A couple of weeks ago my beloved Sony Ericsson P910 died.  It got dropped one too many times.  A rather large semi-lequid patch appeared in its left bottom corner and touch screen stopped working.  Since the keyboard died a long time ago, I was left with no way to input or navigate the phone.  Being an exceptionally smart individual I decided that a reboot might cure this, and, obviously, that left me at the “Enter your PIN” prompt with no hope what so ever.

Next morning I rushed to the mobile shop.  The first two on my way were closed, since that was too early in the morning, but gladly I remembered that there is a Germanos branch in Debenhams, which opens pretty early.  Like 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning.  And indeed it was open.

Which phone should I get?  Every time I have this question, no matter how much time I spend online reading reviews and calculating ratings.  Shopping for a new phone is one of those experiences where “in hand” is way better than “online”.

I’ve been waiting for some Google Android based phones to pop up, but it is too early in the year.  And anything else that I liked the picture of on the Internet was running Windows Mobile which I don’t feel like trying yet.  So, there I was, early morning in the mobile phone shop.

Gladly, we don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to mobile phones.  It’s not like in Europe or on the Internet.  There are just a few brands with just a few models.  And if you are to consider major differences between them, and pick the one accoding to your likings, you probably won’t find more than three models to choose from.  And this time it was no exception.

After just three minutes in the shop, I ended up with a couple of Sony Ericsson models and an HTC thing.  The HTC one was really neat.  It had nice rubber feel to it, it was the right size, and it had the full QWERTY keyboard sliding out of phone’s side.  Really nice design.  But it was a Windows Mobile thing, so, unfortunately, I had to say “No”.  Maybe next time though.  And out of the two Sony Ericsson models that I picked, only one had an extra memory extension slot.  So the choice was obvious.

Sony Ericsson G900

Things that I love about this phone:

• All sorts of networking options from BlueTooth to WiFi.
• Excellent computer connectivity.  Plug in a simple USB cable, and I can move files in and out.  Even using my Fedora Linux laptop.  No magic, no drivers, no software, nothing.  Beautiful.
• Remote synchronization of contacts, calendars, notes, and more.  More on that in a moment.
• 5 megapixel camera.  Photo and video.  Not something to substitute serious equipment, but really handy.  Plus has some cool effects like black and white, sepia, etc.
• Symbian UIQ operating system, which gives me access to a wide range of software, both Symbian-specific and that of the Java  platform.
• Support for video calls.  I just realized that these work even here in Cyprus.  Even though they are somewhat more expensive.
• Size and weight.  Not too small, and very light.

Things that I don’t like about this phone:

• A bit slow.  Especially starting up.
• Navigation is weird at times.  This might be because I used different types of phones before.  Or maybe it’s just weird.
• Battery life could have been better.  Although I’ve now learned to disable wireless networking when I don’t need it.

Once I bought the phone, my next concern was the resore of my contacts and schedules.  As you can imagine, my old phone died before I could do a proper backup, so I was a bit worried there.

I remember having done quite a few backups of my contacts, sending them to my Gmail account.  A few searches showed that the last backup was done more than two years ago.  Oh, well.  Better than nothing.  But will the import work OK?  Will the pictures and extra notes transfer?  I never had to try it.

Good friends suggested a couple of web services to try.  The first one was Mobical.  Really good one.  I registered, entered my phone number, received an SMS with some settings, approved it, and that was it.  I had an editor in my browser, which I could conveniently use to modify contacts, schedules, notes, bookmarks, and what not.  Then, a simple button push on my mobile synchronized what I saw in my browser to what I saw in my mobile.  Beautiful!  I played quite a bit with it.  Import feature took my latest backup just fine and the rest I could easily complete without using the freaky mobile keyboard.

The only thing that I wish was better - Google integration.  Most of my contacts are in Gmail, and I use Google Calendar too much to have another software for this purpose.  Gladly, there is GooSync.  Solves the problem of Google integration.  Takes all the contacts and calendars and does two way synchronization between the phone and Google services.  Sweet!

In under a day I was all set and packed with contacts, tools, and exploring new features.  That was probably the shortest and most pleasant phone upgrade ever.

