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Oct 8, 2008

About time ... got myself a Nokia E71 ... :)

9 comments

Hello ...
Its been sometime since I blogged about gadgets ...
But this sure is a good time to do so ...
As you may know if you follow me on twitter ...
I was having an iPhone ... and I enjoyed it a lot ...
I'll be the first to say ... the apple iPhone is a good phone ...
Its a fancy device ... its the smoothest touch phone ever ...
But for me ... it had some annoying limitations ...
Bluetooth didn't work ... couldn't forward text messages ...
I couldn't even send a contact's detail to a friend ...
(Yeah ... i know about WeTool ... it seldom works) ...
These small annoyances can make one go mad pretty soon ...
So I decided to get a new phone and started to explore options ...
I finally settled on the new Nokia E71 ... and sold my iPhone ...
Believe me when I say this ... Nokia E71 is an amazing phone ...
Its really looks nice ... and build quality feels really good ...
It has a full qwerty keyboard and some kewl functions ...
I use fring for IM/Skype ... and twibble for twittering ...
And ofcoz ... I installed Opera Mini as my browser ...
I'm testing push email on it ... with emoze ...
Its a very stable phone ... haven't crashed yet ...
If you are in the market for a smart mobile device ...
I recommend you seriously consider the new Nokia E71 ...
That being said ... I do have a small problem ...
If I have a contact saved in the format +960xxxxxxx ...
If I get a text message ... the name would come up fine ...
But if a get a call ... it shows the number without +960 ...
I've been told a firmware update would fix this ...
But so far ... there is no upgrade available for my phone ...
I do know a guy who has the same Nokia E71 he bought in Dubai ...
He doesn't seem to have this problem with his phone ...
So i guess it the software and a region setting ... or both ...
Any help in solving this problem would be greatly appreciated ...
Laterx ...

Sep 23, 2008

Watching Fringe ... so far so good ... :)

7 comments

Hello...
A spanking new TV show has hit the tube ...
Its called Fringe … created by JJ Abrams of the Lost fame ...
People say the show is a mix of Lost and the X-Files ...
The story revolves around Olivia, a female FBI agent ...
And her fight to uncover the truth and the Pattern ...
I was never a fan of the X-files … but I did watch it ...
I liked Lost when it started … I remember it was one of my favorites ...
Then came too many questions … too many coincidences ...
The answers came … but its was too little too late ...
I hope this doesn’t happen with this show Fringe ...
Cos the two episodes I’ve seen so far ...
Has been very good … and gripping to say the least ...
Fingers crossed … hope this gets to be a good show ...
Laterx ...

Sep 10, 2008

Why doesn't google like HDC ... ???

6 comments

Hello ...
These days its hard to have a coffee ...
Without someone talking about politics or upcoming election ...
But if time permits ... some do talk about other stuff ...
Like the submission of forms for the 488 flats in Hulhumalé ...
As most of you ... I wouldn't mind getting a flat in Hulhumalé ...
So ... to get more information about the project ...
I tried surfing to Hulhumalé Development Corporation website ...
And something weird happened ...
Google suggested not to visit the HDC site ...
Said it may have software that might harm my computer ...
This is the first it has happened to me ...
Google asking me not to visit a local site ...
So it got me thinking ... why would HDC wanna harm anyone ...???
There is nothing HDC can gain harming our computers, right ... ???
So ask the tech guys out there ... what is going on ... ???
Laterx ...

Aug 29, 2008

Back after a 3 month hiatus ...

2 comments

Hello ...
I've haven't been updating this blog for a while ...
I've also been away from the blogging local scene ...
I apologize for that to my readers and fellow bloggers ...
As you might have heard ... I've been pretty busy ...
Lots of changes in my life ... too many to list here ...
But ... I'm back ... probably with a vengeance ... hehe ...
And I'm gonna be blogging regularly again ...
Lot has happened in the last 3 months ...
I've observed a lot in that time as well ...
Stuff worth blogging about ... worth sharing ...
It'll come ... it'll come soon ...
Laterx ...

