Yamiya, Just wanna blog

For every great gadget there's always the love and hate affair. Nevertheless iPhone is a great gadget. "Those who knows how to use it will love it, while those who doesn't dislike it", is the sentence I always get from the second group of users. I find that sentence too general. Doesn't that apply to all things in life? Be it computer, cars, tools or even people. I admit iPhone is quite restrictive. Thus I would say, "Whether or not you like an iPhone depends on whether you know how to Jailbreak it!"

Back in the old days when iPhone can't even forward SMS I been doing against Steve's wills while saving drafts and creating templates too (iSMS). While you stream YouTube videos, I downloaded them and watch later (MXTube), all on the iPhone. So today I am going to teaching you how to run multitasking on iPhone.

Multitasking is not a restriction on iPhone. It's happening on the iPhone all the while. Mail, Phone, SMS, Safari and iPod are all running concurrently. In my previous post, backgrounder is the Cydia app that helps put application into multitasking. Now couple with Kirikae you get a lovely app switcher, without the need to exit to homescreen to gain access into the next app. You can also add your frequently use apps into favorites without the need to flip thru pages looking for them. There are various ways to fire up Kirikae. No Command-Tab here, so I change double tap from home to Kirikae. For example I want to use Facebook and IM+ at the same time. I fire up both, put them into background. When I am in IM+, I just double click, it will take me to the active screen, choose Facebook and I am there. And the cross button allows you to terminate an app without the need to go into it. Sweet.

Who says iPhone doesn't support multitasking? You just don't know how to Jailbreak it.

I stayed awake until 4am on the day Apple iPad is launched. Heck I am excited about it, and hell yes I want one. There have been much criticism on iPad, from the naming, to the absence of camera and USB ports, or just an iPhone pump up to 9.7″.

To me the usefulness of a device depends on what the user want it to do for him/her the most. For years I been reading ebooks and magazines online, because they are far cheaper than buying off the shelves, at least that is true in Malaysia where imported books and magazines are expensive, in which case readable local material is truly limited. eBooks and online magazines never become popular as most people will agree my point that they cannot be taken into toilet while settling big business, for at least I (a man) do not want to toast my lap if not further up. You get what I mean.

Yes, iPad is what I want to get out from a 70 years old walking (reading) posture to the relax Sunday sofa reading as demonstrated by Steve Jobs in the keynote. Books, magazines, newspapers and web surfing. It’s phenomena like Jobs describe, and that’s just what I want!

Now back to criticism.

Some say the bezel is too thick. All I know is if it’s as thin as iPhone, I will have to hold it top and bottom which is not ergonomic.

Some say it cannot make calls. All I know is I wouldn’t want to talk on a 9.7″ phone.

Some say it does not have a back camera. All I know is I do not want such a big touch screen camera.

Some say it does not have a front video camera. All I know is I can’t do skype video calls to my pal in overseas.

Some say it only comes with 16-64GB capacity. All I know is that’s an SSD and I can shake an iPad but can’t do the same with a netbook with 160GB HDD.

Some say it does not have USB ports. All I know is Apple think wireless. Yeah I still prefer cables at times.

Some say it does not have an SD card reader. I couldn’t agree more.

Some say it’s a huge dissappointment it runs on iPhone OS. All I know is others have failed for the last decade because of a desktop interface on a tablet.

Some say it’s a huge disappointment Apple again does not support flash. All I know is if it does game developers wouldn’t have earn so well already. Conspiracy, conspiracy.

Some say it’s not widescreen. All I know is it just nice for reading books and magazines, page by page.

Some say HD movie look sucks on it because it’s not widescreen. All I know is heck even if it’s 13″ widescreen, it will never been better than watching on my 40″ LCD home theatre system.

Some say it does not support multitasking. All I know is I am running multitasking on iPhone and believe the same will happen to iPad thanks to some genius. The keyword is “Jailbreak”!

Some say it’s expensive for a tablet. All I know is most black and white reader cost the same and does nothing more than reading. Still complaining? Or you just want one for free?

Some say it sounded like some woman accessories. All I know is Thank God it’s not called iSlate.

Is Apple evil? Hmm… in some way, yes. Certainly most of iPhone apps are USD0.99 and few more than USD5.99. However since most apps are cheaper than a cup of coffee, they tempt people buying them just for the sake of trying out. I know a friend who practice this "hobby" and ended up spending RM1400, to the point he has to cancel all his credit cards to control the addiction.

While iTunes keep a record of your purchase history, it does not tell you the total amount spent. Perhaps a conspiracy by Apple of not letting customer see the big figure so user will continue to purchase the small figure apps. Is there a simple straight forward way to tell just how much one have spent on apps?

App Store Expense Monitor (ASEM) is the answer. This application gathers all iPhone applications from your iTunes folder on your computer, reads out the price information and presents the total amount of money you spent on the Apple App Store. ASEM doesn’t access your iTunes Store account directly; rather, it checks the contents of your Mobile Applications folder—the place iTunes stores all your downloaded iPhone apps—and looks up the current cost of each app. It then sums these values to give you a grand total, which it displays in its menu. (You can also choose to display the total in place of the menu’s icon.) If you’ve got apps purchased through different iTunes Store accounts, the menu lists the total for each account.

