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Thursday, December 30, 2010

My Top 10 Gadgets of 2010

It’s going to be the beginning of 2011 in a few days. Speaking of advancements in technology and gadgets, we can only wonder what will spring up in the coming year. I’m certain my dream gadget is around the corner – the one that will allow me to attend two meetings at the same time; rock a party, yet be in bed; visit my family in the US, yet be in Nigeria: a hologram. Maybe it will bear the brand name, Sony, on it. Maybe even Nokia.

2010 was an unbelievable year for geeks, as revolutionary products were released into the ‘techosphere’. Apple alone released three gadgets that changed the thinking of other competitors. Below is a list of 2010′s notable gadgets (I wrote in 2010 The Year of The Gadget Freak for Ynaija.com), not necessarily in the order of popularity or functionality.

1. At number 1 is none other than the iPad! No, it wasn’t the first tablet PC. Microsoft released theirs years ago. Some even boast of having used an HP Tablet PC for more than two years. But what exactly was different about the iPad? In this gadget freak’s opinion, the iPad’s full touch functionality gave it a good edge over others. Also, the introduction of the iBook which features

thousands of downloadable books, movies and games built entirely for the iPad, made this the top device of the year. On the downside, the iPad lacks a camera and the ability to sync files without third party software, but these haven’t brought this pad-computer down.

2. The Samsung Galaxy Tab was introduced late in October, and had Etisalat Nigeria as its official carrier in Nigeria. The Galaxy Tab is smaller than the iPad but has two things the iPad doesn’t. The iPad has no camera which the Samsung Galaxy has. The Galaxy Tab also supports Flash. Again, the Samsung Galaxy Tab runs

on Android which allows for more accessibility with regard to downloading content and installing applications. Find a detailed Ynaija.com review HERE.

3. Apple Macbook Air: The Macbook Air was introduced in 2008, but with quite a number of flaws. It was hard to watch movies on it as this caused the slim computer’s aluminium case to overheat. In 2010 came the super-slim Macbook Air. Stack 20 sheets of A4 paper and you get a close enough size fit of the Macbook Air. It’s sexy computer, but pricey! At $1000 you get a computer that lasts 30days on standby power, has seven hours of battery life, and can be stolen from your luggage without your noticing weight shift.
4. Microsoft Kinect: Here’s one that gives me hope for my hologram dreams. The Kinect is what I call a mad gadget. It’s a device that allows you to control your game without a pad. Yes, without a pad! With this device games are controlled with body movement, and, wait for it, voice! *swoon* Here’s a video: Microsoft Kinect Video

5. The iPhone 4: Ever since they released the first, Apple comes up with a new iPhone every year. The amazing thing is that every single year, the new iPhone gives its competitors a run back to their sketch boards. New features like the retina display, the slimmer design and the good camera give this phone more pluses than the reports of poor signal that stormed the news earlier in the year.

6. Still on the topic of phones, the Blackberry Torch was the ‘it’ Blackberry mobile phone this year. The Touch, which most likely got its name from the touch abilities of the phone, was the first Blackberry to introduce to us the OS 6.0. The Blackberry Torch is equipped with a touch pad as well as a physical QWERTY keyboard. With a slicker user interface design, and battery life has been improved on, this phone is a keeper. Gadget lovers across the world anticipate the Blackberry Playbook in 2011. We’ll wait and see what Apple iPad’s response to it will be.

7. If you are a photography freak, you’ll appreciate the Sony NEX -3/5, a trendy mirrorless, interchangeable camera. The good thing about the camera is that it’s cheaper and less expensive. It can even record videos in HD.
8. The Nexus One was Google’s first smartphone. There was a lot of buzz before its arrival. Whatever happened to it, I know not. All I know is this: the prospects were great.

9. Somehow, this list won’t be complete without including the Amazon Kindle. Before the release of the iPad, we had concluded that Amazon Kindle had hit its death. Well, we were wrong. With the 3G modems introduced in the 2010 Amazon Kindle 3, users can download e-books directly from the web. There isn’t much more to say about the Amazon Kindle but I dare say that when we talk about e-book readers, the Kindle is legendary.

10. Google TV was also introduced in 2010. This product brought internet videos to our living rooms. Just connect the wired or wireless hub to your TV via HDMI, and you can watch online content on your TV or the other way round.

This is my Y!’s list of the Top 10 Gadgets of 2010. What are yours?

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Friday, November 26, 2010

Chat For Facebook Free on Blackberry

Searching for a Facebook Chat application for Blackberry has mostly led to search results yielding  3rd party applications like ebuddy or trillian for the Blackberry and most of the others come with a price tag.

Most of these come with multiple chat clients like yahoo, gtalk, AIM, and Skype and don’t capture the perfect Facebook experience.

In testing out the ‘better’ facebook chat application, I have stumbled upon Chat On Facebook 2.0.24 by Smarter Apps Inc. I must say, it looks good and work well. The popular pop sound when someone sends in a message got irritating for me, thank goodness you can turn it off from the options screen.

For OTA(Over the Air) download of Chat On Facebook, the application, click here http://seyekuyinu.com/downloads/FacebookChat/COF.jad(directly from your phone browser)

Written for OS 4.3 to OS 6.0

For every application I did not build myself, I take no responsibilities for any mishaps.

Category: Blackberry // // No Comments »

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

How to mute camera sound on your Blackberry

If you like taking pictures, with your mobile phone, of things in awkward positions, or people with funny hair styles or people sleeping at work, you are very much like me in that aspect. If you use a Blackberry, you are most likely going to face the same unique challenges that sneaky Blackberry photographers face: THE LOUD CAMERA SHUTTER SOUND!