P.S.:  If you want to see some of the pictures and videos taken with this phone, check out Sony Ericsson G900 tag in my Flickr photostream.

P.P.S.: Videos are not yet uploaded, but they are coming soon (today, tomorrow).

As some of you already know, I’ve changed my job. For the last year or so I used to be the Senior Developer, System Administrator, Project Manager, and so on and so forth at mmVirtual Ltd, which is one of the top web design and development companies in Cyprus.

Starting from today, I am employed as Senior Web Developer at EuroOrient Ltd. This company is in the financial services markets. I will be a part of IT team, working for the first time with my brother. Most of my time will be spent on taking all FxPro web sites to the next level.

In the meantime, I will still be doing IT consulting and occasional development for mmVirtual Ltd., as well as a few other companies that I managed to develop some relationships with over the last couple of years. While I mostly do system administration and technology assessments for them, I see that my career is moving more into web development area. I am a frequent user of web development techniques and technologies, but I feel that my programming skills need a lot of improvements. So if you see a change of focus on this blog, don’t be too surprised - I have a lot of catching up to do (pointers and suggestions are much appreciated, by the way).

50 Ways to Help the Planet is an excellent initiative.  These are 50 simple, straight-forward tips for how to make a little bit less of an impact on our planet.  You probably already do some of these things.  You’ll probably never do some of them.  But chances are you’ll find some things in that list that you won’t mind doing.

Here is the list of things as applied to me and my family.  You should probably read the original list first though.

