Thunderror.com

Why do I need a browser?

thunderror — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:40:53 +0000

It was this review for the opera 10 browser that made me think about it. Thanks to the proliferation of apis, desktop and mobile applications which have made my devices completely internet enabled devices, I now wonder what I would the browser for.

I check my email. But I can check that using IMAP on my mobile phone or via Thunderbird on my desktop.
Facebook. I get an email notification, that’s when I need to check the facebook page. I have the facebook app on my mobile, which does quite a decent job, and even Gravity supports fb. I don’t use seesmic, so on my laptop, I need to use the browser.
News that which twitter hasn’t delivered, I need a browser for. Of course I could use RSS feeds, but I find that most of the RSS feeds for newspapers pretty much crowd up my reader with several items which will remain unread forever. So I do need a browser, or I could just read the newspaper!
Twitter. Gravity on my phone and Destroy twitter on my laptop.
Reference. Most of my reference is when I don’t exactly have access to a laptop or don’t have time to get to it. Which means, my mobile search tool is what I use for reference. It still uses the default browser on my mobile though.
Google reader. Gravity does a decent job, but I still would like to see images and links on my mobile phone. Now this is something I definitely need a browser for.
Blogging. Thanks to posterous, all I now need to do is to send an email and I have a blog post.

My laptop is all about the browser. In fact, the browser is on the startup application list. So if I don’t need the browser, I don’t need the laptop?

After writing this post I realized that Gravity for S60 is becoming a really important application in my mobile arsenal.

I have tried to take an extreme view of certain sites in here. You must’ve noticed that I still need a browser for many tasks, but the point is that I’m soon beginning to see myself using my mobile more than my laptop, and my applications more than the browser. Now if only my mobile phone had more screen real estate and a bigger keyboard.

10 really essential apps for your Nokia N97

thunderror — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:15:47 +0000

The problem with Nokia’s symbian OS is that, its a lot like linux. with V5, it tries to take the touchscreen market heads on, but its not exactly ready to do that. But if you’re ready to search around a little bit, Nokia’s quirky little OS will be more rewarding than your apple OS will ever be. But then, if you’d rather not go through all the trouble, get yourself an Iphone. Most of this stuff will work on any other symbian v5 touch device, but I tried them out only on my N97. Invest in a good microSD card, this ensures that anytime one of your applications decides to screw up, you can format your memory card.

Opera 5 mini beta!
This has to be the browser of choice (except that only default browser is still needed for certain tasks) This browser is something which makes the N97 at least a little bit comparable to the Iphone’s safari, inspite of its resistive touchscreen. Still doesn’t support RSS feeds (now that’s bad..) But makes browsing a breeze, especially with the touch qwerty keyboard which is simply awesome. Would’ve liked theme support, but then its just in beta.

Update Oct 18, 2009:

You can add RSS support to Opera mini 5 by adding list:feeds to your bookmarks. Having tried out the Opera mini 4.2. version, I realized that scrolling and navigation works better on it. The 4.2 lacks an onscreen keyboard. But, with the N97’s lovely qwerty that wouldn’t be a problem at all. Be advised though, the interface isn’t as flashy as the v5. But if you ask me, its the best browser I’ve seen for the N97

Smartmovie player
There’s 32GB of space lying around, and a fat big screen and I can’t watch avi files. So here’s the solution. Get the smartmovie player. There’s nothing like it to watch clear avi files on that N97’s big screen. Top audio rendering makes it even better than watching a movie on some laptops.

Pixelpipe
Symbian has this seemingly useless share online feature which posts to ovi and Nokia Mblog. I don’t remember many of my friends posting pictures to Mblog and commenting on them. So, I decide to get the share online feature extended to flickr, facebook and even my email. Just shoot and share. But, get pixelpipe, signup and install plugin first.

Nimbuzz/Palringo/Fring
Depending on what interface you like, you can get either of these applications to make sure that you stay online on gtalk, yahoo, AIM, MSN all day, and all night if you want. You need to sign up for all these three services, and all of them will let you talk over IP, so if you have wifi = free internet calling with your mobile phone! I guess Fring has ads, which the other two are freeware.

Gravity
Another pay app, that you simply cannot ignore. If you’re a big fan of twitter that is. But if you don’t a complete twitter application and just need a simple widget for your homescreen, try out Stew. It doesn’t really let you be a power user, but it lets you tweet and read tweets (for free). If you need a full fledged free app, then its got to be tweet60, which does quite a decent job.