Imagine you taking a picture of someone drooling at work and then he’s woken by the click of your camera. That spoils the sport! So well, in a bid to find a solution to this, I have had to score the internet in search of the perfect solution. I bumped into this application, I don’t know how and who developed it. But I have had to recompile it and we have the perfect application to mute camera sounds!
By the way this guide doesn’t work with the Storm.

So here is how:

1. Download the application by clicking here: http://seyekuyinu.com/downloads/camera_mute.zip It’s only 5kb

2. Unzip the file.

3. Start up your Blackberry Desktop Manager

4. Click on ‘Applications‘. This lists all the applications listed on your Blackberry.

5. Click on Import. It’s at the top right corner of the Applications screen(if you use the latest Desktop manager).

6. A dialog box will pop open. Get the location of your unzipped file. You will see CameraMuteApp.alx

7. Clicking on this will add the application to the queue of things to install. Click Apply. And you are good to go!

Now that it is installed on your phone. All you have to do is open up the application. CLick on the Blackberry menu button and then “Add ‘Mute’ Menu-Item”.

When next you want to take a picture, click on your Blackberry Options button. You’d find in the menu ‘Mute!‘ Click on that.

Have fun.

Disclaimer: I no talk say make you snap illegal pishure o!

By the way, this doesn’t work with the Storm.

Category: Blackberry, Technology // // 4 Comments »

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

How to upgrade your Blackberry 9700 to the OS 6.0: A comprehensive guide

As some may know, I lost my Blackberry 9700 on my birthday. Not such a pleasant experience but I was not so worried because I backed up my phone data about 2 days before then. Right now, I cannot overemphasize how important it is to do a back up.

I got another Blackberry 9700 because I am still of the opinion that that model is the best. I am not crazy about the Bold3 or the Blackberry Torch.

Well, restoring data to the new phone was awesome. Took me about 5minutes and right now here’s a list of all the things I got back:

  • my notes,
  • call history,
  • phone contacts,
  • alarm settings,
  • calendar entries,
  • personalized settings,
  • sms,
  • blackberry messenger contacts
  • autotext
  • browser bookmarks and history
  • alarm clock settings

So don’t forget to do that.  You have to download the latest Blackberry Desktop Manager for this. Very important!

Well, back to the main!

I made up my mind to upgrade my OS to the leaked OS 6 version so I can at least have something different even though I was using the same Blackberry model. It worked just perfect and this tutorial, if you follow through will take you about 1hour.

Please note, I won’t take responsibilities for any damage to your mobile. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE BUT A LEAKED VERSION. This may void your contract with your carrier or phone company.

But you just need to love the interface. Here is a video of how the interface looks. Here is a Youtube video of what it will look like.

 

Updates: It has not been tested on OS 7 and up.

One of the new features that I loved was the Social Feeds application which aggregates all status messages from your social networks, facebook, yahoo messenger, twitter, blackberry messenger, gtalk in one place. Also, it has a cool RSS feed reader. This will help bring your blogs and websites to you instead of you going to them. The screenshot in the gallery at the bottom shows an aggregation of feeds from this website.

Another feature is the internal search. Typing a contact name on the homescreen will return all mentions of the name from emails, address books, chat messages, Google Local Search,  calendars, SMS. This is just awesome!

The web browser is awesome! You may want to throw away your Opera Mini for Blackberry as this browser allows multiple tabs.

If you are ready to take the bold step like I did, let’s begin. Here are the steps.

  1. Download the leaked 9700 OS 6.0.0.344. This download is about 150MB.
  2. If you haven’t downloaded and installed the latest Blackberry Desktop Manager, click here. After installation, click on ‘Back up’ to back up your device. Depending on your processor, this should take you about 5minutes but follow instructions. You can back up all your media assets.
  3. Once you have downloaded the 9700 OS 6.0.0.344 software, click on the downloaded file. This should take you to a set up process. Install the application.
  4. This is the time where you connect your Blackberry 9700 to your computer through the USB port. (If you can connect with a rope, please teach me). If your Blackberry Desktop Manager opens, close it. We don’t need it this time.
  5. Open the downloaded application’s file by going to the directory  C:\program files\common files\research in motion\apploader\
  6. This next step is really important. There is a file in that directory called Vendor.xml. Please change the name of that file to something else. Anything. You could change it to seyekuyinu.xml if you want. Or you could even delete it.
  7. This is item number 7! In that directory, there is a file named loader.exe. It’s most likely has a mobile phone icon. Click on it. Follow the instructions on screen. Pay close attention to the applications you want installed and the ones you don’t want installed. If you are in Nigeria, I will personally advice you to leave checked the Facebook, Twitter, Social Feeds applications.
  8. Next it will ask you if you want to make a back up of your device and restore 3rd party applications, I chose the recommended option which is to back up. I think you should also.
  9. The installation will start. It may take about 30minutes or less. This is where you grab a magazine, watch the latest episode of Desperate Housewives or Cow and Chicken. You should see at the end of this stage, a screen showing a different Blackberry loading screen on your mobile. This is your new OS starting up.
  10. When it loads to the new OS, I recommend you unplug your USB cable then do a battery pull. It should load slightly faster.
  11. Reconnect your Blackberry to your computer and start up the Blackberry Device Manager. From there, select Device > Restore.  Oh well, there you go! Your new OS.

Category: Blackberry, Technology // // 5 Comments »

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This article was written by Seye Kuyinu. My name is Seye Kuyinu. My daily job is to write and draw with languages that translate to 1010101010s. By so doing I give people a better image on the web, and also make life easier for them. You can click here for more about me.

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