Sears: Now shipping to Maldives ...

Hello.
Sears is now shipping to Maldives. Its good to see more online shops shipping to Maldives.
I usually shop on Amazon, but not everything on Amazon can be shipped here to Maldives.
I herds Macy's now ships to Maldives, too. Good stuff.
Laterx.

BurstSpeed: Speed when you need it the most ...

Hello.

Internet has become an integral part of our daily life. We use the internet to consume all sorts of information from catching up on our daily news headlines, connect with our family and friends, listening to music or watch videos.

Though the usage pattern may differ across a wide spectrum, its a given that almost everyone spends a fair amount of time on the internet everyday. While everyone wants the best internet connection with breakneck speeds, most of us settle for the lower home plans with limted speeds and allowances. There is nothing wrong with home plans. I've been using a home plan for several years now and I'm quite happy with it. It has been stable, reliable and quite speedy most of the time.

However, there are times when I wish my internet was a bit faster for at least a few hours. There are certain days when I would be more than happy to pay for higher speed internet. Like the days when I upload lots of photos and videos to share with my family abroad. The days when I'm backing up my files to a cloud-based service, days when I'm downloading an update for my current operating system.

A quick google search showed me that this service does exist in other countries. SpeedBurst, BurstSpeed, TurboBoost, PowerBoost, different internet service provioders call the service different names, for obvoius reasons, but it basically serves the same purpose. It gives you more speed when you need it the most.

A "burstable" internet service is one that allows you buy a certain amount of bandwidth, usually on a prepaid model. In theory, it essentially enables you to utilize higher speeds without paying for the bandwidth you do not use.
It is a service that increases Internet speed temporarily when your online activities require higher speed Internet than usual. This service is cost-saving and supports the heavier usage of Internet. You can request for the extra speed for certain periods from your service provider.

I wish we had a smiliar service in Maldives. I would gladly pay for a such a service. What say you?

Laterx.

The first rule of the Synonyms Club ...

The very first rule of the Synonyms Club is that you do not in any circumstance talk or,

1. Babble: enthusiastic or excessive talk, or meaningless sounds or nonsense words;
to talk in this manner
2. Back talk: a disrespectful response; to respond disrespectfully
3. Backchat: see back talk, badinage, and gossip
4. Badinage: light, witty talk
5. Banter: see badinage, with a connotation of good-natured teasing or arguing; to engage in such talk
6. Barb: a hurtful and/or critical comment
7. Blandish: see cajole
8. Blandishments: see cajolery/cajolement
9. Blarney: nonsensical talk
10. Bluster: boastful or threatening talk; to speak boastfully or threateningly
11. Cackle: see chatter (verb only)
12. Cajole: to persuade with soothing or flattering remarks
13. Cajolery: talk with the intent to persuade
14. Cajolement: act pertaining to cajolery
15. Causerie: see chat (noun only)
16. Chaff: see badinage; also, to tease good-naturedly
17. Chat: an idle or inconsequential conversation; to engage in such talk
18. Chatter: quick, extensive, and/or aimless talk; to talk in such a manner
19. Chin music: see chat (noun only)
20. Chinwag: informal talking; to talk informally
21. Chitchat: see badinage
22. Circumlocution: evasive or verbose talk
23. Comment: an opinion or observation; to say something of this type
24. Confab: see chat (also, a formal meeting)
25. Confabulation: see chat and confab (also, something made up)
26. Confer: to exchange opinions or seek advice
27. Conference: a meeting, or an event consisting of presentations and/or meetings
28. Confess: to admit to a thought or action considered improper or shameful
29. Conversation: a talk between or among two or more people
30. Converse: to speak back and forth with one or more people
31. Crack: an uncomplimentary comment; also, to quickly say something, as when spontaneously telling a joke pertinent to a situation
32. Dig: see crack
33. Discuss: to engage in serious talk
34. Discussion: a serious talk
35. Dish: see gossip
36. Double-talk: intentionally confusing or ambiguous language, or talk that is at least partially meaningless; to engage in such talk
37. Fast-talk: to persuade or influence by deceptively authoritative and/or flattering speech
38. Flibbertigibbet: see gossip
39. Gab: see chatter
40. Gabfest: talking consisting of gab
41. Give-and-take: an exchange of ideas or comments
42. Gossip: see chat, with an additional connotation of talk or talking about the personal lives of one or more other people (also, someone who engages in such talk)
43. Jangle: see chat
44. Jaw: see chat
45. Jest: a humorous or mocking statement; to make such a statement
46. Natter: see chat
47. Negotiate: to talk in order to reach an agreement
48. Negotiation: a talk in which the speakers seek to reach an agreement
49. Palaver: a discussion or conference, especially one between unequal participants, or deceptive speech, or see chat; to talk idly, try to persuade or deceive, or come to terms
50. Parley: see confer, with the possible connotation of talk between antagonists to agree to terms to cease hostilities; to engage in such talk
51. Patter: quick or monotonous speech, as in delivering a humorous speech or in rote delivery of prayers; to speak in this manner
52. Pillow talk: romantic talk, such as would be engaged in while the speakers are in bed
53. Pleasantry: polite, inconsequential talk, or see banter and jest (nouns only)
54. Quip: a spontaneous observation or response; to say something of this type
55. Raillery: see banter and jest
56. Rap: see chat and patter
57. Recital: public delivery of read or memorized material, or of details or answers
58. Recitation: an official or ceremonious recital
59. Recite: to deliver read or memorized material, or details or answers
60. Remark: a statement of judgment or opinion, or a reference to something notable; to comment in this manner
61. Repartee: an exchange of clever, witty statements, a single such response, or skill in talking in this manner
62. Schmooze: see chat, with the connotation of one conducted so as to gain personal or professional advantage; to talk in this manner
63. Small talk: see badinage
64. Spit: to talk about things or opinions a listener disagrees with or disapproves of
65. Straight talk: frank, straightforward talk
66. Sweet nothings: flattering talk intended to charm a potential or existing romantic partner
67. Sweet talk: talk intended to persuade, or to endear oneself to the speaker; to engage in this kind of talk (the verb form is hyphenated)
68. Table talk: informal talking such as that heard during a dinner party
69. Tete-a-tete: an intimate or private talk
70. Waggery: see banter and jest
71. Wisecrack: a clever or sarcastic comment; to make such a comment
72. Wordplay: witty, playful talk
73. Yack: to talk at length
74. Yammer: to talk relentlessly, or to complain
75. Yap: excessive talk

