Dotsisx gets reviewed!

Well, a lot is happening these days and as if that is not enough, Dotsisx (ie this blog) just got reviewed by Tarek of Symbiano-Tek. Last week he started a Friday blog review. Well everyone out there is reviewing devices, applications, games,... but who's reviewing the reviewers? Well, Tarek is. And that is one GREAT idea! It should introduce readers to other blogs, enhance bloggers relations and in a couple of words do some good to the mobile community.

So Dotsisx is this week on Tarek's radar and although the review is shorter than I would love it to be, he is right on with some points:
- The site design is very basic and well, I am working on it, step by step (the banner is the first one)
- The RSS link isn't visible to everyone and i will fix it
- The left column is crowded (but I still prefer it over right and let column templates)
- I get sidetracked often, but I think these sidetracks help readers know the blogger better and identify him as a person, not just a technophile with nothing else going on. Well at least I, for one, prefer sites where bloggers introduce a personal touch.
- I don't post often and that is the major letdown. One reason is the lack of time and the other the lack of material : I don't like to repeat the news on the blogosphere, and if I do, I only do so if I have some personal thoughts about it.

Well thank you Tarek for reviewing Dotsisx and for the good words! I hope Dotsisx remains a good source for your S60 3rd readings ;)

"How are you?" Crap as hell!

This is one little post to tell you that I will post extremely rarely on Dotsisx during the next 2-3 weeks. Reasons:
- I have 6 reports (5-7 page each) due next week
- I have my masters memoire (20-30 pages) due next week
- I have my training report (along the 200 pages) due in 2 weeks
- I have 2 final exams on the 18th (i think)
- I have my Gastro-Pneumo 3-week training starting on the 10th of december, and the doctors/interns in this department ask us to do a medical presentation every 2-3 days
- I have to read some journal articles for my end-year thesis (20-30 articles) and that before the 10th of december

But don't you think you're gonna miss me :) Oh no, you will see me, just somewhere else. Let's leave it here. Hopefully I will get my things together.

During a boring pharmacy legislation course (s60 3rd love)

Passionate teacher Mme Jihane Abou Jaoude in white, bored student (Cynthia K) looking at her watch in orange, black bag on the table, roaming Tanios looking at something or nothing, Elie next to him asleep (the black sweater on the lowest left of the pic), interested students (or not) trying to take a couple of notes, and well, me...

...the mobile addict playing with some cool Nokias taken from my surrounding classmates. See from left to right: Cynthia E's N80, Stef's 6120, Yaya's N76 (with a peeled silver front), Racha's N73 and my 3250. Picture taken with Zeina's 3250 music edition (blame the lack of quality on the 2MP). All I can say is that I just noticed that my little surrounding only carries S60 3rd devices and that beside the N80, all devices were bought after my comments and advices. I told Yaya about the N76's silver coating problems and advised her to go for an E65 instead, she went ahead and got the N76 and regretted it the next month. Well beside Yaya, everyone is content with their choices and I'm a happy tech-advisor/friend.

Pick my new blog banner!

Well, I spent all afternoon discovering and working on Photoshop, trying to figure out ideas for new banners for the blog. If you can see, yesterday I uploaded the first one I created, but today I made a couple of changes to that one and even finished 3 others. I don't know what you think, but I believe the result is pretty good, considering that 2 weeks ago I didn't know what a layer was in Photoshop. Anyway, I figured since I can't choose what banner to use, it would be nice to let you, readers pick one. Of course I will make some blog color changes to match the new banner better, but let's only think about the banner now.

Oh and I'm sticking to green and pink mostly because they are the S60 3rd edition's logo colors, not because I love Bubble Gum wrap-up themes :p

Banner 1 - Green
The one used right now with some 3d effects


Banner 2 - Pink
Well, this one looks very pinky (Darla will sue me!)
I took the star-like shape on the top-right of the S60 3rd logo, put some together and formed this smiley face.
Add a drop shadow effect with outer glow, some modifications and I got this face shape outside. Neat!


Banner 3 - Dark Blue
Background is made out of the same S60 3rd logo star. I seriously like this one.
The font looks very Harry-Potterish, esp in the lower line, or am I mistaken?


