Monday, April 28, 2008

New firmware for Nokia E65 - v3.0633.69.00

Nokia has recently (finally!) released the 3rd firmware update for the E65. This one is v3.0633.69.00. It’s a very basic update which has the task to fix known bugs and improve the stability and won’t impress that much. Unlike the other revolutionary Nokia firmware updates, this one goes almost unnoticed.

Here are a few changes made from v2.0633.65.01 to v3.0633.69.00:

Messaging
* Reading SMS time stamp information unified between regions
* SMS sending from SIM toolkit - Profile 07 improved
* Unicode handling with Turkish characters corrected
* Correction to fetching email from freemail server
* Intellisync: First time contact search improved
SIM
* After the startup, the phone recognizes the language to use from the SIM card
* SMSC is re-read from SIM after switch on
VOIP
* Improvement of co-operation of Gizmo VoIP client and internet voice mailbox
* SIP proxy authentication corrected in outgoing call if two SIP profiles with same realm and user name
WAP
* Correction of Chinese word corruption with WAP browser
* Searching in Hebrew from portal corrected
* Wap GET/POST forms corrected when using Greek characters
* Reset during WAP browsing and MT calls corrected
Other changes
* Start-up settings updated
* Settings wizard updated
* Start-up date changed to 1.1.2008
* Correction of NITZObserver with negative time zone values
* Localization improvements

My take: Not worth loosing all your data!!

To see if the new firmware is available for your E65 phone model, go here.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wednesday

Wednesday is by far the most boring day of the week. I don't have anything against Wednesday or the Germanic god of the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th century known as Wodan (Hail, ye Gods!!) - but that's where the term originated from. Wēdnes dæg to Wednes dei to Wednesday now, was the day of Wodan!

I wish it was my day!

Every Wednesday I wonder, "Why can't we jump directly from Tuesday to Thursday?" Does there have to be a Wednesday every week?! It is enough trouble alright to get through a Monday but then, we have the freshness of a weekend just gone by pushing us through Monday and even Tuesday. On Wednesday, we have.....nothing! The coming weekend is still a good two days away and the last weekend is a good two days old! So what the hell am I supposed to do on a Wednesday? A couple of extra shots of caffeine while dragging through the local business daily wondering why the hell my shares in DP World keep crashing?! That was the biggest freakin IPO the region has ever seen - 'a safe investment', 'will provide liquidity to the DIFX', 'this one just can't go wrong' predicted analysts, and the shares are trading at 50% of the offering price!!! And why aren't the dimwits at the contracts team processing my ordering documents? I have the end user and partner breathing down my neck. Who are to blame if I miss my numbers this fiscal?

I blame it on Wednesday!!! But, hey, hail, ye Gods!!! (Not risking annoying any one of 'em. Can't afford to have a couple of gods pissed off at me....not now atleast!!!!) ;)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Name change after marriage?

I always believed that women should not change their last name after marriage. And when I got married, I was sure I would do the same. My reasons are technical. Why go through the hassles of a name change when it is not an obligation but just a stupid societal practice? What about the documentation/certificates etc that were issued on the old name? Birth certificate? Graduation degree? Passport? You need another document endorsing that the old and the new name are actually the same person! And do this for the rest of your life??!! And getting more argumentative, why should a girl give up her family or father's name just because she got married? Why should she disassociate herself from something that has been her identity for her entire life? And for whom? Society? I say - Bull shit! Men who try and impose this, I think, are way too egotist and insecure. If that is the case, they need therapy!

I am lucky to have a family that echo my sentiments - not the BS part though! Anyways, both my sister-in-law have not given up their last name, nor my mom or sis and neither will my wife do so. I think that decision should be left entirely on that individual. If she wishes to endorse her husband's name after her name, so be it. If it is her desire, I totally understand. That's purely sentimental. But doing so for reasons beyond that is plain foolish. All it does is create more hassles. Isn't life complicated enough already?

My message to all women out there: To hell with customs and societal norms - if YOU don't feel like keeping your husband's name - Don't do it!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Pissed off!!!!

Yesterday was, by far, the most disappointing day of my short professional life.

