Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Here's a bit of history to tease your brain.

Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, Halloween festivals, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and viewing horror films.

Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is now celebrated in several parts of the western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom and occasionally in parts of Australia and New Zealand.

The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", also which is now known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day.

Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar. Many European cultural traditions, in particular Celtic cultures, hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe).

S60 Touch UI - It's No Rumour!

Get your greasy little fingers on this S60 UI! Nokia is set to release it's set of touch screen phones and kick some iPhone butt.
Steve Jobs, you better pray hard or come up with something new..

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_q8oAPAKE&eurl=http://darlamack.blogs.com/

CQ JOTA, CQ JOTA

On the 19th till 21st of October 2007,
Malaysia's Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) was held.
JOTA usually held during the 3rd week of October each year...
This year was the 50th anniversary of JOTA.
It was held the 1st time in Negeri Sembilan too.

The purpose of this Jamboree is to introduce to those young scouts on how to use radio to communicate on air...
This radio is the only working communication tool during outbreaks of disasters...
For instance, during the tsunami outbreaks a few years back,
The Malaysian scout troops were sent to Indonesia to give them a set of this radio device...
They want to make sure that these two countries could keep in touch despite any communication breakdown.
That is why... this radio device is very essential and a great significance to everyone...

Now, young scouts were introduced to them so that they can be of help during emergencies.
In these radio conversations, scouts were also exposed to Fonetic Letters and usage of Morse Codes...
this is to enable them to communicate without any misunderstandings or difficulties...

This year as well was the 100th year anniversary of Scouts.
A badge logo was lauched this year to celebrate this anniversary..
Scouts may purchase it and place it on the left arm of the uniform.

This is all for now...
Keep Your Scout Spirit Burning..
CREATING A BETTER WORLD

Nokis 5710 To be released?

It is said that this is the new 5710 XpressMusic phone (and not just a 5700 with new camera). As seen in the pics, it will feature a 3.2 AF camera and built in GPS…everything else is the same as the original 5700 (however it will probably have a better processor, more RAM and possiblly FP2). In appearance it looks almost identical to the 5700 Transformers Edition ( the one on the left)

….hence the mix up with the 5700.

Here are some pics to satisfy your appetite while we wait for the official release.

N95 GPS can lock onto more than 5 satellites

Good news for all fellow N95 users. Its been confirmed that the N95 can lock onto more than 5 GPS satellites!! The Nokia Maps Application (smart2go) only displays the top 5 satellites with the best signal, and doesn't allow you to view the others.
Seeing is believing. if you want to confirm this and see it with your own eyes,
1. Install the Nokia Sports Tracker software
2. Start tracking
3. and on the "map" view you'll be able to see how many satellites your device is locked onto.

The best that i got was 8/12 satellites at one go! Try it and please provide your feedback.

David Copperfield is coming... to town

The man of Magic himself, David Copperfield will be performing LIVE in Malaysia soon!
David Copperfield has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as the greatest illusionist of our time. Copperfield has elevated the ancient art of magic to new heights and redefined it along the way. He has vanished the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Great Wall of China, flown through the air and made audience member disappear and reappear in places they would never expect. Witty, engaging and supremely entertaining, Copperfield has transformed the way we look at magic.
Be sure not to miss this exciting event!!!

More information and ticketing information @
:: Axcess Tickets Sdn Bhd :: David Copperfield World of Wonder tickets, dates

N95's GPS Stronger Than Expected

So lots of you have been complaining about the usability of the GPS.. Well, this will certainly surprise you.

Today i went out for a little bike ride, i wanted to have Google Maps on and use the Nokia Sports Tracker program, so i did. However, i was afraid of mounting such a device on my bike. Instead, i waited for it to get a lock (which took only about 7 seconds), CLOSED the slider, yes, closed it! and as if that wasnt enough, i kept it snug in my pocket. It was also kinda cloudy outside.

...So the signal would be lost right.... WRONG.