Banner 4 - Dark Blue vertical
DanceStep font with some lighting renderings. I got the 3D effect I was looking for after 1h of work.


Banner 4 v2 - Dark Blue vertical
Same one but with a different shadow effect. I felt the first one was fading, so I made this one.

Well it's now time to make your choice, after all you are the ones who visit this blog! I will see the results on monday december the 3rd.

Pick the best Dotsisx Banner
	Banner 1
	Banner 2
	Banner 3
	Banner 4
	Banner 4 v2

Snowed In 6 by ClickGamer - Free game for Xmas!

It's FREE-zing! Celebrate Xmas 2007 with Clickgamer.com’s new DEEP FREEZE game. Download this free game and help us combat climate change.

Help us reach 1,000,000 downloads before 15th January 2008 and clickgamer will donate USD 10,000 to a non-profit climate change organisation. Let's 'play' our little part in stopping global climate change this winter!

Well, it's good someone is thinking ecologically. I, myself, have been finding myself thinking very frequently about planetary damage, everytime I throw something in the garbage, like batteries, broken electronics, paper, it's too bad there is no recycling programs in Lebanon or I would be the first to adopt it.

Anyway, back to the game, Snowed-In is a nice bejeweled-like game and it is made free from Nov 15th 2007 to Jan 15th 2008. What's more, it's available for every platform you can think of: PPC, Smartphone, S60, S80, S90, UIQ and desktop PC!

To get it, simply go to Snowed-In 6's page on Clickgamer, pick your platform and click on the TRY icon next to it. After you download and install it on your device, go to this registering page and write the 16-digit code that you can find on the "Register" menu of the game (on the device). Tap your email, choose your platform, click "Generate" and you instantly get the unlocking key!

The Lebanese Situation

You must be living in a desert with no TV, no internet, no satellites, no electricity if you don't know that the lebanese political situation has degenerated dramatically the last days. Honestly I don't know what's gonna happen next. If you remember I wrote a post in September called Tomorrow, a day in history. Well, the new president wasn't elected then, and still not.

Today, at midnight, the presidency of Emile Lahoud will be over, and still, there isn't a new president. The whole deal is that for electing a new president, there should be 2/3 of the parliament present. But since there are 2 forces in Lebanon who possess 55-60% and 40-45% of the parliament, neither are capable of electing a president to their liking without the presence of the other group. Constitutionally, the government should take control of things, do another parliament election and the new parliament would elect the new president. Problem is the actual government is anti-constitutional itself (1/3 ministers resigned, were murdered or were unassigned). Another solution is that the actual president, Emile Lahoud, puts the army general in charge of a temporary government that would do parliament elections.

I could go on for hours explaining what I know of the situation, and that would be only 1% of the whole story: I am not a politics fanatic. But I will tell you the end of it: we either end up with 2 governments, 2 parliaments and 2 presidents with the eventuality of a civil war on the end of the tunnel, either a bunny is taken out of the hat (that's my training supervisor's way of saying a president would be elected). Sure enough, we should know which way we are headed by midnight today.

It's 1:07pm here, so less than 11 hours left. It's the deadly countdown.

Please pray for my country, for my country's people. Pray for everything I believe in. Pray for christians and muslims living together, pray for the little dot on the world map that every major country is intersted in. Pray that we can finally forget this whole nightmare that started a year or so ago. Pray for people that just want to live fully to the last breath, party, go out, laugh, socialize, dance, drink, eat, invest, build, without having to wonder whether tomorrow everything might disappear.

[Edit: They just announced that the presidential election has been postponned to next friday. Another week of hell. Seriously, I just want it to be over!]