Nokia Messaging
Push email with html support on awesome interface? This is it. Somehow feel that Nokia messaging email’s interface is way better than anything else Nokia has put on the N97. Too bad I need to download this.

Widgets
Nokia communities. Another one from the betalabs. This one improves your original facebook (well, not exactly…because most of the features are still under development) I personally prefer using this one, over the regular nokia communities widget(well, I do change back to the default widget).
While on the subject of widgets, if you happen get a white N97, get the white Nokia accuweather homescreen widget to make sure it matches the interface. Plus, the best thing about the white Nokia accuweather homescreen is that it gives you the current real feel temperature, instead of the real feel high for the day. Now that’s some improvement.

Jbtaskman
You’re going to have to sign this application, just because you bought a symbian v5 device, someone tell the author that this is the best taskmanager ever. Or if you might consider the less powerful pay app, the Handy taskman.

A file manager?
Xplore would have to be it. I’m not signing the v5 app for Y-explorer, nor do I want use the ad enabled Yexplorer signed. The default file manager does pretty much a decent job, unless you want to meddle around too much with your mobile phone like I do.

Google maps
http://m.google.com/maps Nokia maps just leaves me the middle of nowhere once I get out of the city, which is sad considering I really love navigating with Nokia, So just to ensure that you always know where you are, get google maps application.

One more tip, if you don’t know this already: click on the top of the screen, near the battery meter, to get quick access to connectivity options! easily turn off and on bluetooth!!!

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Nokia N97 Reviewed

thunderror — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:15:20 +0000

Last month I got my N97 and I decided that I would spend sometime using it before reviewing it. Especially considering how Symbian v5 isn’t the really most friendly operating system I have seen. Symbian v5 does a decent job of being a finger friendly app and I haven't ever used the Stylus that came along with it.

Its not very easy to use your N97 if you’re a Symbian Newbie. Few items(i.e. Inside some applications) you tend to use double click, whereas in other apps you use a single click. That isn’t user friendly at all. You cannot blame the multitude of menus and options considering how powerful Nokia phones are. But if you know how to customize a menu, then an N97 is as good, if not better than any phone.Ease of use would have been 4, if you’re used to Symbian operating system phones or else its 2/5.

Style and Design are top notch. Everything is built solidly. The slider is more than enough to tell the world that you have an N97 and its reassuring click would tell you that its going to last a century. It looks more like a Mini Netbook than a mobile phone.

There’s a range of features, starting from the big and bright screen to the lovely 5MP camera. My favourite features would have to be the FM transmitter which lets you beam ur music to your car radio or any other FM player and the full qwerty keyboard. Now I’ve seen a lot of reviews which complain about the placement of the keys. But if you ask me, the qwerty keyboard is one of the best layouts I’ve come across. You use the thumb for your spacebar, don’t you? The N97 just brought that feature to your mobile, by moving it closer to your thumb. Messaging, Chat and email are a pleasure with the Qwerty keyboard. I’ve seen 100s of reviews which gripe about the video support of an N97. I agree partially. There is no out of the box support for avi files. But get an application (try Smart movie player) and you can play your divx files in full detail on that awesome screen.32 GB of memory should be enough for loads of your movies, and lot more of your music. It comes with a 3.5 headphone jack that lets you use any headphone (unlike the E series).

The widgets do what they are supposed to do and are quite useful, especially if you like social networking online, just like me. The Facebook application is quite useful and if you get gravity for twitter(It’s work every cent), then its the best connected device. The inbuilt nokia mail is not good enough. Download Nokia messaging push email from http://email.nokia.com with full html support. For internet, download the free Opera 5 mini, which makes browsing a pleasure on the big N97 screen.

Audio clarity gets 3/5. The reception is excellent, just like any other Nokia phone. But the speakers aren’t as good as the E71. Even the E66’s sound clarity wasn’t as good as the E71. Something Nokia could pay more attention to. But the reception is gr8, no matter where you are. The sound is good enough compared to other phones, but not as good as the E71. The speakers are loud and clear when its a movie you're watching though..

Reliability isn’t too much fo a problem, considering Nokia support is pretty strong, and that their hardware is one their true strengths. In fact the hardware is better than the symbian platform, which means that you can always get better applications and continue to break new ground with the N97. Which is something I love about the phone. Which other phone grows up everyday?Its not a perfect phone, and not exactly the best phone Nokia has come out with. But its one of the best feature enabled devices I’ve come across in a long while. The E71 does everything well, but lacks a touch screen, has a smaller screen and keyboard. The new OS update to the N97 promises Kinetic scrolling which is bound to make the touchscreen more receptive. The N97 is not an Apple Mac or a windows PC. Its more like a powerful Linux machine which needs customization to reach its true potential. Being a touch phone has its disadvantages. You get compared to the Iphone, and that's really bad. No way the N97 would win. If I weren't such a big fan of the Symbian OS, I'd go for the Iphone.

