Darshak's Blog

MyPhoneExplorer - The Best Thing You Can Have for Your Sony Ericsson Phone

2008-03-20T13:49:00.000-06:00

I have got Sony Ericsson w810i after coming to US. When I got my w810i, the first thing I did was to install the PC suite to see what all is supported in the software and I was really really disappointed. the SE PC suite turned out to be as crappy as the Nokia PC Suite or the Motorola Phone Toolkit. All these software available from the original vendors seem to be substandard and compete with each other for lower efficiency levels.

The one of my friend and classmate, who is very enthusiastic in every small metters also, suggested me to use, MyPhoneExplore. He only sen it me via Google talk. Before that, I was not aware of this thing at all. This I believe is the best thing that has happened to the mobile industry. And here’s some of the best features of MyPhoneExplorer.

The installation and phone detection is simpler and more effective than all the original software available.
It connects to my phone whenever I pug it into the USB drive. And even if I disconnect the phone from the PC when the software is running and then connect it again. It gracefully connects without asking me to detect the phone again!
It runs as utility on my System Tray. I can use hotkeys like ctrl+F5 to launch the “new message” window etc..
Messaging
- I can type messages and click send to broadcast the message through my phone. It allows me to pick contacts from my address book and also create a favorites list of contacts.
- Messages I send from the software are saved in the SENT messages folder and later synced on to the phone. This is something very simple but it doesn’t happen in Nokia and Motorola pc suites.
- I can archive the messages into my local machine AND group them under different custom categories of my choice.
- I can export the messages to multiple formats - sms, csv, xml, html etc. This doesn’t happen in Nokia pc suite.
Call Registry
- I can group the calls on month
- I can view all calls - dialled, missed, answered
Contacts
- All contacts - both on SIM card and the phone memory
- Syncs seamlessly with Outlook
File Manager
- Allows me to browse the files and folders in the phone and the memory
- I can install Java apps from this manager on to the phone (Though, I have seen that this feature is a bit buggy)
Others
- Shows me pie charts of various usage attributes of the phone like memory etc.
Organizer
- Now, I saved this for the last. This is probably the best feature in the application! The MyPhoneExplorer allows me to directly bi-directional sync my phone calendar with Google Calendar, Rainlander, Outlook, Thunderbird with Lightning addon (Oh my God, this is absolutely awesome. I couldn't believe it first time that one small and lite software can have these many features, simply awesome.). It allows me to sync with other mail applications like outlook also. But, Syncing with Google is not even possible with outlook. So, I would say this is the best feature!
- It allows me to sync my notes, to-do lists etc

Another very important feature is that when the phone rings or I make an outgoing call while it is connected to the PC. A dialog pops up with the incoming/outgoing call details and a textfield. And when I start conversing, I can actually jot down information in this textfield in the popup and then choose to save this as a note or task in my phone itself. I can also, dial a number directly from the PC. Isn’t that all cool?

Now, Hows that for a comprehensive feature list? And the best part of it all? MyPhoneExplorer is FREE!!!!! Go Ahead! And download it! Let me tell you something. If you have a Sony Ericsson phone and don’t use MyPhoneExplorer, then you are not using your phone to the maximum. MyPhoneExplorer works only with models of Sony Ericsson. I wish other original PC Suite developers understand how the quality of their software influences a customer’s purchase.

But hats-off to developer of MyPhoneExplorer.

Thunderbird with Calender - Lightening and Sync with Google Calender

2008-03-20T13:40:00.000-06:00

For a long time I have been looking for a rock solid calendaring system. I’ve gotten too used to working for companies who have Microsoft Exchange (or, God forbid, Scalix) installed which allow me to edit and update a calendar from multiple locations and even sync it with my Mobile Phone. When I first heard of Google Calendar I hoped that I would be able to enjoy such benefits again, but I am not a great fan of web-apps, and prefer a nice, solid desktop client to do my email / organisation from.

