LET'S SAVE NOKIA! BECAUSE A NOKIA WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!

Slipped off the Apple/Android bandwagon recently and have happily gone back to Nokia. Contrary to media hype, Nokia were one of the pioneers in smartphone technology. Now we're being told by the media (some writers who were too young to own a Nokia) that they were late to the party. More accurately, they were too early to market. Now Nokia stock has been downgraded to junk status. What is incredulous in all this is that so many of us have fallen for the Apple/Samsung/Android hype that we are more than happy to shell out the price of a used car or decent laptop computer, only to receive something that dies after just a days use or even a few hours if you, God forbid use it as a phone!

My Nokia E6 lasts on average 4 solid days, sometimes a little more. Allowing me to actually use it as a phone and talk freely, take gorgeous HD videos and photos, email, surf the web, and search maps or listen to the radio! Also, I am secure in the knowledge that if I were to be caught in an emergency (not uncommon for a worldly traveller), my Nokia will still have enough juice to call emergency services or send that vital SMS!

Again, I implore you to ..... SAVE NOKIA! BECAUSE A NOKIA WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!

SOLVED: iPhone Safari Text Reflow Issue

If like me you've been quietly cursing Apple for stubborn and myopic attitudes with regards text reflow support on iPhone Safari browser, then you'll be pleased to hear that an elegant solution is now here.What is text reflow some of you may ask? Well if you read this forum post on your iPhone, you will see that when trying to zoom in and view the text, the text does not wrap allowing you to elegantly speed read, flowing up and down the page with a flick of your thumb. Instead, you have to squint and swipe left and right to view the text. Despite numerous requests from users, Apple's response has been that text reflow is not necessary because of Retina display. But no matter how sharp text on a screen may be, it is not enjoyable having to squint to read and digest content on your device. Moreover, on that note, why do visually impaired users have to connect their iPhones to Itunes in order to enable Accessibility features? Why not have this feature available from either the application menu or iPhone settings.

For Android users, this is not an issue. As to my knowledge, all devices support well implemented text reflow by default, but if you're thinking of jumping ship all is not lost. Enter Mercury browser for the iPhone. Must admit I stumbled across this alternative browser because it was mentioned alongside Atomic browser as supporting text reflow. I normally don't search for alternative iPhone browsers as Opera and Dolphin for iOS I found lacking compared to the stock Safari.

Well a quick check of both Atomic and Dolphin previously installed and forgotten on my iPhone 3GS showed that whilst Atomic provided text reflow support, it was not smooth, and there were a few text elements overlapping. So I downloaded Mercury browser and was blown away! A really elegant and cool interface, that blows Safari out of the water. with full accessibility features. No gimmicky iOS 5 hit READER button solutions here. Just full and true text reflow at a touch of a button. No need to ditch your iPhone for that Samsung Galaxy S2 you've been eyeing.

Job done! ;-)

More experiences:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2658710?start=0&tstart=0

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1312782

Flaviola e o Bando do Sol - Flaviola e o Bando do Sol by Mr Bongo on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Flaviola e o Bando do Sol - Flaviola e o Bando do Sol by Mr Bongo on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Dave Sanders: Fiber-Optics Exec by Day, Defender of Justice by Night | Magazine

Dave Sanders: Fiber-Optics Exec by Day, Defender of Justice by Night | Magazine

Music world puts on 'thank you' gig in solidarity with Occupy London | UK news | The Guardian

Music world puts on 'thank you' gig in solidarity with Occupy London | UK news | The Guardian

Fix That New Google Reader White Pain with Stylish

Hate the new Google Reader changes? Google not listening to you, then make the fix with these Stylish themes.

google-reader-mac-os-x-snow-leopard

google-reader-kemwer-black

compact-google-reader

Enjoy!

iPhone 5 Concept Features - YouTube

iPhone 5 Concept Features - YouTube Recall a lunch-break conversation way back in 2001/02 with colleagues in Olympia London, with one colleague Rod bemoaning the severe limitations of cell-phone screen real estate. I suggested that the only viable solution I could envisage, apart from foldable materials, would be a screen projector for presentation or increased productivity. Almost everyone at our table laughed apart from Rod, who said no hold-on there may be something in this. As he urged me to elaborate, I described a concept in which the only drawback was the need for adequate lighting or a blank surface for the image. This could be negated however, with hologram technology. The keyboard could be extendible or a laser one. Fast forward 8 or so years and NTT Docomo and Samsung have launched their projector phones, which is an initial step towards my original concept. This video illustrates the full concept and I feel could realistically reach the market in the next 5 or 7 years.

The Search for the Uber Info Management System Pt 2: Or Why we like a good old SYNC

The attraction of Google Docs was irresistable initially, with the ability to have your files available in any location. In hindsight, Google's cloud provision for true portability forced myself and others to change working practices in order to gain that portability. In reality is this really true portability when you do not have the actual physical document? And I've asked myself this question again, when finding myself with flaky or no internet connections, forcing me to download a local copy and then create my own ad-hoc versioning system to overwrite the old document online in Goodle Docs. Enter DropBox. Actually, I had a DropBox account for a couple of years, but never used it as was blinded by Google's offering. It was initially a need to transfer files to my iPhone that made me revisit the service, then finding myself with an intermittent internet service when travelling that made me look again at my current Google Docs system. Using it for the iPhone again, I realised just how seamless and quick the synchronisation worked, giving me true portability to all my files. I then thought, wouldn't this work great if I had all my Google Docs downloaded into my DropBox folder. No need to to download and create separate archived versions. DropBox would just handle all automagically! Well today rather than attempt at using DropBox purely for archiving or back-up, will make it my primary file management system. Thus keeping all things centralised and no need for multiple Google Accounts. What's your solution? Let me know. Always have your stuff when you need it with @Dropbox. 2GB account is free! http://db.tt/XdAwKX8

Turbo Boost Google Reader for real




For all info-junkies and online professionals getting your daily fix of news and info, or just trying to stay on top of the plethora of information sources can often be overwhelming if not futile. A slick and fast client or whatever your source, be it email, Twitter, FaceBook or RSS feeds is vital. This is why I've found myself giving up on Google Reader for RSS feeds time and again, due to its sluggishness and tendency to crash Firefox, Chrome or whatever browser's en vogue for me. Have tried countless suggestions but to no avail, leaving to test alternatives such as Good Knows and Fast Ladder. Couldn't get on with their interfaces, so found myself returning to Google Reader and using the limited iPhone interface within the browser. Although the speed is great, the experience felt lacking. So back to its big brother full fat Google Reader one last time.

Originally tried online tips such as hiding the navigation bar, but that didn't work. Here's what I did, and with surprising results.

1. First use list view. Always used this, but only made a marginal difference in speed.
2. For subscriptions use default icons
3. Show only updated
4. Hide unread counts

The last three combined, surprisingly made a hell of a difference. Now full fat Google Reader load's almost as fast as the iPhone thin client. Now you can enjoy your dose of full fat Google RSS Reader everytime, and no need to compromise with lite.