed and refilled (or at least checked for consistency) – It seems like the Readyboost architecture reads a lot from the hard drive even when resuming from an S3 sleep state. It keeps at it for 2-5 minutes at high read/write levels – invoking the Readyboost drive and the internal system disk.

Why it is needed from S3 standby state I don’t know, since it should be quite simple to have a “marker” telling vista if the device has been modified.
I do like the speed improvements in application startup from Readyboost, but now I’m starting to wonder if it is worth loosing a lot of power on. So I checked out my Readyboost device J and started debugging the rest of “where do my power go”.

So reboot – and back into Resource Manager.. And there was the next damn culprit. It seems like the Indexing service is another power-hungry bastard while running on batteries. Every single reboot on battery power, (and on ac power) starts the indexing service running full speed ahead – despite power settings being “balanced” or on “low power”. Indexing service simply eats away for 5-8 minutes at very high disk speeds. I have not tried to disable the indexing service yet - because I do love the search in Outlook 2007. But there are clearly improvments that can be done so this does not have to be done on EVERY boot or resume event.

So dear Microsoft, please give your engineers only notebooks and only allow them to boot on batteries for some time. Then I think we will get a solution to the 2 worst power draining items on a vista system. Of course there are plenty of other things that take additional power in Vista, but these two actually kills performance and especially boot performance.

I have pluged in my Readyboost SD card again, but am almost crying when the system has to resume or reboot - so now my X60t is labled "Mr. 90% power"

The Missing Router Firmware

2007-04-20T14:06:00.000+04:00

I’m the proud owner of 2 Linksys 300N and 1 Netgear 854T Pre-N wireless routers. Really neat routers with great performance when they work. Pre-N is the new very fast Wi-Fi standard that should be the “Next Generation”.

But what really puzzles me is that all 3 have a similar bug. A bug where after some operation time, the router no longer accepts any traffic and stops working. It is impossible to figure out what goes wrong and it seems like nothing really makes it break down. It can happen anytime. But why does it happen? And on both equipment from Linksys and Netgear? And in different locations with different clients attached?

Could it be that both routers use some Open Source or BSD TCP/IP stack, with a know bug? The bug being that router does not close the “ports” in use so when the router runs out of ports – then the router dies. (A normal IP stack closes a used port after about 5 minutes of no activity.)

And why do Linksys and Netgear not fix it?

Well development departments are busy. They are likely already working on the next generation of gear for you. Bug or no bug – when the public does not cry foul – the manufactures do not fix the bugs.. CAN YOU HEAR ME CRY FOUL? Sometimes I think a class action suit is the only thing that makes them go back and fix the old bugs.

So in short – do not buy the above routers – they will give you grief. I replaced them with some old Linksys routers with DD-WRT firmware, an Open Source firmware with lot of options – and since then my support life has been bliss. No problems at all. They perform superb with features far exceeding that of Linksys and Netgear’s “ readymade consumer products”

So on my shopping list now – are ONLY products that are compatible with DD-WRT. They can be a bit hard to find – but well worth it.

Nokia N95 critics review

2007-04-19T23:42:00.000+04:00

Well - who have not awaited the Nokia N95 with impatience?

I did -and bought it the first place I saw it. Nice phone - runs Nokia Series 60 V3 - (a Nokia Symbian version).

Among the features much talked about was 5 mpix camera, built in GPS, and VoIP via Wireless 802.11x networks. (Wi-Fi) and yes the phone does have a 5 mpix camera - but what does that help when the images that it captures are only 200-400 KB? and looks like crap? It does have autofocus and Carl Zeiss lens, but I think Mr. Zeiss would turn in his grave if he saw the quality of this camera. I'd rather have a 3 mpix great quality camera - than a 5 mpix bad... NOKIA!!

And built in GPS - great stuff - apart from GPS fix to satellites takes forever (I have never tried less than 5 minutes) - and the maps here are like 5 years old... (Dubai, UAE) and to use Navigation you have to pay an obscene amount of money for it.. Damn Nokia - this is stupid...

And voice over IP (VOIP) - then N95 excels in not disclosing all possible settings in the edit menu. You have to write custom software to edit things like the Stun server etc. So in short it only works with the "partner" of Nokia - VOIP Service - Gizmo Project. That is all right - but... then you should not label it as an VOIP phone - but as a "tether" VoIP client with limited ability..

Which brings me to the Wireless Performance... Again here - someone wanted to save dollars... The wireless Wi-Fi interface almost needs line of sight to work. Even my worst other phones with Wi-Fi have never had a problem - but the N95 surely is a bad performer.

And then the barcode scanning - used with the camera?? I have tried to scan multiple barcodes - and all with the same result... no recognized barcode (so far)

And last but not least - the importing of own certificates does not work on my N95... Which means my Exchange RoadSync software asks for every connection... “Are you sure?” “Are you sure?”... but my exchange certificate - the phone won't accept..

Damn - bit of small grapes .. Lets hope future firmware updates will erase the problems... :-)

have a nice one! :-)

Damn

The frustrations of hardware and gadgets

2007-04-19T23:21:00.000+04:00

Sometimes you think (I do anyway) - the next gadget is going to be my do-it-all - and all the things in it is going to make me happy :-)And then you wake up.

This blog is dedicated to the mysterious hardware and software things that SHOULD work - but have errors and bugs that keep them from performing - so you will see tests in quite another way - and maybe get a different opinion on the devices you like or would like to have.

Routers with persistent bugs that make them fail - over and over again - firmware update after firmware update.

Printers that eat paper and ink

Phones that requires a ctrl-alt-del button despite NOT being from Microsoft

Features so badly implemented - that they should not have been there

Cameras with so bad quality that they perform worse than Kodak ISO 1600 paper from 1970

It might sometimes be technical - and sometimes not... and sometimes my writing might be both boring and wrong - :-) but I’ll correct it if needed :-)