about the Synonyms Club. There is no second rule!

Wataniya: Please fix your mobile internet ...

Hello.

Here in Maldives, none of the telecom companies offer an unlimited mobile data plan, unless you buy a blackberry from Wataniya, which in essence is not a very attractive deal as it is for most people.

As most telecom companies around the world, both Dhiraagu and Wataniya offer tiered rather than unlimited mobile data plans.

I used to subscribe to Wataniya MobileNet 149. I paid MRF 149/- each month for 60MB of data. When Dhiraagu introduced their GB Pack for MRF 160/- per month, Wataniya scrambled to offer a similar (or a better) deal, and around a month later launched their MobileNet 159 package. I was to pay MRF 159 for 1.1GB of data each month. That sounded like a good deal to me, only MRF 10/- more to get about 18 times more mobile data than I used to. I jumped onboard and subscribed to this new package the very first day.

The first few weeks were good. Wataniya mobile net almost always worked. However, few months in, I started getting disconnected quite often and had trouble re-connecting. Now its worse. You have to be lucky if you could even connect to the internet in the daytime in general and especially in the working hours. It still works as used to to if you try in the early mornings. Very early morning, like around 3am to 7am.

I'm not the type who abuses a service. Surely, not the services provided by my Telcom. I have been with Wataniya for around 3 years now. I pay my bells on time. I've never activated my free numbers, nor have I activated my friends and family discount numbers. I have never fully used my 1.1GB allowance. Not once. I'm almost always around the 400MB mark. Since I can't use mobile data as I want to, I've been using WiFi most of the time. This defeats the purpose of actually subscribing to a mobile internet package.

Also, I've been having trouble sending and receiving text messages from Australia. I've called up Wataniya and brought this matter to their attention several times.  Its been more than a year since I filed an official complain with them, and I've called them numerous since then to remind them about it. The matter is yet to be resolved. This is bad!

I'm seriously thinking to switch back to Dhiraagu. The only thing that's holding me back is Wataniya offers an a very good IDD add-on. If Dhiraagu offers such an IDD add-on, I'll switch to Dhiraagu in a heartbeat. There is only so much one can do to support the underdog!

Wataniya, Whatever you are doing wrong, fix it, and be quick about it.

Laterx.

USPS: Delivery time to Maldives ...

Hello.

I've been ordering some stuff from Unites States lately. Every time I tell someone that I've placed an order, they ask me about the shipping methods I go with and delivery time frame.

Since shipping charges will very much depend on what you order and shipping weight, the delivery time remains almost the same for most of my orders. I do not use Fedex or DHL. I use the cheapest shipping available, that is United States Postal Service.