[New edit: Emile Lahoud just handed the security to the army and said that the current government is non-constitutional and hence the army shouldn't be held responsible in front of it (or something like that)

Quick Updates

I can't reply to 3JAM's sms
As you probably know by now, I have a "Text me" widget provided by 3JAM, that allows visitors of the site to send me sms for free. I used to be able to reply, but I don't know why a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the reply sms couldn't be sent, and remained stuck in my Outbox. I don't know what is the problem, and although I have been trying to solve it, it doesn't look like it will be fixed any time soon. Seems like sms are blocked from lebanon to the US. So I apologize to everyone who has sent me an sms in the last month or two, for not being able to reply. I will do so here, quickly:
- Mohsen: there are many apps like the 1 you requested, but I don't use them so I can't recommend any :s
- Partha: thanks for your comment and hope you liked that I didn't post a review but a personal view on SkyeQuiKey
- KoOoty: thanks for the nice words
- Marwan: thanks for the warm wishes

One more thing, if you sms me with a question or a request or anything that would need an answer, please insert an email or a phone number I can reply on. Until this issue is fixed, that's the only solution I have.

New Blog Banner
You probably noticed that the Dotsisx banner needed some serious improvements. If you remember, it was first a flash banner which I uploaded on ZShare but it kept showing as "image couldn't be found" so I eventually took a "print screen" out of it and posted it as jpeg. At that time, I wasn't really good with image creation and Photoshop was just too complicated for my tastes. As I am now taking a Photoshop course as an optional at uni, the world of image editing is becoming clearer. I did a couple of banners and maybe I will let you, readers, choose between them. But at the time, this is the first finished one. I hope you like it, and bear with me, it's on of my first creations.

My new slippers, are they cute or really cute?

2 Games you shouldn't die before playing :p

Beside being very addicted to applications, I am a good gamer too. I can spend hours playing a certain game, even during my exams period, and I would never stop until I actually finish the game or get stuck without ANY solution. I have tried hundreds of games on my 3250: action, sports, boards, cards, brain, puzzles, racing, arcade, shooting,... just to name a few.

But there are really some games that stand out of the crowd when you're a good gamer, games that make you play them even after each level is finished, the championship is won and the phone battery is close to dead and you're away from any charging source. Of course there are the games that we all know about (ie Sky Force, Sky Force Reloaded, K-Rally, Top Hits Solitaire, Sensible Sudoku) but there are also 2 other games that got me at hello, or in other words made me stick to my phone for hours from the first time. Both are java, so they can be played on any mobile phone typically:

- Digital Chocolate's 3D Extreme Air Snowboarding: a great snowboarding game with multiple tricks, the ability to jump higher than you coul'd've imagined, 4-player mode and many levels to master your skills. The graphics aren't outstanding, but it definitely is a nice game to play. Even when you've conquered all levels, it's always nice to go back and try to break that record. Unfortunately I have formatted my phone recently so I can't remember what highscore I had achieved but I do believe it was amazing (h)

- Gameloft's Domino Fever: you've NEVER played domino until you've played this one. Maybe you went like "What?! Dominoes? Is she kidding?" but seriously, it's the most addictive game I have EVER played. The usual rules of dominoes are there, but there are also tweaked modes where you have to learn new rules and get used to them before you lose. Multiple rules, multiple modes, multiple dominoes, multiple sets, multiple opponents, mupltiple partners... Seriously this is THE domino game that will make you change your mind about dominoes being easy and recreational, forever. The first time I started playing it, I couldn't get out of bed before finishing it!

One last word, while I recommend both games, I should say that if you have 5$, go ahead, grab Domino Fever, I couldn't recommend it any more. If you're still doubting, I am thinking about reviewing it in a week or two, when I have some free time.

(WiMAX + Lebanon) x 2008 = Heart Attack!

Back in June, I wrote a WiMax + Middle East = Dancing on the roof post, where I stated that there seemed to be talks about implementing WiMax in the Middle East, but I was skeptical as to which countries that would involve, suspecting essentially the Gulf countries (KSA, UAE, Kuwait, etc). Well, my prayers seem to have worked efficiently enough and just now I cam across this AMAZING news from IntoMobile. At first I just didn't get it, I was like "wwwwwwhat? am I reading right?". Seems like we're gonna get out WiMAX in mid-2008! Are you kidding me? Just when I'm supposed to leave to France for my Masters?! Anyway, I will paste the whole article here, just so I can read it everytime I open my blog in the following days, enjoy the idea and frustrate at the fact that I might not even be here to try it at first!

