Technology – Page 29

Stay Protected; Kill Bill’s Browser

Firefox Ad

Better be safe than sorry. It is always imperative to stay safe. This is a wild world. It’s always a jungle out there.

So everytime you open your gates to the world wide web, be safe, stay protected, use firefox. On top of that, there are a variety of addons/plugins available you can customize your firefox browser with to help you with a better browsing experience.

Kill Bill’s Browser

Bill Gates owns Microsoft, Microsoft owns the Internet Explorer browser. Read the 13 good reasons to switch from internet explorer to firefox. For me, though, the internet explorer being non-compliant with the latest web standards (especially as regards CSS) is one good enough reason to switch.

A Testament at How Lousy Qtel Service Is

This entry serves as a testament at how lousy Qatar Telecom (Qtel) service is. In case you ever wonder how they are able to survive in this country (Qatar), it’s what you call monopoly. They are the sole provider of telecom and internet services in this place.

One of the most convenient form of paying your bills in Qtel is through phone using a credit card. However, to think of the fact that you’re already paying and they’re collecting money from you, you actually needs to wait at least 30 minutes on the phone before anyone picks it up to process your payment.

The lady in the recorded messages keeps on saying:

Please continue to hold and your call will be attended to shortly.

or….

Remember, while abroad, you may still be able to reach us at 974 438 0000. Your call is important to us, please continue to hold.

and…

Your call is important to us, please hold the line and your call will be attended to shortly.

You see, I really wonder how important someone’s call to them really is when they let one wait for more than 30 minutes. If this happens to someone paying his bills, what if you just want to inquire or needs technical support? Wait a little longer!

I guess they have a different meaning for the word “shortly“. Let’s go check out the Qtel dictionary!

Aha!

Shortly (shortlee) – in the near future; after you’ve cooked your food or wash the dishes, have done with your laundry

Whatdyathink?

While abroad, you can still reach them. Yeah, maybe after one hour of holding the line while you accumulate those overseas telephone bills!

Now, tell me, can PLDT or Globe or Smart or Bayantel beat that?

I’m looking forward to someday someone will introduce competition against Qtel. No, I’m not looking forward. I realized, I don’t care anymore! hehehe

Your Battery Could Overheat While Charging

Nokia released a product advisory regarding Nokia BL-5C batteries manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006. More than 100 incidents of overheating of the said battery while charging have been reported globally.

I’m reposting the advisory from Nokia website here in verbatim:

Dear Nokia Customer,

This is a product advisory for the Nokia-branded BL-5C battery manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006. This product advisory does not apply to any other Nokia battery.

Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the affected batteries could potentially experience over heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge. Nokia is working closely with relevant local authorities to investigate this situation.

Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries that have collectively produced more than 300 million BL-5C batteries. This advisory applies only to the 46 million batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. There have been approximately 100 incidents of over heating reported globally. No serious injuries or property damage have been reported.

Consumers with a BL-5C battery subject to this advisory should note that all of the approximately 100 incidents have occurred while charging the battery. According to Nokia’s knowledge this issue does not affect any other use of the mobile device. Concerned consumers may want to monitor a mobile device while charging that contains a BL-5C battery subject to this product advisory.

While the occurence in the BL-5C batteries produced by Matsushita in the time-period specified is very rare, for consumers wishing to do so, Nokia and Matsushita offer to replace for free any BL-5C battery subject to this product advisory.

The BL-5C batteries which are subject to the product advisory were used with the following Nokia models or separately as accessories:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

“Nokia” and “BL-5C” are printed on the front of the battery. On the back of the battery, the Nokia mark appears at the top, and the battery identification number (consisting of 26 characters) is found at the bottom. If the battery identification number does not contain 26 characters, it is not subject to this product advisory.

If you have a BL-5C battery, I advise you to visit the Nokia website as you can check there particularly your battery whether it is one of 46 million batteries affected. You might want to submit your battery’s serial number and the site will return whether your battery is affected or not. Then, if your battery’s affected, you might want to proceed with the process of requesting for a replacement battery online.

Note, however, that although Matsushita is in Japan, this advisory does not apply to batteries with labels “Made in Japan” only. I submitted mine’s serial number and it was “Made in China”, and it said that mine’s as well affected.

The Wonders of Wordweb

My office laptop’s hard drive crashed the other week, and that helped me realize how useful as an office tool wordweb to me really is. I have been yearning for it while it was out of my reach. No, it can’t just be an office tool, it can also be a blogging tool.

The thing is, even the free version of this application is fully utilizable for your office needs.

Wordweb

Gone are the days when you used to flick and fumble through the pages of a large Webster’s dictionary in your library, creeping through the small fonts, recalling the order of the alphabet, looking for that word you have in mind, and just to find out it’s not exactly the word that you needed. You might have even needed a thesaurus if you wanted the similar word/s.

With wordweb, you can simply highlight the specific word in your computer, may it be in your internet browser, word, excel, etc., and press the hotkey, and you have the meanings that you needed. Plus, it will offer you synonyms, antonyms (if any), past-present-past participle tenses as well as plural and singular forms of the word, and it even suggests the nearest word if you have it mispelled in your mind.

What’s more, you can refer to its sound files if you’re not sure about the pronunciation. You can bookmark words whose meaning you keep forgetting.

With about 150,000 root words, you’ll have enough arms at your disposal for your office, business writing, blogging and all around needs. Download the free version.