I mostly shop on Amazon.com but I'm sure most of the online shops would let you choose if you want USPS Express Mail service, or the standard Priority Mail International Parcels. I have tried out both of them and I share the details below:

Service Type: USPS Express Mail International Parcels

• Delivered, November 28, 2011, 1:59 pm, MALDIVES
• Addressee not available - Will attempt delivery on next working day, November 27, 2011, 3:45 pm, MALE, MALDIVES
• Arrival at Post Office, November 27, 2011, 1:29 pm, MALDIVES
• Customs clearance processing complete, November 27, 2011, 1:25 pm, MALDIVES
• Customs Clearance, November 27, 2011, 1:18 pm, MALDIVES
• Processed Through Sort Facility, November 27, 2011, 11:15 am, MALDIVES
• Processed Through Sort Facility, November 23, 2011, 11:16 pm, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
• Arrived at Sort Facility, November 23, 2011, 11:15 pm, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
• Shipment Accepted, November 22, 2011, 8:53 pm, BROOKLYN, NY 11256
• Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 22, 2011

Service Type: USPS Priority Mail International Parcels

• Delivered, January 8, 2012, 10:59 am, MALDIVES
• Addressee not available - Will attempt delivery on next working day, January 05, 2012, 9:59 am, MALDIVES
• Arrival at Post Office, January 04, 2012, 10:23 am, MALDIVES
• Customs clearance processing complete, January 04, 2012, 10:23 am, MALDIVES
• Customs Clearance, January 04, 2012, 10:21 am, MALDIVES
• Processed Through Sort Facility, January 04, 2012, 10:20 am, MALDIVES
• Processed Through Sort Facility, December 29, 2011, 6:10 am, FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099
• Arrived at Sort Facility, December 29, 2011, 6:09 am, FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099
• Depart USPS Sort Facility, December 14, 2011, KEARNY, NJ 07032
• Processed through USPS Sort Facility, December 14, 2011, 5:53 am, KEARNY, NJ 07032
• Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility, December 14, 2011, 2:56 am, POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12603
• Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility, December 14, 2011, 2:55 am, POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12603
• Electronic Shipping Info Received, December 14, 2011

Express Mail costs only around USD 5/- more than Priority Mail but as you can see above, it is way more faster.

Hope this help you make an informed decision when choosing a shipping method for your orders from the United States to Maldives. Needless to say, these details are for shipments for myself in recent months. Your mileage may vary, but I guess, not by much.

Laterx.

Budget.mv: This is beyond stupid !!!

Hello.

Why does our National Budget website have a section to create your own avatar using 31 programme budget icons? I have no vague idea!

I can understand if this was on a private or a commercial website marketing a product or a brand. I might even understand this on Tourism Portal website using unique Maldivian icons to make an avatar which might appeal to a foreign visitor.

I don't know about everyone on the internet, but I would usually visit a government website when I need to look up current and accurate information or when I need historical data for a research project. I visited the Ministry of Finance website to have a look at our National Budget. I wanted to see how much the projected national revenue was and how it has been sliced to be spend on health, education, transport and infrastructure projects among others.

While looking at the budget, I did find some ambitious projects while huge sums of money have a been allocated to highly controversial and still hotly debated projects. I guess that will always be the very nature of every annual national budget of any given country.

However, during no time that I spent on that website did I have the slightest inclination to upload my photo and make an avatar to use on any social network. I don't really know where to begin to tell someone how inappropriate this is. I think its highly unprofessional for an official government website.

But thats just me, your mileage may vary. So, go ahead, give it a shot if you so want. In the mean time I'll visit the Health Ministry website and try to find an online game you can play while you wait for them to activate our free health insurance!

Laterx.

Desktopography: Got some good stuff ...

Hello.

It goes without saying that these days, one has to spend a lot of time in front of a computer. Be it work, play or both.

I spend a few hours on my laptop everyday and I have this bad habit of saving my current and no so current projects on my Desktop. As it happens, I get to stare at my Desktop more than I want to. I never could break the habit of organizing my Desktop files, but did manage to pick up on changing my Desktop wallpaper in a desperate effort to make my Desktop look better.

I know people who are obsessed to change their Desktop backgrounds everyday. Hell, I know people who use special programs to automatically download and change their Desktop backgrounds everyday. I am much too lazy. I don't change my backgrounds months on end.

The picture you see here is the current Desktop background on my laptop. Got it free from Desktopography.

I went from Landscapes to Gothic to semi-nude girls. Movie posters to pictures I took while out and about to default OS X Backgrounds. Having a liking to dark abstract these months.

What does your background look like and where did you get it from?

Laterx.

Ordered: KODAK PLAYSPORT Zx5 video camera ...

Hello.

So it has been a few months since I've been thinking about getting myself a small video camera. Not a big HandyCam type, but the small home movie type.

I have been researching this for a bit now and it seems there are only three good options available to me for the amount of money that I want to spend. The GoPro series, the Flip Series and the Kodak Zi8. The latter has been in active development and had a few recently upgraded models available.