While the US’s WiMAX future is still being hashed out by the likes of Sprint and Clearwire, our friends in Lebanon have already nailed-down their plans for getting a WiMAX network deployed in 2008. Redline Communications has announced that its RedMAX WiMAX solution has been tapped by Lebanon’s Comium Data Lebanon to be used in its country-wide WiMAX infrastructure deployment.
Comium’s current wireless broadband solution is limited to line-of-sight technologies, but with Redline Communications’ RedMAX solutions, Comium will be able to complete their WiMAX network build-out by mid-2008.
“Redline’s WiMAX technology enables us to deliver high-bandwidth services to a higher number of subscribers than with other solutions we considered, with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week fault-proof availability,” says Khaldoun Farhat, VP, Comium Data Lebanon. The RedMAX network will comprise of Redline base stations that will bring users in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, Keserwan and Nabatiye online at distances of 17km and at speeds of 2Mbps per connection.
Hey, if Lebanon can do it, so can the US. Right? Well, at least we hope the US can do it. As far as getting it done by 2008 - we’ll just have to wait and see. Oh, and there’s going to be some finger-crossing involved. Hey Sprint. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Get your WiMAX plans in order! We’re all ready to pay you for it.

Mainly, by saying that it will cover 17km away from Beirut, Mount Lebanon (I live somewhere between these 2 regions), Keserwan (that's where I spend my summers), Tripoli (that's the North) and Nabatiye (that's the South), they will have basically covered more than 70% of the lebanese territory (lebanon is an extremely small country, with just 10452 sq km area) and even more than 90% of the lebanese population (muy personal percentage assumptions). THAT'S FRIGGIN INCREDIBLE! Just think that in terms of wireless mobile connectivity, Lebanon is going from WAP to WiMAX, no transition (no EDGE, no 3G). Haha, hilarious!

I desperately want to trial an N95 8GB!

When the N95 was first announced, I was still blogging over on Vox and I expressed myself a couple of times about it, with my main opinion being: I'm not that enthusiastic. My main 3 reasons were that it was a slider and I'm a candybar lover, it has GPS and 3G 2 features I would definetely not need in Lebanon, because, well, they are unavailable. Meaning I would be plunking down 700$-800$ for a lot of things I wouldn't use. I further rested assured with the multiple reports about the lacking battery, the RAM issues, the violet cam pics,... many bugs that made me feel less stupid about refusing to join the cult of those swearing by the N95 as the best phone ever built.

When the N95 8GB was announced, I was glad Nokia listened to customers and fixed the reported issues, but I was still confortable in my denial position. But day after day, review after review, I found my decision softening, and well now, you read the title of this post: I DESPERATELY WANT TO TRIAL AN N95 8GB!

I can't help it, I have been counting the reasons that made me change my mind and they are too many: black color, N-Gage, new multimedia menu, the newly discovered Accelerometer (with the amazing forthcoming Nokmote), more juice, enough RAM to run an old PC, availability of Nokia Conversation for FP1 devices,... What's not to like? Moreover, every review I read stated that the N95 is the closest phone to perfection, ever built. In fact the only thing it lacks, in my opinion is the forthcoming touch UI. Think about it, the most hardened and stubborn anti-N95 enthusiast falling head over toes in love with the 8GB version. That's too much, 'ight?

So today my friend, who has a little fuse problem with her N73, asked me to come with her to the mobile shop. I went and, as always, popped a couple of questions about pricing and availability, held a couple of devices in my hand, and here I found:
- New N95-1 : around 500$ (I still am not falling for it)
- Used N95-1 : 430$
- New N81 : around 550$ (extremely sexy phone, but too shiny on the material and fingerprint magnet)
- New unlocked iPhone 8GB : 640$. I actually held it in my hand, but the battery was dead so I couldn't experience the iPhone mania. Well, from the looks of it, it's dead sexy, but a symbian addict won't go iPhoning over nothing but looks and a couple of animated transitions.
- New N95 8GB : around 700$... there wasn't one, so I'm still aching to hold one in my hands, yeah I'm THAT addicted now. 700$ !!! And yet, I'm this close to selling all my geeky gear (iPod 30GB video + Qtek 9100 + Nokia 3250) to get this baby! How crazy is that? Yet, there's that voice of reason that reminds me that I'm saving a couple of bucks because I'm applying to go to France next fall, for a Masters and a PhD [I'm a pharmacist to remind you]. Studies come first, and I have to compromise.