May 16, 2008

The last ambience ... Nasandhura closes ...

3 comments

Hello ...
I've been frequenting Nasandhura for around 12 years ...
I've been a regular in their coffee shop for a bit more ...
I've met some very good people while having my coffee there ...
Over the years few of them have become my very good friends ...
While others have become close colleagues easy to work with ...
I've many memories attached to the place ... mostly good ones ...
And it makes me sad to see them prepare to close down ...
I will miss my Malita black ... I will miss the people I meet ...
I will miss the environment ... but most of all I will miss ...
The Nasandhura ... which had become part of my daily routine ...
Laterx ...

May 12, 2008

Call for the faithful … and the tap runs dry ...

9 comments

Hello ...
Okay … so this is the problem I’m having …
Every Friday ... around 12 noon or there around …
When I wanna take a shower befor Friday Prayer ...
The tap would just run dry ... and stay dry ...
On weekdays ... the same happens around morning 7 …
Guess everybody who lives in the building ...
Wanna take showers at the exact same times ...
I've talked to some of my friends about this …
Especially those who live a few floors up …
And it seems they have the same problem ...
I dunno about you ... but for me ...
Its kinda frustrating when I have to ...
Run around in the toilet ... trying to get wet ...
This is like the smallest city in the world ...
Seriously ... how hard is it gonna be ...
To up the water pressure ... at these times ...
I can understand that a pulsating shower head ...
Or an aerated water stream may be difficult ...
But come on guys ... open up those valves ...
Give us more water ... we do pay for it right ???
Laterx ...

Apr 29, 2008

Okay ... lets give twitter a try ...

7 comments

Hello ...
Its hard to stand still and do nothing ...
When something kewl and apparently revolutionary ...
Is happening and everyone is getting all worked up ...
So it seems like everyone is twittering these days ...
I do like the idea of being always connected ...
I think I'd like to stay informed and be updated ...
So I’m giving this twitter thing a try now ...
If you think I’m any good or interesting enough ...
Do follow me ... I promise I wont spam you ... hehe ...
I've only been twittering for a few hours ...
And now ... I've like a dozen people following me ...
I could be found at www.twitter.com/subcorpus ...
Lets see how this web/IM/phone thingy rolls out ...
I see some good in it ... also see a bit of evil ...
But hey ... facebook status is almost the same ...
And nobody seems to be complaining about that ...
So … lets do the twitter thingy … shall we … ???
Laterx …

Apr 23, 2008

Blog updated … and moved … whew !!!

5 comments

Hello …
Been waiting to find time to upgrade my blog …
This week ... I finally managed to do it ...
I updated wordpress ... to version 2.5 ...
It wasn't as easy as I expected ... it never is ...
I had some broken links after the upgrade ...
Had to manually fix them ... thats messed up ...
I've mixed feelings about this latest version ...
When you first login ... its amazing ...
The admin area is well done ... its really nice ...
The dashboard is really kewl ... and makes sense ...
I like the new stats feature built right in ...
I also found a liked the fullscreen mode ...
What i did not like was ... media management ...
Everything was ajax'ed and changed ...
I still dunno my way around most of it ...
Hell ... I had to reupload most of my images ...
Just to get my thumbnails to work ...
May be I need some time getting used to it ...
Also ... I changed my hosting ...
This blog was previously hosted on site5.com ...
My new host is the Grid Service at MediaTemple ...
It all the rage these days ... with positive reviews ...
Let me know how this blog works for you ...
If its unusually slow or anything like that ...
I'd also like you to drop in a comment ...
If you find any broken links ... thanks ...
And a call for help goes out to the local IT crowd ...
If you've managed to get lightbox working in 2.5 ...
Please let me know how ... thank you ...
Laterx ...