The GoPro was a bit expensive and was designed for extreme sports and fast action recording. Surprisingly, The Flip wasn't available anywhere and I read somewhere that the company has gone belly up. So, the only real choice for me was the Kodak models.

Kodak has a few models available right now but what I had a good look at was the KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera. It looked good and the specs were nice enough. FULL HD 1080p recording. HD 720p@60fps for fast action recording. Dustproof, shockproof and waterproof down to 10feet. I read a few only reviews, watched a few YouTube videos reviews and I was sold.

So last week I got on the internet and ordered myself the KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera Zx5. I went for the BLACK version. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals were in full swing. I crashed the party as well and got a steep discount. Good timing I guess.

My camera has shipped and is on the way here now. Can't wait to get my hands on this and shoot some baby videos. Looks like I can do exactly that later this week.

• Processed Through Sort Facility, November 23, 2011, 11:16 pm, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
• Arrived at Sort Facility, November 23, 2011, 11:15 pm, ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
• Shipment Accepted, November 22, 2011, 8:53 pm, BROOKLYN, NY 11256
• Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 22, 2011

Also, I guess now I need to familiarize myself with some video editing software. Come to think of it, I have never even opened up iMovie, ever. Not once.

would appreciate if you could point me in the direction for home video editing. Nothing fancy, just trimming and adding audio tracks and stuff. Thanks.

Laterx.

Contemplating Disqus comment system ...

Hello.

Just a quick note to tell you that, I'm contemplating installing Disqus commenting system on this blog. It seems, Blogger is not showing up comments as it should, there are signing in problems, and I've been told by people on twitter that they have tried commenting on this blog, but the comments just disappear after submission. Well, that is not good. Not good at all!

Disqus seems like a good alternative anti lets you manage comments from multiple blogs in one central location. This is going to be a real time saver. The one killer feature Blogger lacks is the ability to reply to comments from the admin panel. Disqus lets me do this and lot more. Also, I have been hearing a lot of good things about Disqus lately, a lot of high profile people are implementing Disqus commenting system on their blogs. I take this as a good sign, I don't want to make the switch and learn that the service is going away soon.

Disqus is importing all my Blogger comments to its database as I write this post. Check out the blog, see if you like the new commenting area, leave a comment, tell me what you think.

The one caveat I have with Disqus is that, it is trying to do more than what is necessary, too many features, and the commenting area looks a lot busier than what I am used to. Distraction?

Anyway, let us see how it goes.

Laterx.

Dear Google, I'm not in Australia !!!

Hello.

This started happening recently. Google thinks that I'm in Australia.

Google.com redirects to Google.au instead of Google.mv and this terribly annoying. I don't really know how or why this happening. But I know for a fact that I'm not in Australia. I'm in Maldives.

I tried going to Google.com/ncr and saving my settings, but that doesn't help if I quit and relaunch my browser.

Google says:

Bookmark http://www.google.com/ncr. This is an alternative web address for Google.com that always takes you to Google.com without redirecting you.

Google, you are not detecting my location correctly. Not even close. Please fix this. Thanks.

Laterx.

Nexus S: Rooted and ready to go places ... :)

Hello.

Several weeks after I got my Nexus S earlier this year, a friend installed CyanogenMod 7.0 on it. I really did enjoy using CyanogenMod on my Nexus S. I thought it was faster and much more customizable. The features I used the most were the quick access controls available on the notification panel. It was much better than installing and using a power strip widget on the homescreen.

However, few weeks back, I ran in to some problems. The widgets just wouldn't load. It just started giving me "problem loading widgets" error. I was really busy at the time, and didn't have much time to figure out what was going on. So I installed Google stock Android 2.3.6. on the spot.

Since then, I've been trying to get the phone rooted. The main reason, maybe the only reason, why I wanted to root my phone was that I could install some of the apps I wanted to run. Apps like, Blogger, Twicca and some more. These were apps I use frequently and almost daily. It was a pain to get on the internet and search for APK files for those apps from some underground or warez websites. Also, even if I did install the apps, I couldn't update them and had to go online to find APKs of later version. As you can see, that gets old really fast!

After doing some research on how to get my Nexus S running Google stock Android 2.3.6, I hit this page. I'm not a real techie, but I do know how to follow instructions if they were written simple enough for a 12 year old to understand.

I had my phone rooted in a few mins.

Here are the steps if ever you want to root your nexus S. It works on all variants of Nexus S and Nexus 4g.

1) First, you will need to turn your Nexus S off. Then, power up your Nexus S by doing this: while holding down the Volume Up Button, hit the Power button until you see the bootloader menu come up.