Like all sales job, my job also involves closing business and generating revenue for the organization. And once a deal closes, I get a percentage of that deal as my commission. Fair.

I closed a relatively large deal three weeks back that accounted for close to 20% of my yearly target. Now, in the industry that I cover, the region, market dynamics, and the competition, this deal was very important for me in order to achieve my quota for the year. Everything seemed settled with the order booked, license certificates generated and product shipped to the end user - it was time for me to claim the commission on this. And, out of the blue, one 'xyz' sales person comes into the picture and takes credit for the deal, claims the commission and walks off - and with the management endorsing him!

What about me? What about the four months I spent on this? What about my efforts?

Organization rules and policies they say. They are not wrong.

I still want to say, "Screw you!!!"

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Woozy Indian cricket

The way team India crumpled today against South Africa reminds me of the way we played cricket in our school days. Generally matches were either 15 overs or 20 overs a side. Usually we ended up scoring between 70-80 runs. Highest scorer (and Man of the match) used to be someone who crossed 30 runs or took 3 wickets or more. It took about 2 hrs to complete an innings. See the similarities?

Any Indian cricket lover would be under serious dilemma today. How can a team that scores 600+ runs a few days back get bundled out for less than 100 in the very next innings? That too under home conditions, on a pitch created by a local curator, in front of thousands of local spectators, with most players in decent to good form etc etc. Beats me! No one wanted a dead track like the one in Chennai. And hence a seaming pitch was prepared. The result? India 76 all out. And on the same track, South Africa are comfortably poised at 223/4 - perfect example of the great uncertainties of this sport!

I think Dale Steyn has been a revelation the last couple of seasons. 22 matches for 114 wickets at just over 21 runs a wicket with 8 five-fors - this is the making of a genius. And he is just 24!

This match may have well been lost in the first hour of the test unless we see some heroics in the Indian second innings. Another flash of brilliance of Sehwag, another innings of lazy elegance from Laxman, another wallish performance from Dravid or another innings from Ganguly to reinstate that he really is next to God on the off-side! I am optimistic of an Indian fightback. All is not lost. After all, isn't cricket known for its uncertainties?

Friday, March 21, 2008

I miss Bangalore

I miss seeing the sunrise from the terrace
I miss the creme de la caramel & DBC sundae from Corner House
I miss the couch, TV remote, snacks and TV
I miss the cool breeze at midnight on the terrace
I miss the biryani & kebab from Mughal Darbar, the tandoori chicken from Chicken County, fondue at Indijoes, the buffet at Barbeque Nation
I miss driving around on my bike around Jaynagar in the rain
I miss the dinners and the early morning breakfast buffets with my colleagues
I miss MTR's idli sambar with pure ghee and masala dosa
I miss sheru - the dog in front of my house who I used to feed every day
I miss the madness of MG road, brigade road & commercial street
I miss sitting at my favorite CCD sipping iced mochachillo and reading John Grisham
I miss the irate auto wallas who just refused to go where I wanted to go
I miss the thrill of competing and winning awards at work
I miss the time I spent with my family when they visited
I miss my friends - Sumit, Abhijeet, Amit, Iya, Puja and my other colleagues from work

Friday, March 14, 2008

Dubai accident victim

By now, half the world knows about the 250 car pile up on Abu Dhabi - Dubai highway.

As per the official stats:
Total cars involved in the accident: 250
No. of cars totally destroyed: 83
Total injured: 347
Total dead: 3 (official number!)

Off the 3 dead, one such person was Mohammad Salib Khan, 29, a bus driver. He was due to fly home to Pakistan on 20th March to meet his wife and 3 year old daughter Alina, who he had seen 2 yrs ago, on this last visit home! He had borrowed money for his expenses, done his shopping and had his ticket booked on a PIA flight to Peshawar. He got married 4 yrs ago and had visited his family only once. He was eager to meet his daughter because she had started speaking. He was supposed to be reunited with his family, he was supposed to fly on 20th, happy and excited to - embrace his daughter, love his wife and take blessings from his mother!

Instead, he now goes in a box!

May his soul rest in peace. May Allah grant him all the pleasures of heaven. Amen.

p.s. I don't know him. Read about it in the papers. But I was deeply pained!