Apr 6, 2008

Don’t wanna see another 11:59 on screen…

8 comments

Hello …
I watched the Vantage Point few days ago …
The movie had a good ensemble cast…
Dennis Quiad … Forrest Whitaker … Mathew Fox …
So I hate to say this but it was down right lame …
I’ll be the first to admit that the movie had a fresh concept …
It seems to me like the story unfolded in layers …
Each layer of the story being a personal account …
The movie keeps looping back every 25 mins or so …
It shows us the same events but from a different perspective …
The repetition was cool the first time … OK the next …
But when the clock turns back to 11:59 the third time …
It became annoying … almost dizzying towards the end …
It was not a movie I enjoyed … it let me down …
Laterx …

Apr 1, 2008

Earth Hour … what hour ??? whatever !!!

9 comments

Hello ...
So everybody was talking about earth hour last week ...
It was like all over the web... even on mvblogs ...
I thought to myself that this is a good initiative ...
I wanted to do my part in the conservation/awarness program ...
So I set my cell phone alarm to remind me the day and the hour ...
I was doing some work in my room when the alarm went off ...
So naturally... I switched off most of my electrical stuff ...
Thinking that many in the city would be doing the same ...
That Male' would be different somehow... may be even dark ...
I headed out to my balcony to have a cigarette ...
Too take in the scene... and see how people were reacting ...
I was amazed that I didn'e see anything different ...
I didn't see any buildings powered down ... not a single one ...
The city didn't seem to given a damn about it ...
I had my cigarette... flicked it off ... came back to the room ...
Turned everything back on ... and started working ...
So much for tokenism... I kinda knew that it wouldn't work ...
It would've worked... if all power stations in the country ...
Shut down at a pre=determined time ... if not ... sorry no way ...
The sun comes up... the sun goes down... the lights remain on ...
Some darkened their blogs... and some darkened their websites ...
I've mine darkened year round... thats my bit... make do ...
Laterx ...

Mar 29, 2008

Gotta get myself one these …

4 comments

Hello ...
I've been a fan of 24 ever since the show started ...
I've wrote about the show several time in this blog ...
But the show has been off for a while now ...
May be 'cos the movie is gonna come out sometime this year ...
And season 7 is gonna roll out soon as well ...
In the meantime ... to get the wait exciting and blood pumping ...
I'm gonna go ahead and get myself... a 24 Jack Bauer figurine ...
Then... I can start to kick some serious ass ... hehe ...
Laterx ...

Chloe::
Stop what you are doing and find out where I can get this ...
And send the encrypted info to my screen and PDA ...
I want this info now ... and I mean now ...
Or a lot of people are gonna get hurt ... bad ...
I'm gonna need you to trust me on this ... hehe ...

Mar 24, 2008

This Week in Photography …

6 comments

Hello ...
Since a lot of us are into photography these days ...
I wanted to share a very kewl resource I've discovered ...
Its called ... The Week in Photography ... or TWIP ...
It a weekly audio podcast ... with some video tutorials ...
They have a blog at www.twipphoto.com ... check it out ...
The show comes from Pixelcorps ... in San Francisco ...
These are the same guys who bring us famous stuff like ...
This Week in Tech (TWIT) and MacBreak ... among others ...
TWIP is a fairly new show ... only two months old today ...
It debuted number 1 in tech category in iTunes ...
And quickly rose to top 100 ... and remained there since ...
I listen to the show almost religiously ... and I can tell you ...
For amateur hobbyist photographer like most of us here ...
Its a very good show ... informal ... informative and fun ...
Check it out if you've time ... take a listen ... be a TWIPer ...
Also ... if you listen to or know of any other shows like this ...
Let me know what they are ... I'd like to give 'em a listen ...
Laterx ...

Mar 18, 2008

Why is Focus ROL banning me … ?!