2) Next, connect your Nexus S to your computer via a USB cable.
For Windows, you will need to install ADB drivers.
For Mac and Linux, you will not need any drivers, it should be recognized automatically.
Since I'm on a Mac, I didn't need the aforementioned ADB drivers.

3) Next, download nexussrootnew.zip: Unzip the]is zip file and you should get a folder named “nexussrootnew”.

4) Copy over the whole nexussrootnew folder into your hard disk’s root directory such as c:\nexussrootnew for Windows and similar in Linux or Mac.

5) Open up a command prompt by typing “cmd” under Start->Search Programs and files.
Then type “cd \nexussrootnew” to browse into the directory in Windows.  For Linux and Mac, should be similar to “cd /nexussrootnew“. I opened up Terminal on my Mac.
Then type “fastboot oem unlock“.
(For Mac, replace fastboot with ./fastboot-mac and for Linux, replace fastboot with ./fastboot-linux).

6) You should see a screen asking you to “Unlock bootloader” like shown below:
Select “Yes” using Volume Up button and hit the Power Button.
(You should see that “LOCK STATE” says “UNLOCKED”, meaning your Nexus S is rooted).

7) Now, having a rooted phone means nothing if you don’t have Superuser app to make rooted apps run so let’s go do that next.
Type:
fastboot flash recovery recovery3101.img
(For Mac, replace fastboot with ./fastboot-mac and for Linux, replace fastboot with ./fastboot-linux.)
Next choose “Recovery” using Volume buttons and hit the Power button to enter recovery.

9) Next choose “Mounts and Storage” and hit the Power button.
Then choose “mount USB Storage” and hit the Power button.
This will turn your Nexus S into USB disk drive mode.  Copy over the file SuperUser.zip file from the nexussrootnew folder into your Nexus S.

10) Next, hit the Power button to get out of USB disk mode and choose “Install zip from sdcard” and hit the Power button.

11) Then choose “Choose zip from sdcard” and hit the Power Button.

12) Then choose the “SuperUser.zip” and hit the Power Button.  This will install the Superuser app and you can reboot your phone.

Once you reboot your Nexus S, you should find a “Superuser” app in the menu.

Congratulations! Your Nexus S is now rooted!

You can test our your root powers by installing root-only apps like Market Enabler or a Screenshot app.

Enjoy!

Laterx.

iTunes Plus: lets switch it on and see ...

Hello.

I may prefer using a Mac. I may love using Mac OS X. I may think Apple as a company has some good products out. Some of you may have even labeled me a Mac evangelist. Yet, they do have stuff I just don't enjoy using.

For one, I loathe iTunes!

I think iTunes is slow and bloated. And it updates with minimal changes the day Apple release any product or a product update. So, I try to stay away from iTunes as much as possible. However, thats not quite as easy if you are on a Mac.

I mainly use iTunes to play my music and catch podcasts. Even then, I have iTunes running minimized and in the background. I use the omnipresent menu bar controls to interface with iTunes and play my music. I like it that way. You never even have to see iTunes at all.

The last time I opened up iTunes, there was an link to iTunes Plus. I didn't know what it was so I clicked on it thinking it would tell me more. Well, it did, kind of. It showed me the above screen. I wish it did gave some kind of options whether I wanted it or not. It didn't, but I guess I do want my music to sound better. Here is what Apple says about iTunes Plus.

iTunes Plus is the new standard on iTunes. iTunes Plus downloads are songs and music videos available in our highest quality 256 kbps AAC audio encoding (twice the audio quality of protected music purchases), and without digital rights management (DRM). iTunes Plus music can be burned to CD as many times as you need, synced to any AAC-enabled device (such as iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV), and played on any Mac or Windows computers you own.

Apparently, iTunes is now re-downloading all my purchased songs in double the bit rate and all my music has apparently been upgraded to sound way better. I wouldn't know. Not with these cheap earbuds I use.

I used to have a good pair of Sennheiser earbuds. They were pretty awesome, until it literally started to come apart. I think now would be a good time for me to do a little bit of research and invest in a decent pair of headphones. What do you recommend?

Laterx.

If your website does this, then damn you !!!

Hello.

A quick not to say that if anyone of you have a website that displays a pop up or something like the above, be nice to your visitors and just remove it!

Wait, don't get me wrong. Its not that I want to take away even a bit of ad revenue from any websites I visit. I do not mind ads that are not obstructing the content I want to read.

However, this in my face every time I visit the website is unforgivably annoying, counter productive and cheap. Its also hard to close that darn box on a mobile device!

I don't know much about marketing, but if I had to guess, I'd say you are losing a lot of visitors by showing ads or sign-up boxes like that before anyone gets to your content.