What I'm getting to is that if someone reading this blog knows, is in contact, wants, cares,... to get me to trial an N95 8GB for a couple of weeks, I would be the HAPPIEST girl on earth. Anyone? Please???

Net60 Beta Released!

Red Five Labs have just released the beta of their application Net60. If you don't remember Net60, I wrote about it a while ago with the My Madness Makes Sense post, then mentionned it while reporting about StyleTap then corrected some mistakes made about it again here. In case you don't have time to go through it all, Net60 is an S60 3rd application that should allow you to run applications developed under the .NET 1.0 Compact Framework, ie some applications that already run on Windows Mobile.

While I first went jumping off my feet when I first heard about it (because of my legendary rant about Symbian not supporting medical applications), I was quickly brought to the real world after noticing that Net60 only supports .NET 1.0 and not v2 and v3, and also that it will only be restricted to smartphone apps and not all WM apps, because of the lack of a touchscreen on Symbian devices (hopefully this one problem will be solved by next year).

In any case, Net60 should allow more developers to integrate the Symbian sphere, because of the .NET CF support. It also is a nice step in the right direction. The team behind it is really great and enthusiastic. The support they provide is awesome. I have been in contact with one member, Filip Bulovic, for a while now and I can tell from the amazing fast replies to my mails that this company CARES.

Unfortunately, the beta they just released is restricted to registered users of the site who still have to apply a form and wait for approval to get there. But if you're interested in this kind of novelty, hop in, you don't know. I've already applied myself, I wonder if I will be accepted :s but if I don't there's always Filip and I wouldn't mind shouting in his ears for a while!

[Edit: Well my request has been approved for the beta, and instead of me shouting an email to Filip, he's the one who sent me an email! Go figure! Anyway, I'm downloading it as we speak. I don't know if I'll be able to give it a go during this week (a lot of postponned university projects are due soon) but I'll keep you posted.]

Periodic Table by Markus Goldkamp

Probably this kind of software won't interest the most of you, because of its small target audience, but i can't pass on it cuz it's awesome!

Ever since I got my 3250, i've been searchin for a great periodic table software. I found a flash-based one a couple of months ago, it was good yet not as detailed as i wished it would be.

And then recently I came across Periodic Table by Markus Goldkamp and it's one piece of software i'll never forget to install if i reset my phone (yeah it's that good)!

Like every periodic table, once it is launched, you are presented with the actual table. Clicking right left up and down will browse you through the table. A little preview window with some info is shown below the table. Once you get to the element you are looking for, click it. The table will be minimized and the info part will step up.

You can now scroll right and left to check the basic, physical, thermal and atomic details, up and down to see the info in each of the 4 categories. You won't believe how much you'll find out about each element in this little treasure. From the ultimate atomic mass, melting temperatures and conductivity, to crystal structure, shell structure, electron configuration and much much more. There's even the date and country of discovery!

What i even like more about it is that when you're scrolling through some property like thermal conductivity, you can press # to see the graph with all elements' (represented by atomic mass) thermal conductivities and the element you're browsing (represented by a red point, as you see in the screenshot below, gold has one of the highest constants) to see whether compared to others it's a good conductor or not. Of course you can still scroll while in # mode (through physical, thermal and atomic info but not basic), so you don't have to go back to the normal view to select another constant to check.

The nice part is that electron configuration and 3d crystal structure are also clearly shown.

Pressing # again will take you back to the ordinary view. Also pressing the center button at any moment will bring back the original view with the large periodic table.

