Yet another E71 discovery

... a bit embarrassing, to be honest.

I've been using my Nokia E71 now for about a year now, and only today discovered that I can delete an item in a list, e.g. SMS, eMail, Todos ... simply be pressing the delete button.

Until today, I always went through the menu...

Ctrl-K everywhere

Just noticed the other day, that Ctrl-K (i.e. jump to searchbar) not only works in Firefox and Internet Explorer, but also (tata) in Thunderbird...

Now even more handy with the new indexed full search functionality in Thunderbird 3.0 beta 4....

Yahoo pushing its brand?

Seems that Yahoo noticed that they own flickr...
Well, at least they changed the logo :-)

Open vs. Closed - "Steve Cares For Us"

via Geek & Poke

also see TechCrunch about "Googles Nuke" in the Apple vs. Google Voice fight.

Some E71 shortcuts

Here are some keyboard shortcuts for the E71 I discovered:

General:

• Press & hold * (star)
  Turn on/off Bluetooth... quite handy
• Press & hold #(hash)
  Should switch between general and silent profile,
  but does switch between line #1 and line #2 on mine
  I'd have preferred the profile switch...
  

In text edit / messaging:

• Fn-Ctrl-C [1]
  Clipboard Copy
• Fn-Ctrl-V
  Clipboard Paste
• Fn-Ctrl-X
  Clipboard Cut

Useful... yes, sort of...

But try hitting [Fn] [Ctrl] and [C] (or V or X) at the same time... and still hold the phone in one hand...
Almost impossible... see where those keys are located:



Lucky however, that you don't have to press and hold them at the same time. Fn, then Ctrl, then C/V/X is OK... so you can do it quite easily.
--
[1] Ctrl being Chr/Ctrl or Alt/Strg (on German keyboard) - the key in the very lower right corner

E71 usability

Just by accident I noticed that you can select (="mark") elements on a list on the E71 by holding the shift-key while scrolling over the items.... just like on Windows (and others).
Very convenient in the messaging application (SMS, email).

Don't know why I did it... I didn't try on purpose... I guess I just did it, because that's the way it ought to be...
Sad thing is, I noticed only after about a year...

Innovation = unintended use

One excellent example for using a service in a way the creators (of that service) did not have in mind can be found on flickr - the photo community site/service (now owned by Yahoo):

There actually is a group called "Translate Korean -> English" where you can post your picture with any Korean text and some nice flickr members (who speak Korean and English) will add a comment to your picture with the English translation of that text.

A friend of mine needed this service because she owns a Korean (only) washing machine and needed to know how to operate it ...

Cool - isn't it.

And I'm sure that the flickr founders did not think about this - back then.

Tech Support Cheat Sheet

via xkcd

Nokia support is getting ridiculous

So last time Nokia support told me to "have some patience. The problem should be solved in the near future."

Wir bitten noch mal um etwas Geduld. Das Problem sollte sich naher Zukunft erledigen.
[1]
When today after a couple of days I inquired what they exactly mean by "near future" I was told they "could not give me more detailed information. In the near future means 3-4 weeks or more. We ask you for patience".

Wir können Ihnen leider keine genauere Auskunft geben. In naher Zukunft bedeutet 3-4 Wochen oder auch mehr.
Wir bitten um Geduld.

Just a reminder that first, they told me I was too stupid, and then that the website and the NSU database were just not in sync. Now the problem requires a couple of weeks (or possibly months) to be solved...

Just a reminder: the problem is to sync the information on the website with the NSU database requires 3-4 weeks or more... preposterous.

Well, this time I asked for the support manager... let's see what (s)he has to say regarding answers like those.
I'm waiting...

--
[1] re-reading this: they actually say (in German) that the problem would (more like) disappear in the near future.

Still no update...

this is getting boring (for you, dear subscribers/readers probably, too).
There is still no E71 update for me, and asking Nokia Care Center if waiting from Wednesday to Monday is ample time for them to synchronize their web-query and their NSU database, they choose not to answer.

One might think, that Nokia is not under pressure from Apple and Android/G1/HTC/...

Does NSU hate me ?

I'm getting the feeling, that the Nokia Software Updater (NSU) hates me.
See what it did on August 16h, 9:34 (a couple of minutes ago):

All I wanted was to update my E71...

(No) Update on Nokia Service

So I created a ticket with Nokia Care Center for the missing E71 update for my version.

First Level just got back to me with dummy "read the web pages" instructions and how I should download the Nokia Update Software.
Duuh.
I told them my exact problem and wishes.