I just want to maybe consume the information you've published. I'm not going to like you on Facebook. Am not going to tweet about your website or sign-up for your newsletter. I haven't even got to your website yet, so please, stop asking already!

Laterx.

Now … Get 50GB from Box.net for free for life !!!

Hello.

I've always shared here with you whenever I got to know about good online file storage services.

I've written on this blog about Upload Robots, Dropbox and quite recently about Minus.

I've had a Box account for a few years now. It gave me 5GB of free space to start with. But last night, I got to know that if your create a new account on Box with an iOS device or log on to your existing Box account with an iOS device, you would immediately get 50GB of space for free, for life!

That is good news for iOS guys, but what about us with Android devices? Well, I tried with my Google Nexus S, and guess what, nothing happened. Android users have been miserably left in the cold for this one. I don't know why, maybe Box wants compete with iCloud.

So, I did what everybody would do in a situation like this. I borrowed a friend's iPhone4, logged on to my Box account, and bam! I now have 50GB for free for life. I can use it however I please.

Remember, Box.net is only running this until *December 2nd* this year, and you don't have to have an iOS device to use the free space. If you are on Android or using any other platform, just ask a friend to let you use his/her iOS device to log on to your Box account just once or to create an account on Box. Thats it, you will not need the iOS device anymore.

What are you waiting for? Back up your files now! Enjoy your free space!

Laterx.

Google Music Beta: Sign-up from outside US ...

Hello.

I just signed up for Google Music Beta and have been using it for a few days. Its awesome and works fine outside US. Its a neat idea to have all your music available to you where ever when ever you want to enjoy your music.

So what really is Google Music Beta? Well, in their own words:

Music Beta is a new service from Google that gives you instant access to your personal music collection without the hassle of wires or syncing. Add your music collection and listen on the web or any compatible Android device.

You can upload your own music collection, that is music you have on your computer to Google (up to 20,000 songs) and listen to your songs on any computer or Android device. Now you can take your music where ever you go! Sounds nice, right? Feel like checking it out? Thought so.

As with most new Google services, Music is in Beta testing, by invitation and available for US residents only. That's not good news for us living outside US. So, lets see how we can get around that for now.

There are few ways to dupe Google to think that you are in the US. You can us an American VPN like Hotspot Shield or a Free Web Proxy like Hide My Ass.

I used a different approach. I headed over to proxy list website to find an American Proxy and temporarily reconfigured my Firefox proxy settings. You  may have to try a few proxies out before you find a working American proxy which supports all HTTP standards.

On Windows you can change Firefox proxy setting by going to Tools > Options > Options > Options > Advanced > Network > Settings.

If you are using Firefox on a mac, go to Preferences > Advanced" > Network" > Configure how Firefox connects to the internet > Settings.

I used the above proxy to sign up to Google Music Beta.

It's a good idea to check if you have an American IP address before trying to request or sign up for Google Music Beta. You can check your IP address easily by visiting www.whatismyip.com.

Now, using the proxy server to pass off that you are in US, head over to music.google.com, sign in and request an invite.

It may take a few days, but when you do get the invitation email from Google (or if a friend invites you) make sure that you complete the sign-up process while masquerading that you are in US. If you don't, your sign up will fail.

When you are done with sign-up, you are set. You don't need the proxies anymore. You can utilize the service like any other regular web service.

I have 6 more invites left for Google Music Beta. Comment in your email address if you want an invite.

Enjoy Google Music Beta! It's free, for now.

Laterx.

Minus: An impressive file storage service ...

Hello.

Heard about Minus, yet?

I'm big on backing-up my files. I've had hard drives die on me before, I've had a few hard drives fail on me without any kind of warning. I hope it hasn't happened to you yet, but I'm sure you have heard these stories before from your friends. Its not a pleasant experience to have your hard drives fail, nor is it any fun to lose your precious data. Since my last hard drive suddenly died on my a couple of months back, I've been backing-up my files online as fast as my limited internet connection allows me.

So why back-up online you may ask? Well, redundancy! First, I think big name companies offering "could storage" can do a better job of keeping data safe than you or me can ever think of doing. Also, there are other factors to consider, like offsite data storage, security, reliability, easy setup, process of backing up, automation and the list goes on. I don't know about you, but I seriously don't think I can ever keep on top of all these. I want to spend more time creating my data and less time backing-up and safe guarding my data, so personally, I think online storage is the way to go. I hear people saying, the future is in the cloud, and slowly but surely, I'm beginning to see their way of thinking.

The most important aspect of online storage for me is access to my data from anywhere in the world, at home, at office, while away on vacation, a business trip or even on the cell phone! The ability to access my data and the comforting thought of having it just a few keystrokes away, eliminates a lot of hassles, problems, and delays. You never know when you would be asked for a copy of that document. When you would want to show someone that picture. When you might need a copy of your identity card or passport to submit with that form you need to fill out.