1. Change your light. I’ll do it in the nearest future. I thought Olga hated the color of that light, but apparently she doesn’t.  That was the only reason keeping me from doing that.
2. Turn off computers at night. Done. Now that we completely switched to laptops, this is not an issue anymore. All our computers are hibernating over night.
3. Don’t rinse. We don’t even have a dishwasher.
4. Do not pre-heat the oven. We don’t use all that often anyway. Maybe once every couple of month. Or even less.
5. Recycle glass. Beer bottles is the only glass that we recycle.  For everything else we’ll soon have an option, from what I hear.
6. Diaper with conscience. Done, I think.  Pampers are recyclable. Or are they bad for the environment?
7. Hang dry. Done. Even though Olga would really love to have a dryer. Gladly we don’t have any space to put it anywhere.
8. Go vegetarian once a week. Sorry, planet, but that is not an option.
9. Wash in cold or warm. Done.  It’s much faster too.  And safer for things in color.
10. Use one less paper napkin. We don’t use that much of them anyway. If eating out, good places usually have cloths, not paper.
11. Use both sides of paper. How about not use paper at all? I’m very close to that, with just a few exceptions which I am trying to take care of.  Toilet paper will stay though, and I think we won’t be switching to using both sides of it any time soon.
12. Recycle newspaper. It’s been ages since I read the newspaper.
13. Wrap creatively. Done. Yes, we reuse present bags, wrappings, ribbons, and such.
14. Rethink bottled water. We’d gladly do that, but our kitchen is too small for an extra water tank. I wish we had a bit more space for a water dispenser or something.
15. Ban bathtime. Not an option for Olga, and not an issue for me.
16. Brush without running. Now that Cyprus is almost out of water, and water is disconnected every other day, closing running water everywhere is a common behavior. We are not an exception.
17. Shower with your partner. That’s a nice tip, but I doubt its value to the environment, since this usually ends with multiple showers.
18. Take a shorter shower. With water running out, that’s more like a rule rather than just a suggestion.
19. Plant a tree. We have three small palms on the balcony.  I don’t know if that counts as planting a tree, but it’s as close as we can get right now.
20. Use your cruise control. There is no cruise control in my car.  However I am trying my best with the cleaner petrol - Unleaded 100 and no less.
21. Second-hand doesn’t mean second-best. Not an issue. We are getting a lot of stuff second-hand.  Most of our computers, TV, and some other technology came in as second hand.  Our car is second hand.  And then, we aren’t shopping all that much either.
22. Buy local. We mostly do.  Only things that aren’t available locally, like geeky t-shirts and books - we order from abroad.
23. Adjust your thermostat. I think we are already doing that, but this is very subjective.
24. Invest in your own coffee cup. Did that. We have quite a few. I usually bring my own cup to the office too.
25. Batch errands. Done.
26. Turn off lights. With the kid in the house, that’s harder to do than it might seem, but I’m trying to catch up with him as much as I can.
27. Greener lawn care. We don’t have a lawn to care about.
28. Picnic with a marker. That’s what we are worst at.  For every picnic we buy packs of reusable dish-ware. We dispose of them afterwards properly, but that’s still much more than we need.
29. Recycle old cell phones. We only had two old cell phones.  Maxim is still playing with one of them. And another one we gave away to a friend. Yey!  By the way, our cell phones last much longer than 18 month.  We have them for years.
30. Maintain your vehicle. Done. We are doing all scheduled services and oil changes.
31. Recycle unwanted wire hangers. We don’t have any wire hangers. And of those non-wire hangers we don’t have any that are unwanted.  I guess that’s good.
32. Choose glass bottles over aluminum cans. The only thing to which this choice applies is beer.  And beer in glass bottles is way better than in aluminum cans.  And we recycle bottles too, as mentioned above.
33. Telecommute. We live in a small place.  My office is far away from my house and it takes me the whole 10 minutes to drive over there.  Now that I am switching jobs, my office will be three times closer to my home. Maybe I’ll even walk there sometimes.
34. Keep your fireplace damper closed. We don’t have a fireplace.
35. Cut down on junk mail. We are not sending anything out. I wish we could cut down on the incoming junk.
36. Choose matches over lighters. We don’t smoke.  And we have an electric cooker. I think we have a lighter and a box of matches somewhere in our kitchen, for those cases when we need to light some candles.  Other than that, fire is pretty much a foreign concept for our home.
37. Let your fingers do the walking - online. Yup. We are there.
38. Give it away. We have a lot of stuff packed and ready for a charity give away. I am trying to locate one nearby.
39. Go to a car wash. Always do. I think I washed a car by hand only twice in my life. And I can’t say I enjoyed the experience.
40. Plastic bags suck. Indeed. But I haven’t seen any choice for that matter in any major supermarket. The only places that have paper bags and envelopes are bakeries.  Utilizing them as much as I can.  Olga hates paper bags though.
41. Fly with an e-ticket. That’s like the only option for now.
42. Download your software. Yes, I am a happy Linux user.  Most of open source software gets seriously outdated by the time it is printed and distributed on CDs or DVDs.  Downloading software is in our culture.
43. Stop your answering machine. I never had a hardware answering machine.  A brief period when my phone was automatically answered, it was done by a computer.  But even that was a long time ago.  With the convenience and popularity of the mobile phones, people rarely call our home’s land line.
44. Skip the coffee stirrer. I am never in such a hurry that I can’t sit down and have a cup of coffee from a proper mug with a proper teen spoon.  All that paper and wooden dish-wear really don’t appeal to me.
45. Find a better way to break the ice. The only ice we get around here is in the fridge. And it comes in cubes easily breakable from one another.
46. Use cotton swabs with a paperboard spindle. I have absolutely no idea of what they are talking about here.
47. Pay bills online. I’ve switched most of my bills to online payments in the last six month.
48. Stop paper bank statements. That’s about time indeed. The online banking used to suck badly for the last few years. But now it is at a stage where paper bank statements aren’t needed anymore.  I’ll cancel mine next time I am in the bank.
49. Use rechargeable batteries. We use a lot of batteries for all those toys.  But we don’t have a charger. I guess we should get one.
50. Share! Done.

How does it apply to you?

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday.  That was a blast!  I received congratulations and best wishes from more people (and bots) than I ever did.  In fact, there were so many that I can publish some statistics (numbers are approximated):

• Automated greeting messages from forums and social services: 35
• Phone calls: 15
• SMS messages: 10
• Paper postcards: 1
• E-cards: 1
• Emails: 4
• IM chats: 15
• Social networks contacts (Odnoklassniki.ru, Facebook, etc): 70
• In person: 20

Some of these overlap, but not that much.  Messages started coming in from Monday afternoon and they are still pouring  in. Needless to say, I am overwhelmed.   A huge thank you to all of you!  You made my day.