Note: I have no commercial interest in promoting this tool. I just find this a great utility that I would love to share to my dear readers.

Listening to NU-107 at E-RadioPortal.com

In as much as I would like to join the Kill Bill’s Browser bandwagon, there are just certain sites that doesn’t support the fantastic firefox.

Just like this one, being outside the country I have been longing to listen to Philippine radio stations, especially my favorite NU 107. I have long visited e-radioportal.com only to find out the links appear to be broken or defective. Until just today, when I tried accessing it through Bill Gate’s browser, the Internet Explorer, and everything seems fine.

The site uses Windows Media Player to stream the audio from these stations, and it’s only compatible with internet explorer (IE). The thing is the web developer of the site couldn’t even make the site compatible for most web developers’ favorite browser, the mozilla firefox? O c’mon, you can do better than that!

Technology At Hand

Me and my housemates are as well consumed by the latest technology trends,especially when it comes to Nokia mobile phones and Apple Ipods. None of us, though, has yet seen the “cool” factor in an Apple iphone. Otherwise, it should have been in the picture.

In the picture above are two Nokia N95, a Nokia ~~N83~~ N80, a Nokia N71, an 80Gb Apple Ipod with casing, and three (3) 30Gb Ipods.

Taken with a Canon EOS 30D, EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, and Canon Speedlite 430EX.

The Scammers In Your e-Mail

You might have also already received emails from unknown persons just like this one I received not too long ago:

DEAR FRIEND,

AS THE LAWYER OF THE EXECUTED EX-PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSIEN, I WOULD WANT THIS PIECE OF INFO REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL BECAUSE OF THE POWERS THAT BE.

ACTUALLY I WOULD WANT TO INVEST SOME OF THIS MY LATE CLIENT’S LARGE FUND THAT IS STATCHED AWAY OUTSIDE IRAQ HAVING LOST HIS TWO SONS WHO ARE AUTOMATIC HEIR APPARENT TO THE FUND.

ENDEVIOUR TO GET BACK TO ME FOR DETAILS IF YOU ARE A GOOD INVESTOR OR HAVE A COMPANY WE CAN INVEST ON THAT CAN CONTAIN THE FUND WITHOUT THE FUND RAISING EYEBROW BECAUSE AS AM WRITING YOU THIS PIECE,AM IN OUTSIDE IRAQ AT COSY PLACE IN AFRICA WHERE AM FREE.

AS I HAVE PERFECTED THIS TO BE 100% RISK FREE, YOU CAN SEND ME REPLY TO;
[email protected] FOR SECURITY REASONS.

FAITHFULLY,
NAJEEB AL-NU’AIMI

Of course, for the likely victim who would bite into this bait, they will be requested to send money to the scammers to process whatever needs to be processed, and eventually the money will be gone.

But, behold, at what this genius guy done to “Scam the Scammers” over at ~~PWiT (Philippine Week in Tech)~~. I’ll assure you a hilarious read:

~~Part I – Scamming the Scammer~~
~~Part II – Scamming the Scammer, Part 2: Plan B~~

Update: PWiT has been down for decades.

Yahoo! Mail Offers Are Here

Selaplana broke this news today.

I remembered my previous posts regarding Yahoo! Mail here and here. I instantaneously opened my Yahoo! Mail today and guess what I found:

Yahoo! Mail Kaboom!
I switched back to the new Yahoo! Mail beta and more surprises:

Checking out further, however, my other Yahoo! Mail accounts are not yet upgraded with these features. As what Yahoo! mentioned in its blog, they will be rolling out these features over a few months, so it will hit each account one by one. You just have to wait and check your inbox regularly.

So, what do I think of these new developments? I think it’s cool! Any further comments? No! :LOL:

Now, That is What I Call Speed

Whoa! We just upgraded our internet connection to a 2Mbps plan and so far we got this actual speed from speakeasy:

Internet Speed

Now, isn’t that great. So far, we haven’t experienced any buffering while watching youtube videos!

For how much? 400 Qatari Riyals (about USD 110) per month. That’s a lot of money, huh? I’m just glad we are 5 in the house to share with the cost.

But it’s a great experience. Looking forward to someday find myself cry in exasperation when I’m back to reality with slower DSL internet connection, hopefully not back to dial-up though…..:)

HSBC-Qatar Banking Experience

When we were new in Qatar, we were scouting for a bank that can accomodate our banking needs especially for payroll account purposes. A legion of the banks here offer high levels of average maintaining balance, until we found out about the service by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). HSBC offered no (zero/nil) maintaining balance for employees of pre-determined employers, and our employer was one of them. So we grabbed that opportunity and eventually learned about its lousy service.

It is one of the slowest, if not the slowest internet banking site.
Its CSR presumes you know nothing, and I mean nothing, about internet banking. They won’t believe this and that error happened when you performed this and that transaction.
You can’t transfer QR 1,000 or more in a single transaction even to your another HSBC account. Even when paying your credit card bills online, you need to repeat the transfers if your bill reached QR 1,000.
Their system doesn’t recognize if you have already paid your credit card bill before the due date. They will autodebit your current account (except if you have nil balance) on the due date for the amount of the bill, even if you have paid it already in full prior to that day.
No real-time detail of credit card purchases. You still have to wait for your billing statement to examine the details of your credit card purchases.
More. I know there are more, but that I can’t remember them now. I’ll just have to update this or post in another entry in the future.