However even ASEM does not reflect the true total as it looks up the most current pricing, which might be different at the time of purchase, higher or lower. Also deleted apps from iTunes are not taken into calculation.

Lastly if you are not paying in USD, the most accurate calculation is to look back your credit card statements for currency fluctuation over the years.

ASEM is available for Mac OS X only. Windows users please use your favorite Microsoft Excel.

Read full review at Macworld.

In the past anyone with a million ringgit is consider a very rich person, hence the word millionaire. However with inflation driving in and a double storrey house in Klang Valley already cost more than half a million, millionaire is a commoner in urban area. To be considers really rich one need to have a fortune of billion, hence the name, billionaire.

After watching BBC Top Gear season 12 special edition where Jeremy, Hammond and James are each given 15 million dong which fits in a shoe box, to purchase a vehicle and race from South Vietnam to North Vietnam in 8 days where the Americans have failed to do in 10 years, only to discover that sum of money only worth 1000 US dollar and they have to settle with motor bikes, raise a question to me, where on earth has the least value currency? In other words, in which country you can become billionaire overnight, in their currency of course.

To find the answer I look no further by asking the know-all-thing, wikipedia. I quickly found the answer and it really scares me off. Not because of how “big” the money is, but the fact is there’s no modern handheld calculator to date that can carry out calculations for so many digits. All I can think of is Zimbawee has some of the best mathematicians in the world that rivals computer! In fact the whole population has to count multi-trillions dollar everyday! If you think US trillion dollars stimulus package is a lot of money wait till you hear this.

According to wiki, the last recorded rate was on 2 Feb 2009 and one US dollar is equals to 12,336,416,667 Third Zimbabwean dollar (ZWR) which is the official bank rate. In the black market you can get as high as 300,000,000,000,000. Yeah, every Zimbawees is trying to get rid of ZWR as soon as possible. I am sorry, it’s not that my maths is bad, but I certainly never dealt with such a large sums of money in my life. Forgive me if I pronounce it wrongly. Is that 3 trillions dollar? I am a trillionaire!

Unfortunately Zimbabwe’s currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, is suspended for at least one year effective from 12 April 2009. That means you can’t exchange ZWR for until April 2010.

Next on the list is Somaliland, neighbour to the pirates nation Somalia and not widely recognised as an independent sovereign state. Since it’s not a recognize country we can leave that out.

Thus in principle, as on end of 2009, the easiest and fastest way to become a billionaire is still Vietnam. No wonder BBC Top Gear went there.

To read more please goto http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_valued_currency_unit

Apart from photography and a few norm people interest, e.g. music, movies, I am also into cycling. Not a serious cyclist, more for exercise, simply because I can't stand "slow sport". For me anything that runs below 20km/hr continuosly is slow.

Like every other sports there's always gadgets for it. For cycling that means a cyclometer, GPS, heart rate detector and life saving mobile phone. Some also choose to bring along mp3 player and camera.

Not many cyclist would like to take so many gadgets. Particularly we stop for rest. Taking them off is troublesome. Leaving them means expose to theft. All we can dream of is one device to rule them all.

It turns out iPhone is such a device. Before getting on, let's take a look at another closest device, Garmin Edge 705. It's a GPS cyclometer with optional heart rate detector, speed and cadence sensor and it cost as much as an iPhone without contract and it does not come with phone, camera, video and music.

Again it's the software that does the trick. After trying out a few I settle with Motion X-GPS Sports. First reason, it has comparable software features as Garmin Edge. Second, it's USD2.99! Where are you gonna find a GPS app that do so much at this price?

Let see what it can do. The interface is simple and easy to use. Adequate size touch screen buttons since iPhone only has one "exit" button. Clicking forward backward will bring you to cyclometer, compass, maps, saved tracks, and iPod. There's also the camera button in case you stumble across nice scenery or mystic creature along the track.

There are three types of maps available, Google, Bing and Openstreet map, which means Internet connection is needed to read the maps. Some cyclists will prefer to go into the unknown where 3G radiation is non existence. Fortunately user can download selected area/route prior going into the wilderness. Unfortunately only Openstreet map is downloadable.

Saved tracks can then be shared with friends thru email, Facebook and Twitter. Saved in universal GPX format there's a wide variety 3rd party free and paid software for user to analyse data once back home.

If you are brave enough, you can put Motion X-GPS into background and launch iPhone video recorder to record 60km/hr downhill. A stereo Bluetooth headset transforms iPhone into a walkie talkie and music workout device.

What does it not have? Clearly there's no cadence meter. There's the speedometer but from satellite reading instead of sensor. iPhone is not water resistant. In case of rain, Garmin will survive but not iPhone unless you put it into a waterproof case or zip lock bag. I opt for the second one.

In case you wonder, where's the heart rate detector? There are a variety of heart rate detector in the market and most come with wrist watch that can data link to computer. Nevertheless Motion X-GPS is designed for outdoor enthusiats, not professional cyclist. Even Garmin Edge 705 is rarely seen among avid cyclists.

If you are not convince, don't worry, there's a free lite version available with all features but limited data recording. Go for a ride and see if you like it.

In case you have difficulties mounting iPhone onto your bike check out my previous post.