I have previously written about Upload Robots and Dropbox. Now, let me introduce you to a relative newcomer on the cloud storage and file sharing scene, Minus.

So, with so many companies to choose from why Minus.com? What sold me was individual file size (2GB) and bigger free space when you sign up. You get 10GB of free space to start with when you sigh up, compared to 2GB from Dropbox and 4GB from Upload Robots.

Minus may be a new, but I like what they have done so far. They have made uploading as easy as drag and drop. Their user interface is simple, intuitive and very user friendly.

Also, they have this new social feature so you can "follow" your friends on Minus, letting you know if they have shared or uploaded anything. I think it's pretty nice.

Give Minus a try, It only takes a few seconds to sign up and start uploading files. If you sign up using my referral link, we both will get 1GB of bonus space for free.

And remember, back-up, back-up, back-up! I'll go now and try practicing what I preach.

Laterx.

New!!! Gmail offers free SMS chat …

Hello.

Have you noticed a "Send SMS" button on Gmail lately?

At first I thought it was something related to Google Voice, which is not available in my my part of the world. GV is totally useless to me, so I thought this SMS thing would never work in Maldives, but I tested it out anyway, and guess what, it seems to works perfectly well for local Wataniya subscribers.

So what is it? I did a little googling and it turns out its a two way chat system. Google allows Gmail users to send text messages from inside Gmail to a contact's mobile phone. The contact can then reply to the text message as one reply to a regular text message, and it shows up on my Gmail chat window. Nice!

How do you do it? Well, I think its an experimental feature on Gmail, so you have to first head over to Gmail labs to enable it. Go to Settings -> Labs -> enable SMS features.

It has been sometime since I have been requesting Wataniya to provide a way to let us send text messages to Wataniya subscribers from my desktop, something like WebSMS that Dhiraagu offers. Wataniya came short, but now, I can use Gmail to send text messages and I don't even even have to sign in to another service. Good stuff!

If you need more information about how this service works, here is the link to the official Google SMS help page. Give it a read.

Sending SMS from Gmail.

It is interesting to note that, currently there are about 20 countries on the list that support this service, and Maldives is on the list. Good going Wataniya and thank you!

Now log on to Gmail, and send some text messages! :)

Laterx.

Malé: Traffic problem solved! Well, almost.

Hello.

For years, if not decades, we have been talking about the population and traffic congestion problems in Malé and government authorities have been brainstorming about a suitable public transport system to ease the traffic condition on our narrow roads.

Lack of public transport in the city and availability of motor vehicles for monthly installment has made the number of vehicles on the road intolerable, resulting in all arterial roads becoming almost dysfunctional. Riding a motor bike in Malé is not easy. Driving a car is a nightmare. Parking is impossible!

Recently, there were newspaper articles and TV interviews about introduction of buses in the city to combat the current traffic crisis. The news was well received by the public who is in dire need of any public transport system, not so well by taxi drivers. However, some people are pessimistic if the current road condition can accommodate the introduction of these large vehicles.

Turns out, there is a cheaper, greener and faster alternative. Introducing the somewhat weirdly named, Straddle Bus. This is no ordinary street bus, this transit bus travels along an elevated plane, straddling on street level tracks on either side of the road, leaving ample room for vehicular traffic to pass clean underneath. Cool concept, right?

The project was exhibited in May this year at the Beijing International High-Tech Expo by the Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co Ltd.

Its creators claim this bus could reduce traffic jams significantly, by moving along on top with the normal street traffic underneath it, rather than being one more vehicle on the road. They also claim these buses would require much less infrastructure investment than digging a subway tunnel or a dedicated rapid-transit lane. This would enable existing roads to transport more people while adding little if any to traffic congestion.

While I appreciate the out of the box thinking and this transportation ingenuity, adopting this futuristic concept in our small city may give rise to its own set of problems. But this is expected when adopting any new technology anywhere. There are no perfect technologies or ideas which can be rolled out everywhere without adaptation or modification. Localization is necessary.

How will people board these buses? Passengers can wait for the bus on elevated platforms constructed at bus stops. This will minimize bus stoppage time and help in maintaining the schedule.

Can we trust the current drivers on the road to navigate through? While I trust my skill set to safely drive and negotiate a traffic jam, I do not know how I will react to a huge vehicle overtaking me few feet above my head. Given the current attitude of drivers on our roads, I expect a few exquisite catastrophes.

Here is the link to the original article. Here is a youtube video demonstration in english.

I do not know if the positive attributes of this concept are enough to warrant we dedicate our resources to building this system, but I know for sure, it is worth a look.