So I told them again, ... and that I was expecting a more specific answer.
To which they replied that it can take some time between a new version being reported as available on the web page and actually being available through the updater.

"Hier kann es vorkommen, dass die Information auf der Webseite aktueller ist, wie [sic] die Information die der Nokia Software Updater bekommt.
Wir bitten Sie daher, den Vorgang des Update zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt erneut zu versuchen."

("It can happen that the information on the web page is more current than the information the Nokia Software Updater is receiving. We ask you to repeat the Update at a later time.")

Are more than 48 hours enough? One should think so... alas, they are not.
Updater still does not find the new version.

And the Nokia guy didn't even bother to check or involve some back-office / 3rd level support ... Again just a standard answer...

Annoying.

Nokia service (?) quality (?)

I've been waiting for a v2 or v3 update for my E71 for months now - and still am.
As others have ... and already ranted about it (rightfully so).

Problem is, that I have an operator (A1) branded handset, which come with their own product code. Nokia has to release the update specifically for each product code.
Which is OK... and necessary, since the operators should have their say with what goes onto their branded devices[1]... Fair, fair.

Still, the A1 gave Nokia the OK to release 200.xxx months ago... But Nokia did not release 200.xxx or 300.xxx via the updater.

Only yesterday a version higher than v1 (300.21.12) showed up.

Nokia Software Updater, however, on Windows (v1.7.3... to be sure the latest) does not find the new update:

Still wants to keep me on 100.07.76...

So... I complained about it to Nokia...
Let's wait and see...
(mostly wait I guess)

--
[1] not the non-branded ones

Facebook acquires FriendFeed

FriendFeed Blog: FriendFeed accepts Facebook friend request: "We are happy to announce that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed."

Not sure if I like this... hm...lets see what happens.

Thunderbird 3 attachment reminder

Today I got scared by Thunderbird 3 (beta), when it brought the following pop up when I was trying to send an email:

Huh?
Well at first I just hit "No, Send Now", because I never intended to attach a file...

Hours later it did it again with a different email, still did not want to attach anything.
Couldn't find any pattern when it would come up with the pop up or not.

Then I tried it out (could've googled it of course):
When the email you send contains the wort attached or attachment (or variations a I guess), but there is no attachment, Thunderbird assumes, you just forgot it... and warns you.

Try it yourself: Send an email that says "Attached you'll find nothing" to yourself, and voila...

Cool...

Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 Released

The Rumbling Edge :: Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 Released: "Thunderbird 3 Beta 3 has been released"

I'm installing it as I blog this ;-)

Qando being really really stupid

Qando is an excellent service for quering up to date (and realtime) information about the (mainly) Viennese public transport.
I used to know it from the iPhone - or rather from my iPod touch only, where it was not THAT useful, because it only worked when I had a WiFi connection ... it does an excellent job on a fully GPRS/3G connected iPhone, though.

Found out that it is also available as a JavaME version for more or less or other handsets, including my E71.

Installs OK, starts fine, however, it could NOT access my GPS device (a common problem for JavaME apps).

But I wouldn't even let me enter station/address data by hand.
There is a search input field, but I failed miserably to enter anything there...

...except for numbers, I found out after a while.

And then I played with it a little more, and noticed that - get this! - emulate a T9 input, even when the phone has a full QWERTY keyboard!
So if I hit e.g. the 4-key 3 times it will walk through g-h-i... like it would on a 12 key phone[1].

Aaaaaa... how stupid can one be as a programmer. Who in this century (or the last 20-30 years for that mattters) codes keyboard input and key-stroke-decoding by hand! Let the opsys do that! That's what it is here for. Even on a phone.

So please, Qando programmers, you can do better! And it's a lot easier for you!
--
[1] or whatever the correct number of keys on a numeric-pad-only phone is.

No wait ...

via xkcd - A Webcomic - Estimation

XP/centrino crashes under Vbox 3.02

Just installed the newly released VirtualBox 3.02 today, and my (guest) XP started to crash after I de-installed the "old" (2.2.x) guest additions and installed the 3.02 additions.
Turned out that this is a known windows virtualization problem on Centrinos [1] like documented here.

So I rebooted (for the umpteenth time), F8-ed and selected the last known working settings, regedited the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm

to the value 4.

Rebooted, and voila... works again.


---
[1] yes, this was on my beloved laptop.

OpenOffice.org Calc shortcuts

I just learned that Ctrl-+ and Ctrl-- add (or remove, respectively) a cell/line in Calc.

Haven't noticed that before, and I only learned it, because I wanted to zoom in/out (like in Firefox)...
Boy, I'm glad there was a popup, and I did not ruin my spreadsheet without knowing it...