9 comments
ROL Internet Service …

Hello ...
Its been more than three days ...
And this blog is still not available on ROL network ...
It works fine on dhiraagu netwrok ...
It works fine for everyone abroad ...
But it just doesn't seem to work on ROL network ...
I dunno what I am doing wrong here ...
Did I pluck a sensitive chord ... ???
Or someone is playing a trick on me ... ???
Either way ... I don't know how to fix it ...
And apparently ... nor does the support at ROL ...
Anyways ... I hope they resolve it soon ...
Coz not being able to access one's blog ...
And getting emails and texts about it ...
Is not that great a feeling ... trust me ...
Laterx ...

Update:: March 19th, 15:10pm
it seems to be working now ... kewl ...

Feb 22, 2008

six degrees of separation …

5 comments
Six Degrees … TV Series …

Hello ...
have been watching a new TV series ...
Its called six degrees ... its kinda kewl ...
its about six people living in new york city ...
And their connection to one another ...
Its based on famous idea of six degrees of separation ...
Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that ...
if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows ...
and two steps away from each person who is known by ...
one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is ...
an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth ...

I like how the story is unraveling ... sometimes unpredictably ...
How seemingly strangers are connected ... and why ...
How people become friends ... and how relationships are born ...
Too bad its a short lived series ... with only a few episodes ...
But I liked it anyways ... don't really know why ... hehe ...
May be cos we live in a city ... where we all know most people ...
May be coz it harder to find a stranger here ... than a friend ...
Laterx ...

Feb 9, 2008

Daily Photos of Malé … a photoblog …

14 comments
The First picture was posted on 1st January 2008 …

Hello ...
I've always been amused by good photography ...
The amazing shots we see can have that effect on many ...
I've always wanted to go out and shoot a few shots myself ...
But all i did was procrastinate... as I had no reason to shoot ...
Few weeks ago... while surfing the internet ...
I came across several daily photo blogs of cities ...
I liked the idea of having a daily photo blog ...
To display images of one's city ... a photo a day ...
I thought may be I could have a photo blog for Malé ...
As photos of Maldives were everywhere on the net ...
But Male' was at best... under represented ... right ... ???
But I was skeptical ... I had my doubts if I can pull it off ...
Especially when they say that its not as easy as it may sound ...
Later that day I met up with nazeeh ... and talked it over ...
He was as excited as I was ... probably more ...
He wanted a reason to go out and shoot as well ... to practice ...
And having daily photo blog was an interesting commitment ...
So we began working on it together ... and here it is ...
We welcome you to www.dailyphotosofmale.com ...
Have a look ... let us know what you think of it ...
The idea is to update it every day with a fresh new picture ...
With an explanatory... descriptive and a helpful caption ...
We know it'll not be easy maintaining a photo blog like this ...
Some even say Malé is not big enough for 365 pictures a year ...
But we'll try our best to do this... am sure its worth a shot ...
So far we've both loved and hated the challenges of the project...
Constantly discovering ways to present our small city ...
Most of the pics are by nazeeh ... most writings are mine ...
Wish we were more adventurous ... hehe ...
Laterx ...

Jan 29, 2008

The sexiest shop window ever … !!!

13 comments
The Sexiest Shop Window ever … !!!

Hello ...
While riding to a friends place last week ...
I saw a shop window... which made me do a double take ...
It was a poster of a two piece clad girl with a suggestive gaze ...
And boy was she hot... and those eyes... like the kind ...
That'd make you almost paranoid to be the object of her gaze ...
She was so hot that she could be labeled as a hazard... hehe ...
Okay... so you get the basic idea how hot she was... right ???
I never did find out the name or what they sell in that shop ...
But I think we can all guess what kinda establishment that is ...
But that not important... what is important here is ...
That the shop guys had wanted people look up and take notice ...
And I think they have done a pretty good job at that ... hehe ...
I for one... am gonna check out the window every time I pass by...
And that girl has already made me pass by her a few times ...
Hehehe ...
Laterx ...