Queue Lightning, the calendaring extension for Thunderbird which brings the desktop email app one step closer to becoming a viable alternative to Microsoft Outlook. Installation can be a little bit confusing and you must remember that this add-on is still in the 0.x stages, so may be a tad unstable at times (but that’s ok, we love this kind of thing!)

Open up Thunderbird (I am using the 2.0.0.6 release) and on the Top Menu, go to:

Tools -> Add-ons

When the Add-ons window opens, click on the Install button on the bottom left and paste in the following URL to install the latest release of Lightning (Windows Only, Linux / Mac users will need to get this link by copying the XPI download path from the Mozilla Add-on repository, located here.

Win32 Lightning Add-On XPI Download Link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/downloads/file/20424/lightning-0.7-tb-win.xpi

If you get a warning similar to “Lightning could not be installed because it is not compatible with Firefox” then you are trying to install the XPI directly into Firefox. Instead, you need to either “open” the link from inside the Thunderbird Add-Ons Install Window, or save the XPI to your desktop and then drag it into the Thunderbird Add-Ons Window.

Once you have installed the Lightning Extension, Thunderbird will ask you to restart. Upon restarting you will be greeted with a new Sidebar on the right displaying tasks and events and a tool bar underneath your folder list.

This is all well and good and provides us with an easy to use local calendar, but that’s not much use if you wanted to update it at work, or on the road / mobile device. This is where the Provider Add-on comes in to play.

Provider allows bidirectional syncing between the Lightning Calendaring Extension in Thunderbird and Google’s GCal Service. This is possible because Google, being the lovely chaps that they are, decided to opt for the iCalendar standard in GCal, well done chaps :)

Installation of Provider is pretty similar to that of Lightning. Again, go to the Add-ons Window (Tools -> Add-Ons) and Install the XPI available for download from Provider’s Page in the Mozilla Add-on repository.

Win32 Provider Add-On XPI Download Link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/downloads/file/20552/provider_for_google_calendar-0.3.1-tb+sb.xpi

Again, once installed, Thunderbird will have to be restarted.

Now, the last piece of the Pie is to tie our Google Calendar into our Lightning Calendar. First of all, you will need to log into your Google Calendar account. Once you are at the main page, click on “Settings” from the Top Right Menu:

Once on the settings page, you need to drill down into the “Calendars Settings” screen and then click on your Calendar from the list (I only had a single calendar.)

Now, finally, you need to copy the URL of your Private Address XML Feed into the clipboard.

You’re done in Google Calendar for now and we can head back to Thunderbird to finally wrap this tutorial up ;). Once you are back in Thunderbird, you need to create a new calendar in Lightning. You can do this by clicking on the following Menu item:

File -> New -> Calendar…

Upon clicking the New Calendar menu item, another window will appear. The first option is the location of your Calendar - select “On the Network” and click Next.

The next option allows you to specify the Format of the Calendar, slect the “Google Calendar” radio button (if you don’t have a Google Calendar radio button, make sure your Provider Extension is installed correctly). In the location input box, paste in your Google Calendar Private Address XML Feed that we extracted above, and click Next.

The next window asks you to give your new Calendar a Name and a Colour, I will leave these entirely up to you ;)

Finally (yes, at last) you will have a “Google Calendar Login” window which will ask for your Google Account login. If you only have a single Google Calendar, Provider will have automatically extracted your username from the XML feed you just specified; however, just double check that it reads @GMAIL.COM. Then enter your usual GMail password.