As if that's not enough, you can search not only via the periodic table but also alphabetically by pressing the * button at any time. Right and left soft key bring up a Menu and Exit small bar. The Menu is forward with only Online Order, Help, About and Back. You know what Exit does :p

Seriously, if you are in any domain that requires some chemistry knowledge, Periodic Table 2.0 is THE tool you shouldn't miss. I can't recommend it enough as it's fast, easy and contains a lot of information. I can't see any flaw in this software! Oh I should mention that it's JAVA so it must work on almost any phone. Sweet!

LCG Jukebox FREE @ Handango!

So finally, Handango decided to offer an S60 freebie! Wuhuuuu! You most probably know about their Free App Friday project (if you don't read my first report here).

Today's freebie is none other than the top-10 seller Lonely Cat Games' Jukebox, a great music player that plays mp3 and ogg formats, supports lyrics, searches for album art on the net and even displays a mini player on the standby screen!

Priced normally at 24.99$, today is the only day you can get it for 0.00$, yup, exactly! So go ahead and quickly grab it before 11:59 CST! Hurry!

SkyeQuiKey by SkyeStream

Even with the new symbian mobiles that have incredible RAM and processors, accessing applications burried deep down in the 3rd or 4th level of the menu takes a couple of seconds and can lead to some "oh where the 'eck did I put that?" screams and indignations. Now, of course, there used to be a solution to access those apps, AppQLaunch, which I have already reviewed over here. But AppQLaunch was only an application quick launcher, it didn't allow quick contact search (which I needed desperately since the Contacts was taking ages to load) nor direct inbox/sent items access, which is a feature I have been dying to have.

And here comes SkyeQuiKey: a solution to both of my problems. I won't review the application here, because Zacharye has already put up a very nice and detailed review on SiMo. What I will do is emphasize on the things I like in it and what are the improvements that would make it a 10/10 for me (it's an 8/10 now, not that much behind!)

What I seriously like about SkyeQuiKey
- It is darn lightening - fast!
- It doesn't slow down the phone. I tried it on my practically full Nokia 3250. I didn't notice any slowing down in phone processes, on the opposite : it made accessing things much much easier and faster.
- Unlike any other app, this one doesn't need to be summoned by any key before it starts searching. Just type a letter from the standby screen and it functions. Very convenient.
- Unlike AppQLaunch where I had to write down the name of the application, letter by letter, SkyeQuiKey functions on a T9-like system. At first it's not that intuitive when you see the numbers in the box but the letters on the selected apps, but after a couple of times, thankfully, it all makes sense.
- As I said, it not only searchs apps but also searchs contacts. If you're like me and the Contacts application on your phone takes ages to launch, then this little piece of software will relieve you from sooo much hassle. Just type the numbers corresponding and send an sms, an email, call,... it's awesome! I didn't know how much time it'd save me until I tried it :)
- Not only it searches contacts by names, but it also searches by companies, which is more than just convenient and is missing from S60's original platform.
- As I stated, it can be used to launch the inbox, drafts, outbox, sent items, which is absolutely phenomenal to me. I have been waiting for this feature for so long, I got sick'n'tired of having to go to my menu/messages/inbox everytime I needed to check something quickly. This is probably the one feature that made me fall in love with SkyeQuiKey. It may not be as essential to you as it is to me, but seriously, try it once and you'll never go to your inbox or sent items through the menu again!
- It can be used to know the name behind an unknown number. Let me explain, say someone asks you: "do you know this number 01234567?". You know it but can't recall who has this number, it's right there in your head but won't come out. What do you do? Normally, you tap the number on your phone and call. If the person is in your contacts then you'll see it in the "calling" bubble. Then you immediately disconnect after you see the name. Right? Well, the beauty of SkyeQuiKey is that you don't have to do that. Just type the number and you'll see the contacts name on your screen. It searches contacts by number too!
- It immediately updates its database. When you create a new contact, it is immediately added to the database, and so is the case with new installed apps/games.