I’ve had PrimeHome for quite some time now. So I don’t know of this feature was there before or if it is one of the recent additions, but it’s pretty cool. Apparently, you can subscribe to additional TV channel packages with just a remote control. No need to call or drive to any of those PrimeTel shops, no need to fill any forms, and, most importantly, no need for any waiting.

Here is how it works. Go to the menu and select the channel that you don’t have but would like to. You’ll see a static PrimeHome screen, with a line at the top saying something like “Press red button to subscribe”. Press the red button on your remote control now. You’ll be asked to enter your PIN and once you do, your STB will reboot and you’ll have the channel enabled. You’re done.

A few things to keep in mind:

• You can easily subscribe with remote control, but not unsubscribe. To unsubscribe you’ll need to visit their shop and fill the form. Maybe you can do it over the phone too - I’m not sure, but it’s for sure not as easy as subscribing.
• When you subscribe with remote control, you don’t subscribe to a single channel, but a package of channels to which it belongs. Check the list of channels and prices for each package at PrimeHome web site before subscribing.
• When you subscribe with remote control, you will be shown a warning that the minimum period for your subscription is two month. I don’t know if the same policy applies when you subscribe through phone or from inside of their office, but it’s worth knowing. If you get yourself an expensive package, you’ll have to pay for at least two month of using it.

That’s about it.

First of all, a confession.  I was aware of the fact that there is such a show (or video podcast) - Diggnation.  I was aware of the fact that it is somehow related to the Digg web site.  And I think I even remember watching a couple of episodes a long time ago.  But, all of that was in my passive memory.  I wouldn’t remember what the show was about, if it was funny at all, or even who or how many of the hosts there were. So, when I was checking the agenda for The Next Web Conference 2008, I couldn’t have imagined what the “DIGGnation, live recorded from Amsterdam!” entry at the end of day 1 was all about.

The situation started to change when I noticed that at the end of the day there was a stream of new people in the conference hall, and that many of them were wearing Diggnation t-shirts.  That kind of looked suspicious - are they all coming specifically for the show while avoiding the conference as a whole?  It turned out it was indeed so (I later spoke to a few people who came from all over Europe just for Diggnation).

The Diggnation live in Amsterdam episode is up and you can see yourself how it was.  There was also a live stream during the recording, and the whole thing was somewhat longer with preparations and closing of the show, but it will give you an idea of how it went.  There were indeed a few rounds of free beers for the audience, and there was indeed this awesome dude with two joints for the hosts.

I enjoyed the show so much that I actually watched a few episodes back and will probably watch the new ones now and then.  If have a very sensitive sense of humor, you should probably skip.  All the rest - you’ll have a blast.

A few things have happened recently that caused me to go through available laptop offers, looking for a new one.  First of all, our last desktop PC at home died.   Secondly, my laptop is getting pretty old.  Thirdly, I am switching to a new job, new office, new boss, and I have an opportunity to get a new laptop to sustain all of that stress.

What do I need in a laptop?  Well, my current HP nx6110 has been working pretty good for the last two years.  I am satisfied with its power and features.  The only two things I would like to see improved are battery life (it can survive for about 2 hours without power) and screen resolution (1024×768 is sort of small for me).  Other than that, it’s perfect.

Most of the newer laptops boast better battery life, despite being packed with more powerful processors, more memory, and better graphics cards.  So that looks like to be taken care of all by itself.

Screen resolution, however, is a tricky issue.  Usually, for higher screen resolution, I’d need to get a laptop with larger screen too.  My current laptop has a 15″ screen, which seems just about right. I’d love to have higher resolution on the screen of that size, not a bigger screen with higher resolution.

Bigger screens are nice, especially considering the fact that I work a lot with pictures and use my laptop to watch DVDs.  But moving around with a large laptop is inconvenient.  For example, on a recent trip to a conference in Amsterdam, even my current laptop was a tiny bit too large. It was OK to bring it to Amsterdam, but it was too heavy to carry around to the conference (laptop + power supply + socket adapter + digital camera + spare batteries + the huge bag to fit all that = a lot of weight).