Jan 22, 2008

I definitely did not order this …

12 comments
Nesacefé milk coffee …

Hello ...
I went to one of the stalls in the carnival today ...
It was early morning and I ordered a nescafé milk coffee ...
And what you see in the picture above is what they brought me ...
It was cup of milk (apparently not ordinary... but powdered) ...
With a spoon of nescafé coffee dumped on top of it ...
I called the waiter ... and had a chat with him ...
Below is how our little conversation went ...

Me: I ordered a nescafe milk ... what is this ... ???
Waiter: This IS a nescafe milk ... this is how we make it here ...
Me: No this a cup of milk... i can still see the coffee on top ...
Waiter: Give in some time... the coffee will eventually sink ...
Me: Can you bring me a regular cup of coffee well stirred ???
Waiter: No ... this is the only type of coffee we make here ...
Me: What if i ordered a black coffee ... what'll you bring me ???
Waiter: A cup of hot water with a spoon of coffee on top ...

There are lotsa types of coffees going around these days ...
Some distinctively creative in methods of preparation ...
Others not so ... giving the same coffee cooler names everyday ...
So beware what kinda coffee you order when in a café ...
You may be surprised with what you are served ... hehe ...
Laterx ...

Jan 16, 2008

Girls … what will you not put in it … ???

18 comments

Hello ...
I went to have a coffee with a girl few days back ...
I haven't seen her for a long time and we needed to catch up ...
We went to a coffee shop a short walk away from her place ...
While we enjoyed our blacks, I couldn't help but notice ...
The extra ordinarily large handbag that she was carrying ...
I thought she was going some where after our meet ...
Being me... curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask ...
"No ... I'm going right back home to catch a TV show ...
I just like to have all the stuff I might need in the bag ..."
I dropped her home ... but the bag wouldn't leave my mind ...
Compared to us guys ... girls carry around a lot of stuff ...
Guys would normally carry may be 3-4 items while they are out ...
Wallet... phone... keys... shades... and cigs if they've to ...
Girls on the other hand carry a mind-numbing number of stuff ...
And though we guys are intrigued about what's inside ...
Girls guard the content of their bags with their lives ...
You've got to earn her trust before you can take a peek inside ...
I list here stuff that I've seen girls carry around with them ...

- Purse (some times more than one) ...
- Phone ...
- Tissue (an open packet and an extra packet) ...
- Mirror ...
- Cigarettes ...
- Lighters (sometimes ... one working one not) ...
- Bottled water ...
- Notebook ...
- Pens/Pencils (usually more than one) ...
- Hair brush ...
- Make-up kit ...
- Digital Camera (mostly compact point and shoot) ...
- CDs (mostly with an unhinged jewel case) ...
- DVDs ...
- Medicine ...
- Oil control paper (its blue in color ... dunno the name) ...
- Bills (phone bills mostly) ...
- Cheque book ...
- Reading glasses ...
- Sun glasses ...
- Ticket stubs ...
- USB pen drive ...
- USB hard drive ...
- USB cable ...
- MP3 player ...
- Batteries ...
- Chewing gum ... bubble gum or mints ...
- Supari ... or killi ...
- Women's stuff ... (you know... stuff) ...
- Keys (most are remnants of the locks they used to open) ...
- Sewing kit (the mini packs) ...
- Umbrella ...
- Books ...

So I ask myself ... why do girls carry all these with them ... ???
May be because ... it in their nature as care givers ... ???
They would never hesitate to dig in to their bags and share ...
Or may be they have this deep rooted desire ...
To be close and in possession of what they might need ... ???
I dunno know really ... your guess is as good as mine ...
Laterx ...

Jan 12, 2008

Thank you Facebook … for dropping the IS …

6 comments
Facebook has dropped the IS on status line …

Hello ...
Am still grappling with a cold ... damn the flu ...
So am spending as much time indoors as possible ...
Just wanted to point out this facebook thingy I noticed ...
Remember how you had to word your status carefully ...
Cos you had to start something like "Subcorpus is ... "
Well ... the IS has now been dropped ... thanks facebook ...
Its a bit more flexible now ... with more room for creativity ...
Rather than saying "subcorpus is enjoying bond movies" ...
I can write "subcorpus enjoys watching bond movies" ...
Am sure the smarter lot among us is gonna mess with this...
Laterx ...