What needs to be fixed
Although I didn't have any drastic let downs with SkyeQuiKey, I experienced a couple of disappointments with the contact search part of the application (the software search and launch was perfect) and here they are:
- Add to Contacts is no longer possible! Suppose you need to add a new number to an existing or new contact. What do you usually do? Type the number then S60 gives you the option to add to a new or existing contact. Well with this software, once you type a new number (one that doesn't exist in your data), you're only presented with the option to call. No more easy add to contact features. Now you'll have to go open Contacts, select add new for new contacts, or browse to the one you want to update and click edit. Not convenient!
- I already said that it allows to search contacts by number. But it still asks for the number after the contact is selected! I guess this one isn't clear enough. Let me explain. Suppose my friend XY has a couple of numbers, one of which is 01234567. I type 01234567 on the screen, it narrows down the search to XY. I choose to send an sms or to call or to send an mms (whatever the shortcut to that action is set), and what does the app do? Ask me for the number! For heaven's sake, I just wrote down 01234567 myself whilst searching, what number do you think I want to sms/call/mms?
- It doesn't import sms defaults. In his review, Zach opened my eyes to one feature I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for him. While the app gives you the freedom to chose what operations are performed with the right arrow and left arrow selection, it also comes with 2 other shortcuts: the green-call button which immediately calls the default phone number (if it set for this contact) and the center dpad button which gives you the option to call all the contact's numbers. While these 2 shortcuts are quite handy because of the support for both default and all numbers call, it isn't the case with sms. If I set a certain number to be the default messaging number for a certain person, SkyeQuiKey won't recognize the default and will still ask me what number I would like to send the sms to. I want to have both defaults and all numbers sms. Or at least defaults. Or make it recognize the mobile number immediately as the default sms number. I don't know, but it needs to be fixed!
- When I choose to view a certain contact, it first opens the contact application then waits a second or two then opens the contact's card. The lag time is too long, should be shortened somehow.
- How the hell did they come up with the "SkyeQuiKey" name? Such a horrible unpronouncable name for such a beauty!

What new features I would love to be added
- Send an sms to a non-contact number ie when I type a new number, give me the option to send an sms to it, not just call it.
- Add more contacts search options, like job titles, nicknames, addresses, emails,... Company is great but a little push forward wouldn't do it any wrong.
- Give me the option to edit contacts, and not just sms/mms/emai/call them or view their contact card.
- Give me the option to uninstall applications or games, not just launch them.
- Let me also assign the green call key and the center button shortcuts.
- More searchable data, like themes or files or inside sms...
- Like the messaging subdivisions quick launch (inbox/sent items/...) I would love to have quick access to Gallery subdivisions and Settings subdivisions, ie Images, Videos, Tracks, Sound clips, Phone, Call, Connection, Date and time,... I suppose it's doable :D

Well in all manners, I believe SkyeStream have a winner in their hands. This amazing piece of software can easily replace so many other applications and works amazingly fast. A couple of adjustments, especially the sms defaults import and reintroducing the "add to contact" would be very welcomed. Other features would make it a perfect wonder. That's my opinion, fair and square, no added sugar, no extra cheese :p

Michael Mace's 2007 April's Fool ain't much of a prank after all!

Back in April 2007, when the N73 was still hot as volcano lava, yeah waaaaay back then, Michael Mace wrote on his blog Mobile Opportunity an amazing piece of entertainment and creativity called An early look at the ultimate social networking tool. To tell you the truth, it wasn't until I read the last sentence that I noticed that it was an April's Fool post. To my defense, we don't do much April's Fool tricks in my family or friend circle, so to me it was just another day: I wasn't pretty aware it was April 1st. Plus, Michael usually writes very serious, informative and open-minded posts, I just couldn't question his sources. And finally, we're seeing just about any sort of extravagant technology nowadays popping up as a concept or an almost reality, so his idea wasn't much unbelievable to me.

So, in April 2007, Michael considered this idea of his so abracadabral he raised it to be the April's Fool post. Now, in November 2007, merely 8 months later, the concept isn't that far away. In fact, brain-to-device interaction (without the need for the middle-man aka the finger) is under development! What kind of wagon are we on? Abdul Aziz of the Tech[dot]Blog reports that brainwaves will be used to control pc, mobiles or games and unlike Michael's creative post, the links actually work and take you to the original post by MyTreo.net (which also has a demo video!) and to the concept developers' websites: NeuroSky and Project Epoc.

