Chatter Of The Squirrel

Tech: Holux GPSlim236

Since I got such a sweet new phone, I’ve been shopping for accessories. One thing I looked for was a bluetooth GPS Receiver. Best place to shop for one cheaply will be to browse around Malsingmaps forums to look for people who upgraded their toys. They’re usually fellow geeks here, who take very good care of their toys.

Happened to find someone letting go of his Holux. This is one of the cheapest GPS receivers. Maybe rm250 new. I got for rm140. Pristine condition. It incorporates the SirfStar III chipset, which is actually faster and more accurate than the chip in my Garmin GPS60Cx. Supposed to work better in the urban jungle, compensating for radio waves scattering off building walls and such.

The Holux pairs with my Nokia 6120c. No problem. With the built in software, my phone can now give me the exact coordinates of my position…

Not that useful yet…

Need a software that can put a map on my phone. Figured that I can’t go wrong with Garmin Mobile XT. So I got the software here.

And I find out that the Garmin software will ONLY work with Garmin’s own brand of BT GPS receivers… They didn’t throw all that development money so that people can use their software without buying their shit.

But, they also give you the option to BUY the software, which will come inside a micro SD card, then you can use any brand of BT GPS receiver to work with GMXT. It’s the same program, but with an unlock code keyed to the SD card. So you can’t copy it out to another card and share it.

Another thing you can do though, is find a keygen. Then you can write your own unlock code and put it in your own SD card.

Well, obviously I used the most expedient way to get my Holux working with the phone. Who’s got 2hrs to research all this stuff and dig around for an obscure keygen?? Buy the Garmin software here.

Anyways, managed to get everything working beautifully.

Pay Per Post

Came across this website while I was just surfing around.

Being able to make money blogging doesn’t sound like a bad idea. If it works, that is. And if you believe testimonials, then it really is working for a great number of people.

I’m going to give it a spin, and see how much money I can get out of it. Will keep everyone posted. They promise to pay USD$20 just for this first post on my blog telling people about this. It’s a nice neat number, and I just so HAPPEN to need $20 of Paypal right now to buy something from http://miniaturementor.com

Earning opportunities will be relative to the popularity, and Google Ranking for the website. So far, I think my Google rank is still 0. I may have a dozen readers, but very few people linking to my website.

I wonder if I can elevate the ranking by hosting Edison Chen’s photo album…

Advertisers will give PayPerPost the details of what they want. And if your site meets their requirements, mostly your rankings, then you can take advantage of that opportunity. Book it. Write something about the product that the advertiser is trying to push. And then get paid.

Such opportunities can pay anywhere between $5 -$150+. That I’ve seen anyway…

Nokia 6120 Classic

Woke up before dawn and drove to KLIA on Thursday morning.

My aunt was transiting there, and had a package from my sister. A Nokia 6120 classic. Unlocked at last!!

My sis got it free for renewing a 2yr contract with 3-Network. She brought it to me last month, and I failed to unlock it myself. Nor could anyone at LowYat. So she had to bring it back to Melbourne, and luckily the company was willing to unlock the phone for no charge.

Happy Happy Joy Joy.

A new phone after 4+ years of using my Siemens S65.

OLD

NEW

Step 1: Transfer Contacts data from the Siemens to the Nokia.

Not as easy as it SHOULD be…

I’ve been saving phone data on the phone’s addressbook itself. Not in the SIM card. I store multiple numbers for each person, birthdays, addresses, and sometimes their car license plate number (so I know what car to look out for when a friend is supposed to pick me up). Can’t do all that on the SIM card. So, I somehow have to back up the contacts data on the Siemens.

Should have been easy enough. I still have my Siemens data cable. Bought it cheap off Lelong.com years ago, when I flashed the firmware of my S65 with the more updated version of the S6C firmware, the Chinese version, which had given me a more stable phone with Chinese text input to boot.

Then I need the software. Siemens should have a Mobile Phone Manager. Which I can’t find on their website. Siemens sold off their cellphone business to Benq several years ago. And thus no longer host the software. And on Benq’s website, despite having taken over these products years ago, have yet to host the software either.

Took me ages trawling through forums etc to find a copy hidden in a forum somewhere. Softpedia has a copy with a corrupt zip file.

And after all that. The software doesn’t detect my phone. Maybe something’s wrong with the data cable. Haven’t used nor touch it in 4yrs and it just dies like that??

I should just send the Contacts data from the Siemens to the Nokia one by one via Bluetooth. (Bulk sending doesn’t work). One by one for almost 200 numbers.

But what kind of a programmer will I be if I did that? A programmer is someone who, when given a 1 hour job, will spend 59 minutes to find a way to do it in 1 minute.

There happens to be a PC-Fair today. So I head out. Good excuse to drop by Petaling St for my favourite wantan mee.

The PC Fair was rather meh. The only thing special was a booth selling a never before heard Jap brand UMPC (Ultra Mobile). About the same size as an EEEPC, twice the price, but with a slim DVD drive.

Picked up a cheap USB Bluetooth dongle. And a 4GB micro-SD for my new pretty phone.

On the way back, I met up with a random guy near Ikea, and bought some second-hand bike stuff. More details to follow another time…

Back home, with the Bluetooth device… Still not working.

Downloaded some other phone backup software. Nada.

Until… I downloaded the latest BlueSoleil Bluetooth driver/software, which also works on x64 Windows. (And the necessary crack from Astalavista.)

Then I started making some progress. Screw the Siemens software. A most useful alternative is Mobtime Cell Phone Manager. With this, I could finally connect to my Siemens. Also managed to pull out my SMS archive, of a few hundred SMS that was ‘keep-worthy’.

Now, it should be as simple as connecting my NEW 6120 to the same software via Bluetooth also…

BUT NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Mobtime CPM doesn’t support the 6120 yet!! S.F.D.!!!

But there’s another way… I can export my contacts list into Outlook Express. This feature is only available in the registered version of Mobtime CPM. Then I save those exported contacts into a .vcf file. Load these contacts into my Outlook Express Addressbook.
Install the Nokia Phone Suite for my 6120. Let it hunt for contacts from my Express Addressbook.

And it’s done.

Finally.

At 2am.

Step 2: Finally explore all the other cool things I can do with this phone.

Like listening to Third Eye Blind on it.

It even comes with Realplayer. And the first video I converted and uploaded into my phone?

This.

Why wouldn’t I want a video of an alien girl on a Vespa smacking people’s head with an electric guitar?

MP3 Player

Never been much of a music-on-the-go person.

I’m a greater fan of the ebook-on-the-go.

But mp3 players are getting so dirt cheap. Not counting the mega-Gb iPods, of course.

Just got this tiny 512MB player for RM131, with next day delivery.

Just perfect for the the 3eb collection, and guess what, SPAMALOT!

BOFH

Discovered Bastard Operator From Hell a couple of years ago. Then it fell out of mind for a bit until I was suddenly reminded by a web-comic.

Just goes to show how seminal the BOFH is…

So, I just spent a couple of days catching up on the Bastard’s latest exploits.

The Bastard is an anarchist. He is a systems and networks administrator, working on contract for a clueless un-named corporation. He is assisted by his PFY (Pimply Faced Youth), and managed by a revolving-door series of unfortunate bosses.

The Bastard is the anti-Dilbert. Where Dilbert’s spirit becomes asphyxiated by the heavy fog of management cluelessness, the Bastard instead wraps himself in the concealing vapours, and strikes out for personal gain and profit.

No mercy. No quarters.

These are empowering stories, the stuff of fantasy for all IT administrators everywhere.