Jan 9, 2008

You wanna buy an iPod nano … ???

9 comments
Selling my iPod nano 2nd generation … 2GB … Silver …

Hello ...
We all know nobody wanna part with any of their iPods ...
But sometimes you want the sell the old to buy the new ...
So here I am selling ... its a 2nd generation 2GB iPod nano ...
I bought it a few months ago ... when I lost my old iPod ...
I'll give the iPod loaded with all kinda songs and podcasts ...
So you could check out the kinda freaky stuff I listen to hehe ...
I'll even throw in a brand new pair of iPod earphones...
If any one is interested in a buying my iPod ...
Please let me know here so that I can contact you ...
I wish you all, but islamic extremists, a happy hijri new year ...
Laterx ...

Update 13/01/08 ::
Sold to Nimal for USD 80/- ...
For all who showed interest through this blog and texts messages ...
Thank you ...

Jan 6, 2008

how will Maldivians be remembered centuries later ???

10 comments
Street soccer … a favorite among maldivians …

Hello ...
Am watching Naked Science on National Geographic Channel ...
Its a good show ... putting forth interesting questions ...
And trying to find answers using modern technology ...
Last night I was watching the episode called Roman Tech ...
In which they showed how the Romans had lived ...
I was amazed at the similarity of their lifestyle to ours ...
They brought down water from the mountains to their cities ...
They had heat ... running water and sewerage systems in homes ...
Hell ... they even had double panned glass windows ...
And much like us ... lived in multi-storey apartment buildings ...
They paved roads with cobblestone to link their cities ...
These may seem all very ordinray for us now ...
Except that the Romans had these a few thousand years ago ...
There's no question that Romans were an advanced civilization ...
Though nobody knows how the Romans discovered everything ...
Everybody knows how they had put together their knowledge ...
To conquer and rule half the world for many hundreds of years ...
There are several unanswered questions about the Romans ...
The biggest and the most debated question being what lead ...
To the downfall of a vast and powerful empire like the Roman's ???
When the episode ended ... I had a few questions of my own ...
I thought... if such a powerful empire like the Roman's ...
Can suddenly loose their glory to get buried in sand and time ...
What will happen to our civilization a few centuries down ???
If our ways of life or life itself be threatened ...
And we inevitably loose at the hand of a more powerful enemy ...
Or if nature decided Maldives be an underwater attraction ...
How will we be remembered ... what will we leave behind ???
What will a future civilization learn about us ???
Would they know our foods/shelter/lifestyles/recreations ???
About our attempts at survival and deliberate failures ???
Will we leave behind skeletons of the wars fought ???
Or will leave them remnants of a diseases that killed us all ???
We Maldivians... how will we be perceived centuries/eons later ???
Thinking about it sure gives me the creeps ... hehe ...
Laterx ...

Jan 1, 2008

Hello oh-eight… been waiting for you …

9 comments
Happy New Year 2008 … I wish you all things good …

Hello ...
So... oh-seven has left... time just flies eh ???
But thats okay... coz I've been waiting ...
I've some good things planned out for oh-eight ...
And I was kinda waiting for it to come ...
Here it is already (kinda fast and without fireworks) ...
So lets see how the stars align for me this year ...
If half the things I planned for the year works out ...
This is gonna be a good year... a really good year ...
This years resolution... do i hear you ask ... ???
Well... someone told me this the other day ...
And it kinda stuck with me ... so here it is ...
"Dream like you'll live for ever ...
Live like you'll die today ...
"
It sounds kewl... but i dunno if i can do it... hehe ...
But hey... who sticks by their resolutions... eh ??? hehe ...
I wish you all a happy new year and all things good ...
Laterx ...