Well done, you can now enjoy the many benefits of being able to view and update your Google Calendar directly from Thunderbird - nice work ;)

Sync All of Your Calendar and Your W810i Organizer

2008-03-20T12:09:00.002-06:00

Initially, I just want my mobile to give me an alert when I have a meeting. I had my schedule in my office server's outlook. So, it;s not possible to share it online directly.
Then, I thought of exporting it to Google Calendar, thinking that later I will be able to sync my Sony Ericsson w810i somehow.
So, I tried first the new tool from Google i.e. Google Calender Sync, which is tool for syncing outlook and GCal two-way. I installed it but, some how it was giving me the error due to, I think the operating system. I had Microsoft Server 2003 and it only work with XP and vista.
And the main problem I had with this syncing is I was not able to access, any of my office data or even mail, from my home.
Then I tried various softwares (even I don't remember the names of all of them). Few I remember are Syncmycal, Companionlink, Oogsync etc. But I couldn't succeed.
Then after wasting a whole day in experiments on many ideas, at the end of the day, an idea stroked.
I exported all of my outllook calender data to an .CSV file. That can be done by going to File->Import Export on outlook.
Then on Gcal side, I imported that .CSV file by going on the add->import calender and I was almost done. All of my schedule from outllok was there on Gcal.
There was one problem in this import-export. I had to attend meetings with people from different time zones. SO, when it's organized from my time zone, there was no error. But when a person from different time zone organizes the meeting, then the .CSV file stores the time as that time-zone, even though on my outlook calender it shows correct time.
So, for that I dint have any solution. I just opened that .CSV file in excel and it's a very simple formate, where you can identify all of your meetings time. So, I changed all of my time and then saved it and again imported it into the Gcal.
So, I was on a half way to sync my office's outlook schedule with my w810i. The w810i, I can connect it to home only.
For syncing between w810i and Gcal, i dint had much problem. Through a little googling, I came to know that the MyPhoneExplorer software, which I was already using, provides a direct sync with outlook, Rainlander, Thunderbird-Lightning and GCal.
I had already synced my Thunderbird with Lightening add-on to my GCal. So, I used that option of "MyPhoneExplorer" to sync my w810i with GCal. So, after a long research of one full day, I could sync my w810i with my outlook of server of office.

Embed Google Doc presentation on a web page

2008-03-14T23:00:00.000-06:00

There is now a tough competition for gaining the supremacy over the online office suit segment. More and more features are being included in these software.

Recently, Google Doc, which is a big player in the online office suite segment, had released a useful feature, which allows you to embed your Google Doc presentation into any web page.

Here is a simple presentation on how to do that, and embedded below. (From http://webtoolsandtips.com)

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Secure Your Computer, Now for Free

2008-03-14T16:18:00.000-06:00

Yes, that's true. Norton is now come up with free tool to scan your computer for viruses.

Yes, it's the combined efforts of Norton and Google. This is the lite scanning tool, which regularly updates it's virus database and scans your computer.

Of course, it wont scan your computer continuously, but you can configure it to schedule it's scan run.

Norton Software
Features:
• Scans & Removes Viruses and Worms
from your computer.

• Norton downloads free Virus definition
updates to protect your computer from
the latest Virus threats!

• Windows XP & Vista compatible!

• Norton now includes unlimited Virus
definition updates for free!
(Previously only the first 6 months were free!)

Download Norton Security Scan here.

Lite PDF Reader Foxit Reader

2008-03-14T16:07:00.000-06:00

Many of us (almost all)don't use the all the features of Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader.
We are still useing acrobat reader, even if it's too heavy on RAM. I have came to know one light pdf reader called, FOXIT Reader.

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size (only 2.1 M download size), breezing-fast launch speed and rich feature set. Foxit Reader supports Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista. Its core function is compatible with PDF Standard 1.7.

In the past, you've had to download a huge PDF reader from another software company, go through a lengthy installation process and wait for an annoying splash window to disappear just to open a PDF document. Moreover, if you want to annotate a PDF document, you have to pay US$299 to buy certain software.

Now with Foxit Reader, you don't have to endure such pain any more. The following is a list of compelling advantages of Foxit Reader:

Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 2.1 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users' permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

Download FOXIT reader here.

Childhood Memories

2008-02-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Song

Call ME Free

2007-05-27T17:55:00.001-06:00

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