To my surprise, the Sports Tracker program succesfully tracked my entire route!!

Here's the thing. Nokia reccomended:
1. keep slider open
2. clear skies and good weather
3. do not block the keypad
for better GPS usage. But i crossed all of those and the GPS still managed to pull through.
I'm guessing the A-GPS has provided a certain degree of feedback for the GPS to function properly.

Anyone else experienced this? Feel free to leave a comment.

Imminent Release: New firmware for N95-1

Woohoo!! a V20.X firmware is on the way soon for the N95-1 (original N95). It will include the Ngage application (and presumably the Nokia music sptore aplication too). The only other thing I know about it is that it will include numerous improvements to the WLAN implementation (I presume this is will include something from the WLAN software service that Nokia recently formed a partnership with, amongst other things).

Got this information from a person in the N95 8GB beta program, so I'm assuming this information is solid.

Not to mention it makes sense for Nokia to have all their existing userbase with the NGage application onboard for the launch of the new NGage platform on 02/11/2007. So I guess the implicit timeframe for the release on this firmware would be the next two weeks.

-adapted from Justamp blog-

Google Maps for s60 now with GPS support!

Google has just released a specific version of Maps for Symbian OS 9.x, adding features such as GPS position and greatly reducing the consumption of RAM. You can trace route, use arial view, map view, and so much more!
I found it to be very accurate when i used it on my N95 ( up to 1 metre square when i used the arial view). Unlike other GPS software that uses arrows to show your location, Google has gone with an elegent blue dot! Very nice.


You can download it by going to www.google.com/gmm on your mobile phone. Note that when you install this new version, it will not be installed over the previous version. So you have to manually remove the previous version of Google Maps, if you were even using it of course.

Selamat Hari Raya to our fellow Muslim friends

Fasting is over, and it's time to feast! Selamat Hari Raya to all those celebrating it. The end of the fasting period or the holy month of Ramadhan culminates in Hari Raya Aidilfitri which is celebrated by Muslims around the world. Malaysian Muslims begin their day with visits to the graves of loved ones, followed by prayers and the seeking of forgiveness from their elders. Relatives and friends are invited to the many 'open houses', where they are served with a generous spread of food and traditional delicacies. There'll be a few events here in Malaysia to get the Hari Raya mood going, so why not stop by to experience some true Malaysia culture!

1.Hari Raya Aidilfitri Celebration and Open House
Date: 20 October 2007 Until 11 November 2007
Venue: Terengganu
To mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and the beginning of Syawal, a month-long celebration is held. Abundant food and delicacies are shared amongst the guests. Visitors can participate in the many official "open houses" that take place during this month.

2.Hari Raya Open House Kuala Lumpur
Date: 27 October 2007 Until 27 October 2007
Venue: Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex, Jalan Conlay,
Kuala Lumpur
All are invited to enjoy Malay cuisine and culture in this colourful and delightful open house celebration.

3.Malaysian Textiles and Traditional Costumes Fair
Date: 29 September 2007 Until 21 October 2007
Venue: Pasar Seni (Central Market),
Kuala Lumpur
Don't miss the exhibitions and fashion shows that feature 'songket', 'batik' and other local fabrics as well as traditional costumes. Workshops and demonstrations on weaving and batik-painting are also included.



More information at: http://travel.tourism.gov.my/consumer/events/default.asp

Working...

Nowadays...

People are always fussing and busy with their work,

Causing stress level to ascend,

physically and mentally unhealthy,

Would it be much better if these problems were never to happen?

It could,

but tolerence and patience is required...

I know it's difficult to tolerate with the community and be patient at some times...

however,

it could make a huge difference...

Here are some easy steps to do that :

Go to your workplace or wherever without any worries,

being prepared for anything makes you better..

When encounter with people, give them a warm smile...

In conversations being polite matters,

do not aggitate others,

think before you speak...

it will avoid lots of problems if you do that..