After considering all pros and cons for a few moments, I decided that I don’t need a bigger laptop.  I should get something as close to the current size as possible, but with support of higher resolution (maybe a wide screen too).  For the mobile needs (such as conferences) I should get a new smart phone with QWERTY keyboard.  A combination of a good smart phone and a laptop should cover me from all sides.  I’d bring the laptop to the hotel and use it to watch DVDs and browse the web on high resolution, while I can use a smart phone as a quick Web access tool and note taking device.

With that in mind, Lenovo ThinkPad T61 laptop looks just fine.  There is a 15.4″ widescreen option, which boasts 11+ hours of battery life as well as all bells and whistles that I want.

What do you guys think?  What’s your choice for a laptop these days?  How do you solve your multimedia and traveling digital needs?

While in Amsterdam, I stayed in Movenpick Hotel.  This hotel is one of 62 hotels in Movenpick network.  There are some nice pictures and amazing numbers on the Movenpick hotel network web site.

My experience with the hotel was simply outstanding.  First of all, it was very easy to find.  I took a train from the airport to Amsterdam Central, and from their I walked to the hotel.  I could also easily avoid the walking part, since there is a free shuttle service between the hotel and Amsterdam Central every half an hour.  But I don’t mind, it was nice to walk anyway.

The inside and outside of the hotel is very stylish.  It is obvious that a lot of money were spent on internals and externals, but, at the same time, the hotel does not feel like a pompous place for very rich people.  It feels more like a very good family oriented hotel.

All the staff in the hotel is well trained, welcoming, and very helpful.  And, what is also nice to see, there is just enough staff to handle the operations.  It doesn’t feel neither lonely or crowded.  There is always someone around to help you out, but it’s easy to relax and disconnect from the world even in the reception hall.

The room was large.  There was plenty of space for me, which came as no surprise since the same room can be used for by up to three people - there are two beds and a sofa.  The room also had a table with space for the computer and enough power outlets nearby.

My room was on the 19th floor, and it had an excellent view on the city and the canal.  From that height I could see for miles and miles away, and it is from that window that I made quite a few pictures.  Also, the room featured enough lights to keep the room lit in the evenings.

As to other conveniences, I had all the regular stuff - flat screen TV, air condition, mini-bar, safe box large enough to fit a laptop with a few other valuable items, a full bath in the bathroom, and warmed up floors.  I also had a tea pot in the room, with some cups, and a selection of teas and coffees.

There were two choices for Internet connectivity.  WiFi - claimed slow and unstable, but free and available all over the hotel, and a wired (Ethernet) connection in the room.  Ethernet connection was priced at 6 EUR/hour, but I didn’t have any need for it what so ever, since “slow” WiFi connection was pretty stable and giving me 5 mbps up and 5 mbps down (tested with speedtest.net against a server in London).

There are quite a few bars and restaurants in the hotel with some really great food.  Breakfasts were amazing.  A full selection of breakfast meals were offered, plus there was this nice touch for fried eggs.  They weren’t fried in large numbers and kept warmed for the duration of the breakfast, like they are doing in most of Cyprus hotels.  No.  There was a dedicated person who used those small puns to fry eggs just for you.  And while at that, people had a choice of additional stuff they’d want in their fried eggs - ham, cheese, mushrooms, onions, etc.  It was so good, if it wasn’t for the conference early start, I’d be spending half a day at breakfast.

Dinner times were as good.  The place is known for it’s open grill cooking and a selection of ice cream based desserts. I tried beef, which was great, and I did my pick of ice cream selections - that was pretty good too.  The prices, although higher than in the city, are very reasonable for the hotel and for the quality of food and service (we are talking 20-30 EUR per person, with drinks).

One last thing about the hotel that I wanted to mention is the smoking policy.  Smoking is strictly prohibited on the hotel’s grounds.  There are no designated areas or dedicated places.  If you want to smoke, you have to go outside the hotel. Period.  There is a fine of 150 EUR for offenders.  Also, despite some drugs being legalized or tolerated in Amsterdam, the use of any drugs is prohibited in Movenpick hotel.

As I said, overall, I am more than satisfied with the hotel.  It helped to create the nice experience that I got out of this trip.

Most of the people who I told that I was going to Amsterdam for a conference responded with some combination of one or more of “Oh, the drug capital of the world“, “Oh, the city of red lights and legalized prostitution“, and “Oh, this is the best place to get high and get laid“. Quite a few people that I know have already visited Amsterdam before, and less than a handful of them could name a point of interest not related to either sex or drugs.