I'll just let you read the pieces and won't comment in fear of bringing you back from your daydream... See you in, ehm let's see, 10 minutes. Is that enough? I guess it's enough.

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0.

Now get back to Planet Earth: yo phone's ringin 'n it ain't yo brain dat's gonna answa dis one. Maybe in 2015?

Can't play Nokia Music Store's tracks!

You most probably know that Nokia launched on the 1st of November their UK Music Store. Of course, I registered and because I don't have any sort of Internet paying Card, I went on to download the free track of the week. It's Freemason's Nothing But A Heartache.

After it finished downloading, I just couldn't get it to play. When I click on it, it says "Downloading media usage rights" (I understand that's DRM) in the Nokia Media Player toolbar. Then it shows up an xp window titled "Media Usage Rights Acquisition" with a spinning earth globe. After a couple of seconds, I get a "This program cannot display the webpage" note with this address "licensing.music.nokia.co.uk".

I am using Windows XP FP2 with IE7 so it's supposed to work. I tried to open the track with Windows Media Player, but I got the same result. My WMP is set to automatically download usage rights for tracks so that's not the problem.

Anybody has this issue? Do you know what's the problem? Is it the fact that I don't live in the UK? Can it be solved? The middle eastern Nokia Music Store won't probably be launched for a year, plus I am not a fan of arabic music, so the UK store was ok for me, even though I can't buy. If it works, I could at least browse, listen to previews, see what's new and get the free tracks ;)

Small Site Updates

Well, I don't know if you have noticed but Dotsisx has quite evolved since the first post I made here after shifting from Vox. The left column used to contain just the "About Me", "Labels" and "Archive" sections. Now it includes much much more, but I'll only highlight a few of the new additions:

1 - Interact with me
In this section you have the option to send me a free SMS to my mobile phone, to know my email address, to visit my MOSH page, my own poetry page and the Amicale FP website, which is the USJ Faculty of Pharmacy Student Board's Website, designed from scratch by yours truly (it's in french).
I also noticed that many people ask me to send them my themes (which are shown in the My Current Theme section) so i decided to upload my current theme to MOSH and share it with you guys. And while I am at it, I added a link to download my current ringtone, sms ringtone and feeds subscriptions addresses (in an OPML file, IE7 compatible)... I know I'm probably stealing some of Ricky's ideas here, but I suppose he'll be OK with it :)

2 - Get Dotsisx RSS
Dotsisx always had RSS but only if you cared enough to scroll down, down, waaaay down to the bottom of the site. I suppose it wasn't practical so I added the feed address (in feedburner) right on the left column, along with an RSS feed subscription counter and quick buttons to add to Google or Yahoo readers.

3 - Favourite ... of the Moment
This one has been here for a long time, but I haven't emphasized on it. It's actually a nice list that let's you see what are the latest apps / games / themes / ringtones / blogs / ... that I am checking and liking :D If there's another category of favourite you'd like me to add to the list, just ask ;)

4 - Nokia & Symbian Bookmarks
We love Nokia don't we? But we just hate that every little or big service of theirs has a different web address. Well, let's be serious for a while: you have to be a Symbian geek to know all of Nokia's ins and outs. So I added all the links to Nokia or Symbian services & sites that I know of. Hope you find something here you didn't know about ;)

5 - Free App Friday @ Handango
Handango have started making every friday one of their applications free. Click on this link and you immediately access the offer's page. Over the last 5 Fridays, they rotated between different platforms of which Windows Mobile, Smartphone, Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile again. I don't know if they'll ever offer a Symbian application, but I sure hope they do. And don't worry, if they do I'll instantly let you know!

There's also the My Current Theme, MyBlogLog, Bookmarks with my favourite blogs and sites and the Webrings and Carnivals.

I have been adding these changes day after day over the past months, and always trying to choose the most efficient and useful tools to add, whether it's for you readers or even for me, without generating much cluster. I hope you like what Dotsisx has become and if you have any propositions for useful widgets to add, shoot me a comment or an email. I'm open to suggestions.