Do not show your anger,

or even let it out on the innocent ones,

control it and do not let it get the better side of you...
if you must,

speak it with someone to release the anger,

remember not to get carried away by your unstable emotions...

having that someone listening to your angry storries is tough enough..

Lastly,

having a tidy and clean place to work will calm you down...

you won't have to fuss around searching for anything,

keep them organised and neat.

Spread the Positive thinking and additude around..

It will do good..

VoiceMode 2.0 US English Edition out for the N95

Wanna talk instead of type? no problem!
VoiceSignal has just released VoiceMode 2.0 for the N95, and it has been something all of us tech junkies have been waiting for. Whether you text all the time, or have never sent a text message in your life, you'll love VoiceMode 2.0, the easy to use text input method that lets you enter text by saying what you want rather than having to use the keypad! You can use VoiceMode 2.0 to add text to messages, notes, calendar entries, and even documents - almost anywhere that you can type.

One of the best things about VoiceMode 2.0 is that the more you use it, the more it becomes accustomed to the sound of your voice, and the better it works (it took me roughly 2 days to get it to suit my voice). When VoiceMode 2.0 does make a mistake, you can correct it easily by highlighting the mistake and either selecting the correct word from a drop down list or alternatives, or by typing in the correct word using the traditional keypad interface. It's that simple!

Having bought and tried the application myself, I have to say that i'm quite impressed with the degree of accuracy on this software. Even in Noisy conditions it manages to pick up most of the words i say. However, one anoying thing about this applications is that it collects information about how you use the product, then sends it to the company(VoiceSignal) to help them furthur improve their product. Since there's no way of turning this off, i had to mess with the MMS settings in order to stop the feedback messages from being sent. Another problem caused by the product is that it eats up the N95's RAM. With the application running in the background, i only had about 7.0MB of free RAM, although you can easily trn it off when not in use.
In conclusion, i think VoiceSignal has done a fairly good job and it is certainly a groundbreaking way of typing your text messages. No more sore thumbs then!

Cost: EUR 9.99

Pros: Fun to use, saves time, keeps your precious thumbs pampered.
Cons: Eats up RAM, regularly sends feedback to the company.

Exams, exams, exams..

Hey all, we'll be busy with our major exams for a while so we wont be posting as often as we usually do. But please, feel free to leave any comments or vote on our pole.

Nokia Turns Mustang into Musthave!

Nokia, in addition to showing off their N81 and N95 8GB handsets, partnered with Ford to bring a special Nokia edition Ford Mustang. We’re not sure if the car portion of this thing sports any special modifications, but the interior has undergone quite an overhaul. The car rocks seat back-mounted N800s for the two rear passengers, as well as a center console mounted N800 for the driver and front passenger. The N800s appeared to be functioning as control devices for an internal media server, bringing streaming audio to the car’s stereo system. All of the N800s in the automobile were connected to a Wi-Fi connection courtesy of an on board N95.
Daddy, i want that one for Chirstmas.

-courtesy of BGR-

Nokia Share Online 3.0

Just when you thought sharing on your N95 couldnt get any easier, Nokia strikes again!
Nokia has just released Nokia Share Online 3.0. This new release has much more featurers including the ability to subscribe to feeds and much more. Check it out and download at
https://www.nokia.com/A4568208

RoboForm

Not so long ago i discovered this handy little tool called RoboForm. Usually i avoid installing toolbars, bacause they are pesky things that get in the way of browsing. However, this one actually aids web browsing and has saved me tones of time.
What RoboForm does is create protected users accounts (with customizable settings and password options), then saves website logins as bookmarks along with your login ID and password!
Basically instead of having to type the web address, fill in your username, then your password (with fear the person beside you might find out).... RoboForm allows you to do it all with just one click.
It doesnt stop there, this handy application can even be used to generate highly secure passwords, automatically fill in application forms and so on.

Pros: Easy to use, free, saves time.
Cons: As with all toolbars, gets in the way of web browsing.
Our rating: 4/5