That felt a bit to narrow minded for me, but there was not much I could express in return. Reading Wikipedia articles and tourist guides is all fine, but it doesn’t beat the experience of a visit.

I am glad to report that there is a lot more to the city of Amsterdam than just coffeshops with legalized pot and red lights district. So much in fact, that I didn’t manage to visit those high profile places in my almost four days there. So, what’s up there?

Streets. Lots of streets with some nice architecture. A complex system of canals is laid through out the city, and that makes for some amazing scenery. Canal waters, industrial skyline, lots of parks, lawns, and trees, and developed infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclist make it all a pleasure to explore the city. I wish the weather was any better, but even as such (+3..+7 C with a bit of wind and rain) it wasn’t a big problem.

One of the things that I kept pointing out for myself was how well-organized and clean the city was despite all the industrial works in the area. Canals are pretty busy with ships of all shapes and sizes bringing stuff in and taking stuff out. Railways are going throughout the city. Trucks can be easily spotted around. Also there are quite a few sites which look like factories and plants. But, somehow, it is very easy to imagine that all of that industrial infrastructure is just not there. Because it doesn’t affect the city life very much. The air is clean and easy to breath, the water is fine, and the streets are nice and clean too. Coming from a very industrial city myself, it kept surprising me over and over again.

One aspect of this infrastructure was particularly catching my attention - the railways. Railways are going through the city inside out. Plenty of passenger and non-passenger trains are passing by. But, the railways are clean and trains are very silent. Many buildings by the railways have tables and chairs on the balconies, arranged in such a way that there is no doubt some people are using them to enjoy the view and to rest a bit during their free time. In fact, the hotel in which I was staying was only about five minutes away from Amsterdam Central, and I never even heard or felt any train passing, although I could see many of them out of the window.

Of course, when talking about Amsterdam, it is impossible not to mention bicycles. They are everywhere. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, much like those people riding them. Bikes are used both as a form of transportation and as means of exercise. And while many people have cars, it looks like absolutely everyone has a bicycle, and what’s more, everyone seem to prefer a bicycle to a car no matter what is the goal of the trip, the distance to the destination, or the weather outside. Amazing really.

Amsterdam, they say, is well known for its cultural life. Museum and exhibitions in particular. I saw a few proofs of that, in the form of museum signs and all sorts of passes and batch tickets, but I didn’t manage to enjoy any of that. A few people from the conference did sneak out to museums and said that they were indeed pretty good, but I can’t trust that until I’ll see it with my own eyes. Yes, that means that I want to go back and spend some more time in Amsterdam…

I am back from my trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands.  It was as good as I expected and sometimes even better.  I really enjoyed my time over there, met a quite a few interesting people, established a few useful relationships, saw some interesting technologies, photographed a beautiful city, tasted some nice beers, and more.

I brought back a few hundred photos, which took me a few hours to sort through.  Now that I am done there are just over a hundred pictures which I hope you will enjoy once they are all uploaded.  I also have quite a few posts backlogged. They are mostly in a form of notes right now, so I’ll need to expand them a bit and will publish in the next few days.

Just to give you a few highlights:

• Amsterdam is a beautiful city.  I hope I will have a chance to visit it again.
• I didn’t manage to visit a coffee shop, red lights district, or any of the recommended restaurants.  I was having enough fun without following any of recommendations.  Probably will do so next time.
• People over there are tall indeed.  Very tall.
• People over there ride bicycles even when it is cold and raining.  The city infrastructure is very supportive of cyclists, but I need to read some more about their traditions and history, because current bicycle penetration in the population is much deeper than just city infrastructure.
• I haven’t seen any cops on the streets.  Not even traffic police.
• There is lots of fighting with tobacco smoking.  Many places (like my hotel for example) completely ban smoking and don’t even have places for smoking.  Very nice.
• I’ll need to write a separate post about trains.
• It was interesting to see canals and so much water transport in operation.
• The conference was a success.  I met a few interesting people, saw some useful technologies, and brought back a few thoughts on how things should move on.

As you can see, there is a lot to post about.  Stay tuned.