New Nokia N97 – wots the fuss?

[ru]

Новый флагман Nokia N97 - практически типичный КПК: такой же тяжелый, с теми же старыми технологиями. Только экран меньше.

[en]

N97So… In the midst of the world economic turmoil Nokia, whos shares are deeply in red, revealed a new product – the new N-series smartphone N97.

But is it that new? What are real advantages to an average pocket pc?

Same weight at 150 g, same battery of 1500 mAh, same 3.5 mm headphones jack, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 and A-GPS. Same 5 megapixel camera and microSD capability. All the same.

Only the screen is SMALLER.

At 3.5 inches a wide screen has noticeably less squarage than a standard one with 4:3 aspect.

Of course, 32 GB built-in storage is nice, but Nokia is famous for crippled transfer speeds even in top devices, so it’s gonna take patience to make use of all that space. Also keep in mind, N97 should be expected in stores no earlier than in mid-2009. By then, 32 GB ain’t gonna impress that much.

Still, N97 price ($690) is sweet, especially in the prospect of unwinding inflation in 2009, so this new gadget definitely has future.

A killer app for GPS in mobile phone?

[ru]

Есть ли смысл в GPS-модуле в мобильном телефоне? Это удовольствие стоит обычно дополнительных $200. Стоит ли переплачивать за игрушку? Ведь в наших-то краях и стандартный GPS навигатор практически бесполезен...

[en]

Pocket “paperless map” concept being pushed as a variant of a “killer app” for GPS in a phone just doesn’t make it: the phone’s screen is too tiny, the battery’s too weak.

Besides these two big problems there are more at hand:
Continue reading

Why Linux is free? FireFox so decided

[en]

FireFox, сам по себе являющийся "бесплатным" продуктом, оказывается, спонсирует "бесплатный" Линукс.

[ru]

Linux LogoDid you ever wonder at the Linux “distros” sprouting wildly? They are countless already; nobody knows the exact number: Knoppix, CentOS, Ubuntu, Kubuntu… The most surprising part is they compete. Not with Microsoft – MS is and probably will for a looong time to come enjoy their monopoly – with each other! Every distro’s outlet boasts about its market share.

Now, which “market share”? If it’s free, where’s the market?

Well, it’s not really free, wonder it not, you – users – pay for “free” Linux. Here’s how.
Continue reading

Pastors are bloggers, basically

Blogging is a hot topic today. Long past the times when people boasted, “I’ve got a website”, now it’s “I’ve got a weblog“. Blogs are brisk and lively, unlike traditional websites they keep the audience tuned and entertained.

Now, Christian churches have long been like this. (Here comes the question of who’s original, but that’s another story.)
Continue reading

Lifetime Phone Number – a reality?

I switch telephone providers every year or so. As MNP (and LNP for that matter) is not available here, I have to switch actual telephone numbers alongside. In spite of that, I try to keep all of my old numbers – gotta like to stay in touch.

Generally that is attainable (however cumbersome and sometimes expensive) by setting up all the “old” numbers to forward calls to my currently active one. In luckier parts of the world, MNP addresses most of the issues. In addition, a new trend – specialized companies providing an attractive service “one phone number for life” – has been put on rails.

On the face of it, the idea seems very alluring. Probably everybody has gone at least once in his or her life through the horrors of a telephone number change by force.
Continue reading

Life Balance and finance planning

One appeal of Life Balance has to do with the similarities to GnuCash – my finance accounting tool of choice.

Indeed,

  • GnuCash is about money accounting, Life Balance is about time/efforts accounting,
  • GnuCash has a tree of bookkeeping accounts, Life Balance has a tree of projects,
  • GnuCash has a number of useful reports, Life Balance has reports too, albeit only two: the dynamically compiled To-Do List (frankly, the main product of the system) and … the Balance report.

Continue reading