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What ringtone should I use?

thunderror — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:02:37 +0000

Via Wired

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Wordmobi, mobile blogging for wordpress

thunderror — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:57:49 +0000

Got this symbian app to blog from my mobile, Wordmobi. And decided to take it out for spin..wordmobi needs python for s60 to be installed on your mobile phone..but the download link is available on their google code page.
I’m not too sure how links and html works on the real post..but the app has support for categories, tags and even statistics which i believe needs the api key. Have i found the perfect mobile blogging solution? Well, atleast for the wordpress solution. And the app looks polished and is pretty easy to use as well. I cannot stop complaining the dearth of symbian apps. I don’t even get a facebook symbian app.

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Evernote, the digital notebook

thunderror — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:53:12 +0000

If you’ve used Microsoft’s one note you will truly appreciate what Evernote has to offer. I usually have trouble explaining how good a service Evernote offers since its not really just another web2.0 service. Its merely the future of one of our humblest inventions, a notebook. Now what would you use a notebook for? It’s not fancy and does not have anything to do with the web or anything to with technology in general. Evernote and other notebook apps bring the power of technology to an ordinary notepad.

A notepad can be used as a scrapbook, a contacts list, a journal, a telephone directory and even some place to jot down instant ideas. Evernote offers you the ability to add pictures and even voice to your notes. You can retrieve a screenshot from your desktop and make it a part of a note.

Evernote like most notebook apps (Other prominent ones being MS Onenote and the more popular web app, Google Notebook) allows you to save notes inside notebooks. You organize related (or unrelated notes) inside notebooks (think of them as folders) In addition to creating notes from your desktop using the desktop application, you can create using mobile apps which support most mobile technologies (sadly, symbian is ignored) There is also the less intuitive and convenient web/mobileweb interface just in case you don’t feel like using any of the apps. Google notebook no longer accepts new users and its out of active development.

But my favourite feature has to be the abilty to mail stuff out to a private mail address on evernote and it creates a note automatically. Works like magic, take a pic with your mobile phone and mail it across to your notebook. For saving those web titbits which you pick up while you are straying on the internet, they also have a simple bookmarklet (or a firefox extension, as you like it)

Tag all your notes and keep them organized. Evernote’s free service does have ads, but the ads weren’t all that obtrusive and the limits for upload should be well within what you can use. But of course, if you are power user, consider buying the evernote premium account.

Somewhere I read that Evernote could help you remember almost everything. Its quite true..I use google search history as well, so that makes sure my digital memory is really really good!

Now all Evernote needs is a symbian app. It supports the iphone, but just like facebook, ignores the symbian community. Yeah, really irritating, because I’m forced to use the mobile web interface which isn’t too much to write about. But I love the desktop app and its all the more awesome on my netbook.

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Dropbox – sync your files across computers

thunderror — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:46:30 +0000

Set up Dropbox (http://getdropbox.com) and installed it on all my laptops. Now that should keep them all synced. I always had trouble carrying around files on a USB drive. Especially when I think that USBs are meant to run operating systems and not to carry files.
Now that lets me access all my synced files from anywhere in the world, not just my laptops. But then its a bit of redundancy. Why would I need to sync files across machines, when I carry my operating system with me?
Dropbox is easy and lets you sync upto 2GB for free. Just download Dropbox and signup with an email address and password. The dropbox folder inside your My documents folder is just another folder, except that its synced across all your linked computers.

Still haven’t tried Dropbox for Ubuntu, which reminds me..I’ll need make a post on the Ubuntu installation as well.

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Ubuntu 9.04 running off my USB drive

thunderror — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:34:41 +0000

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Test post

thunderror — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:11:38 +0000

A test post to test the facebook posterous integration. Read more about posterous and how you can use email to write your blog post. Just configured Google analytics for my posterous blog as well.
My primary offline blogging tool has been the windows live writer (Yeah, from M$) But, then since I'm running Ubuntu, I needed a good blog post editor. And what better than the gmail compose interface.

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A Crash course in Python

thunderror — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:26:35 +0000

via acm.uiuc.edu

A quick reference guide to Python.Real quick.

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