Thunderror.com

No more Firefox

thunderror — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:24:23 +0000

The browser boots up, and gives me a list of all those addons which need updates. Of course I’d like to have the latest version. Isn’t it why I had it installed there in the first place? If its my unlucky day, even Firefox would need an update. And there is nothing I can do except wait until all those messy updates are done. Wait, there’s more..After the updates comes the installation. Its very frustrating I need to use a browser quickly for 2 minutes and I need to wait for 5 minutes until Firefox is done dressing up itself. And I almost forgot, update the browser and be assured that atleast 3 out of 5 extensions wouldn’t be compatible. Very, very frustrating.
Chrome updates in the background. I don’t care what you download as long as its from a trusted vendor. 5 seconds and its ready to browse the web, anytime of the day. Installing extensions or themes is just instantaneous with chrome, no restart required.
Because at the end of the day, all I want is to have is to browse the internet. Not just keep looking at progress screens of addons getting updated. Now that Chrome has all extensions I use on Firefox, its been days since I’ve clicked on the Firefox browser. I’ve still not decided to uninstall Firefox, but then I’m getting there.

P.S. When I opened Wordpress to write down this post, I was informed that Wordpress needed to update to 2.9.1. Here I go again…

mobile blogging from a symbian phone, anyone?

thunderror — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:39:14 +0000

Decided that wordmobi was taking too much space on the paltry space I had on my N97’s C drive. It turned out symbianguru was also in search of a blogging solution. I turned to the default Nokia browser and the wordpress backend which wasn’t too much to write about. It barely does the job and is almost next to being completely unusable.

I tried out wordpress on both the opera mini and the mobile and both of them wouldn’t let me type a single word.

Frustrated, I looked for help on Google and after a few stray results I got a wordpress plugin for the Iphone named the mobile admin, which unfortunately was unsupported with WP 2.5 and above.More searching around got me the Wphone plugin which allowed me to type the content until this point.

But it wouldn’t support images or links. And my search continued. Searching on google got me to this blog post on mobile applications I tried out a few java apps until I came across Wavelog from telewaving. Now wavelog had a really confusing interface and it wasn’t freeware. I downloaded the 30 day trial and got it to work with a little help from their help files.

The app works well on my symbian v5 device and supports v3 as well. I decided to go ahead and spend the $8.25 on the full version. Now thats the longest post I’ve made from my mobile phone. Now all I need are a few screenshots and this post is done. I think the search for a good mobile blogging solution is far from being complete. But then I don’t have an Iphone. Because we chose to be different.

Dropbox support for Mobile devices

thunderror — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:26:18 +0000

Have been using Dropbox quite sometime and it keeps my files in sync on the web and all across my computers. Read more about Dropbox here

Dropbox adds support for mobile devices as well. If you visit the website from any mobile phone, you are redirected to the mobile version of the site, which lets you download your files to your mobile phone. I tried it out on my Nokia N97 and it even lets you update files onto your dropbox online folder (Just choose the normal version over the Mobile version on the page and upload using the basic uploader). Signup for Dropbox to sync across all your devices.

Dropbox running on my Nokia N97

The Dropbox already supports the Iphone with its native Iphone app which lets you sync files with your iphone as well.

Running Google Chrome OS off a USB drive

thunderror — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:36:51 +0000

The best way to try out a new OS would be to run it off a USB drive. Now you can run the early build of the Chromium OS off a USB. Just grab the Chromium OS build from here and follow instructions. If you’d rather not go to all that trouble, you can try running Chrome OS off a virtual machine like I did.

The folks at engadget have even put up a video as to how it works.

The secret behind the builds is all about creating a build. If you’d rather create the build yourself then go to Google’s build instructions page for the Chromium OS.

Running Google Chrome off the USB makes it run faster, lets you have a real feel of the OS. All you need is a bit of time and patience.

Google Chrome Operating system: Preview

thunderror — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:31:07 +0000

The open source chromium OS on which Google Chrome OS is based on, was launched yesterday and soon many torrents were teeming with the Developer preview edition of the Chromium OS. I tried out Chromium from gdgt who had files for running them off virtualbox, (virtual machine software from Sun Microsystems) . The Chrome OS img itself was around 300 MB compressed and I had to download Virtualbox as well. Gdgt requires you to sign up before you download and you can use your facebook account to accelerate the process(Though, in my opinion they do ask for a lot more fb rights than actually required)

If you do not know what the chrome OS is all about, watch the video below:

If you have not setup a virtual machine before, try using this link here for a complete guide.

The Chromium OS login: Enter your gmail id/pw. I used a makeshift id; just in case.

The Chromium OS with a new tab open

The Menu?

These are the specs of the Virtual machine I used to run Chromium OS. And considering I loaded it on my Netbook, it took around 20 seconds to boot up. If I to install it, I’m sure time boot time would be less than 10 seconds.

Watch the Chrome OS launch:

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.

Posted by Wordmobi