One has already decided. Beijing’s Mentougou District will see construction before the end of the year. A route of 186 kilometers have been mapped out for the pilot project.

Laterx.

A month with the Apple iPad ...

Hello.

I got the iPad as a birthday present about a month ago. I have been using it since and I want to share my experience with you.

You would have definitely heard about or seen the iPad by now, some of you may own one too. It is a portable device sold by Apple Computers to bridge the gap between a smart phone and a computer, negating the need for a netbook.

The package contained a USB chord, a printed user manual with the iPad sitting on top. I thought it would at least come with some kind of a usable cover. It did not. You have to buy it separately, and with so much choice online, I have yet to decide on a purchase.

Unlike a computer, there is no boot up process, it is ready when you are. The iPad feels solid and sturdy and once fired up, it is easy to start using all the apps. You just know what to do, especially if you have used an iPhone before. The software is really fast and very intuitive.  The apps are what makes the iPad experience so enjoyable.

The screen is gorgeous and big enough to surf the internet like with a real computer, without going to mobile version of the websites. I like the fact that, some websites, like Gmail, give you an optimized layout for iPad users.

I mainly use the iPad to surf the net, tweet, check email, read PDFs and catch up on google reader. Here is a list of apps on my iPad. It is pretty limited, so feel free to add anything you think I should check out.

iBooks - I guess this is must if you want to read books and PDF.
iDhivehiSites -  To read websites in dhivehi, like Haveeru.
TweetDeck and Twitterrefic - TweetDeck keeps crashing on me, almost everyday.
GoodReader - Another PDF reader, but this app can read PDF on your computer via WiFi.
Marvel, DC Comics, and Comics - Comics has most of the free comics on Marvel and DC.
IMDB - An app to easily check Internet Movie Database.
Wikipanion - An app to easily read Wikipedia.
Dropbox - Store, edit and sync files in he cloud. See my post about dropbox here.
Evernote -  A note taking app with sync functionality. Very useful.
Flipboard - A visual social media links aggregator. I just installed it.

The battery life is impressive. I have not used it extendedly, but with about 3-4 hours daily, it last 3 days. Not bad at all.

That being said, the iPad is not perfect. Let me tell you my gripes.

It is a bit heavy for extensive use, your hands get tired soon, maybe because the primary purpose of the iPad is not extended narrative reading. The iPad is not as good in sunlight as the Kindle, not even close, you need some kind of shade to be able to use it. If your want to read books, I suggest you get a Kindle.

The iPad has an OKish on-screen keyboard, but if you want to do any serious writing, forget it. You cannot type like how they do in the ads. It is good to write a few sentences at most, if you want to write more, you will have to get the external bluetooth keyboard.

Some people say that the iPad is plagued by WiFi dropout problems. I have not had a single dropout yet, may be the latest software update had it fixed.

I have to admit, when the iPad first came out, I was extremely skeptical. I could not think of a reason to get one or anticipate how it would fit in to my daily life. However, now that I have been playing with it for a while, I can tell you that iPad is an extremely versatile device and a sheer joy to use.

While I have friends who are exited about the gaming ability of the iPad, I know people who use it essentially for email. I have seen photographers using it as a proofing device and I have heard about parents using the iPad to make learning fun for kids. This is not only a device, its a platform, and I think that is what makes it revolutionary.

Laterx.

Monetizing a Maldivian's personal blog …

Hello.

The title pretty much sums up this post. This is probably not a good idea, but it is worth a shot.

Inspired by some bloggers writing about how they are making a decent living off career blogging, and false hope garnered by seeing numerous "get rich quick blogging" websites, I have decided to monetize this blog and signed-up for Google AdSense and Amazon's Associate Program.

I read that most bloggers want, first, to try and cover their hosting and ISP costs with revenue from their blog. Since I moved to Blogger, I have no hosting cost. It is free. So the only cost I incur for this blog is for the domain name. Thats USD 10/- I need to generate a year. Talk about low standards!

Its not like I want to slap some ads on the blog, step back, and expect to get a steady unattended revenue stream. I know, it does not work like that. On the other hand, the internet is teeming with articles and websites on how to make easy money using AdSense and other channels of ad providers. So at this stage, this is going to be purely experimental. I have my fingers crossed, but am not holding my breath on this one!

Google AdSense is a content-targeted advertising program. Google analyses what my posts are about and display the most relevant ads to my readers. As this is my personal blog, it does not cater to a niche or a specific product range, I essentially write anything and everything here, so I wonder what kind of ads you will see along side my posts.

Are you on google AdSense? Have you explored other forms of monetizing a blog? How have you fared so far? Tips welcome!

Laterx.