Tag: gadgets

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WalkingHotSpot

I’ve been coming up against the office internet filter quite frequently and I’ve decided to just use my Asus EEE PC 900HA and my Nokia E51 to browse the net. Since the E51 has no Bluetooth, I had to rely on software that allows the phone to share it’s HSDPA connection by becoming a WiFi router.

Previously, I’ve been using JoikuSpot but there are times when it seems just a bit too flakey  so I decided instead to register WalkingHotSpot. It has the same features, as Joikuspot but seems to be a bit more stable. Now I can surf anytime, anywhere.

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CD-R King HDD Enclosure

CD-R King sure has come a long way.  Starting with selling tacky and cheap CD-Rs they have become the purveyor of the tacky and cheap electronic gadgets. This is not to say the stuff they sell are useless. On the contrary, they’re quite usable once you get past the awful looks.

Case in point, I needed an enclosure for my 320GB 3.5″ HDD. It had been freed up of archiving duty upon the arrival of my Buffalo Linkstation. To reward it for months of hard work, I decided to get it an enclosure. The problem is that the prices ranges from P1,200 and up. Too much a reward considering 320GB HDDs cost about P3,000 these days.

So with heavy feet, I walked into one of the ubiquitous CD-R King branches. The stacks of goods were there, the line was there, the poor service was there. But I owe my HDD so I persevered and finally, it was my turn. I pointed at the enclosure (turo-turo high tech, yesh) and the sales lady showed it to me.

I checked the enclosure out and I decided it wasn’t bad at all. For P580 you get a nifty aluminum enclosure. It actually looked reasonably good except for a tacky translucent blue front plate. It the usual power cord, USB cable, driver installer (who needs those?) and a tacky and cheap plastic chrome stand. But best of all,  it even includes a tacky and cheap screwdriver. With a package like that, who can resist, yeah? So I paid for it, went home, put in my HDD, and now it’s spinning merrily away on my sister’s desk doing backup work.

Now if they can only fix the long lines and poor service…

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Disabling fring Auto Start

This morning, my phone’s battery ran out so, on the way to work, I charged it with my car charger. As soon as it accumulated a sufficient charge, I turned it on and continued merrily on my way.

Then when I reached the parking lot, I noticed that fring was on! I checked the data connection counter and found that I had been online without my knowledge for almost 30 minutes. I quickly disconnected. Good thing Globe has recently lowered their wireless data rates to P5 for 15 minutes.

Still, I definitely don’t want a repeat and wake to discover that I’ve been online for hours and hours. I didn’t immediately found a way to turn off the auto start feature. But finally, after a quick search on the net, I found that the switch can be found in fring->Options-> Settings->Personalize->’Automatic Start’. No more auto start!

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Top S60 Applications: My Own List

Aside from the enhanced calculator, I’ve installed a few really cool apps on my Nokia E51 that some might find useful:

  1. Joikuspot Light – Turns your phone into a wireless router and share your HSDPA signal (if you get one).  It’s free but supports only browsing (HTTP and HTTPS). The full version version offers more features.
  2. Opera Mini – A pretty nifty mobile browser. It uses a gateway that retrieves web pages for you, transforms it into a smaller mobile version, and sends the transformed pages to you. I prefer the built-in browser but Opera Mini has its place (like when your connection is slow).
  3. Fring – reach out and talk to your friend via you can interact with friends on all your favourite social networks Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!, AIM, and more!
  4. YouTube – Watch YouTube videos on your mobile phone. You need a fast network connection though.
  5. Google Maps – Turns your phone into a navigation device complete with map. It even shows your location with GPS or without (via cell site)! How cool is that?
  6. Google Mail – You can configure your email to check Google Mail via POP or IMAP but you can also download this app for checking your Gmail account on your phone.
  7. Google Sync – strictly speaking, not an app but this service allows you to synchronize your phone (just contacts for now) via SyncML
  8. GooSync – since Google Sync doesn’t handle calendar synchronization just yet, GooSync steps in between your phone and Google Calendar to provide you synchronization via SyncML.
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Enhanced Calculator For S60 Phones

One of the irritating things about my new Nokia E51 is that the calculator is so damn crude! The calculator from my recently-departed 5310 is so much better. And to think it’s an S40 not-so-smartphone. Thankfully, Nokia is aware of the issues and has actually been working on a replacement calculator. It’s still in beta but you can already download and install it. Way better.