A while back ago, I wrote the Nokia E71 that was very popular. It seems Nokia intends to follow up on this success with a new E-series phone.

Anyway, I was looking for cool themes to use in my E71 when I came across the application Multiscanner. With this application, I have found another useful function for the Nokia E71 camera. The Multiscanner lets you takes photos of business cards and saves the information as a contact in your address book. It will automatically recognize those info and will save each part of the data in the correct spot.

Been using this application for some times and no more flipping through the box of namecards to search for a contact…. this application really compliments the E71′s function as a business phone. Some editing is required as the interpretation of the infomation on the namecards is not perfect. It does seem to work better with typical namecard layouts. The camera flash kinda gets in the way when the name cards have a glossy surface.  However, it is still a interesting and cool function.

Try it here!

Popularity: unranked [?]

Deadly news… worth to read…

ASPARTAME – THE SILENT KILLER
For those who take Ricola & Fisherman, please note that they both contain Aspartame – the silent killer.

Fisherman Sweets
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO EAT FISHERMAN SWEETS BE CAREFUL: Sugar free products contain ASPARTAME .. So don’t consume Sugar free product esp. ‘fisherman sweets’ ASPARTAME – THE SILENT KILLER (by Ron Harder)

To those who prefer to consume artificial flavoring:

There is an epidemic across North America today of Multiple Sclerosis and Lupus. Most people do not understand why this epidemic is happening, and they do not know why these diseases are so rampant. I would like to share with you the main reason we are having this very serious problem. Many people today use artificial sweeteners in their tea or coffee.

They do this because the ads they see on TV tell them that sugar is bad for their health. This is absolutely true. Sugar is toxic to us , but what most people use as a replacement for sugar is much more deadly. I am talking about ASPARTAME. It is the cause of the epidemic that was mentioned above. ASPARTAME is an extremely toxic chemical that is produced by a chemical company called Monsanto.

ASPARTAME is being marketed around the world as a sugar substitute and is found in all diet soft drinks, such as Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi . It is also found in artificial sweeteners such as NutraSweet, Equal, and Spoonful; and it is used in many other products as a sugar replacement.

ASPARTAME is marketed as a diet product, but it is not a diet product at all. In fact, it will cause you to GAIN weight because it makes you crave carbohydrates. Causing you to gain weight is only a very small part of what ASPARTAME does. It is a toxic chemical that changes the brain’s chemistry. It can and does cause severe seizures.

This chemical changes the dopamine level in the brain, and it is particularly deadly for anyone suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

ASPARTAME is extremely poisonous, and here is why one of the toxic ingredients of it is wood alcohol. When the temperature of

ASPARTAME exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in it is converted to Formaldehyde, and then to formic acid, which in turn causes folic acidosis.

FORMALDEHYDE is grouped in the same class of poisons as Cyanide and Arsenic which are very deadly toxins. The only difference is, Formaldehyde kills quietly, and it takes a little longer. And, in the process of killing people, it causes all kinds of neurological problems. There are 92 documented symptoms of Aspartame Poisoning leading to coma and death.

The majority of these symptoms are neurological, because the ASPARTAME attacks and destroys the nervous system. One of these symptoms is Lupus, which has become almost as rampant as Multiple Sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.

ASPARTAME on Wiki.
More on ASPARTAME side effects.

Popularity: 37% [?]

We’ve just returned from a wonderful honeymoon at Club Med Kani in Maldives, which easily exceeded our expectations. We’ve got lots of fun and we are so happy with our holiday.

We stayed in Water Suite and are simply the most beautiful and breathtaking rooms I have ever seen. It was built on stilts and enclosed by ocean water, creating a fantasy that the water is all yours and only yours! Each of the water suite has a terrace and you can go snorkeling right from your doorstep! I loved being able to jump right into the water from our suite and the idea of being away from the main area. We had brought our own snorkeling gear and saw some incredible exotic fishes, beautiful eagle-rays and cute baby sharks. There’s one baby sharks swimming beside me but she means no harm. We ran into a few of our neighbours from Taiwan and Japan while snorkeling off our deck.

Eagle rays, taken from our water suite

Baby shark

Apart from the panoramic view from the Indian ocean, our suite comes furnished with a huge kingsize bed with soft and hard pillows for a wonderful sleep, faces the french folding doors out into the balcony for amazing views in the morning. It has a small lounge, a double sink bathroom with an amazing free-standing bathtub looking out the architecture glazing to the wonderfull blue sea and of course, a deck complete with deckchairs and life jackets. There is a full walk-in-wardrobe which has a mini bar fridge and a safebox. We had mentioned that we were honeymooners and they had left us a nice welcome note, some fruits, cookies, chips, bubbly and soft drinks. The power outlet were UK style so I don’t need to bring a travel plug. If yours are different from UK style, there is a travel plug provided in the room.

You can have your breakfast served in your suite. Just fill out the form and hang it on your door before 2pm, or you can make a call start from 6am.

You definately should bring your booties to explore the resort as there’s a lot of broken coral in the water. On the other side of the jetty, the beach is more pristine and no sandals needed. Mozzies were a bit of a problem but luckily I brought the mosquito repellents.

Swimming pool facing the ocean

The Iru bar. No one around because it’s still early in the morning.

Discover their all-inclusive unlimited bar and snacking offering affords you the freedom to enjoy unlimited beverage and snacks.

Club Med wharf

Parrot fish and friends.

Titan Trigger fish. 50cm – 1m long and very aggressive. Divers and snorkellers recommended to stay clear.

Meals are all inclusive, including booze! The Kandu restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner all in buffet style. We enjoy the variety of foods – Asian and Western, and experience seafood at its freshest and best!. Oven-cooked, grill, fried, stir fry, steam, or prepared in salad or sashimi style… u name it! And you will have the G.O.s (Gracious Organisers), fun-loving, gregarious and multilingual young men and women sit with you during lunch and dinner.

Variety of pastry and deserts… (the pastry chef was french and the pastries were delicious)

Indian chef who make delicious sushi. He work in Club Med Hokkaido before and he will be transfering to Hokkaido again next month.

Lots and lots of sashimi…

Buffet themes, daily events and dress code info.

They have a theme with certain dress code each day and we have to go to the notice board for info, but it’s up to you whether to follow or not.

After dinner, we moved to Alouda Bar, adjacent to the Kandu restaurant right on the edge of the lagoon where life music, dancing and cocktail-imbibing lead the way. There’s also some performance staged by the GOs.

Outdoor dinner was served on the forth day at the beach with life music and it was a nice touch. We are all invited to wear all white.

On our last day, we left our baggage outside our suite for collection, and my hand carry at the reception. There’s also shower available once you’ve check out. I use it before dinner because I went kayaking in the afternoon. There are 3 shower rooms and they are super clean, with a changing area and some lockers.

We only have half an hour for dinner and the staff took our baggage to the wharf. As we left, the GOs waved untill we had gone… It’s that attention to service that made our stay special.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Does Nokia E71 looks like a Blackberry Killer? This 2.36-inch, 320 x 240 QVGA display is only slightly smaller than the iPod Classic’s.

After much survey, I finally decided to purchase a smartphone, the Nokia E71. The reviews for this phone have been good and I really wanted to try out a Nokia product. I had used a Panasonic, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and a Motorola mobile before this. The later started to fall apart not too long after I bought it and it was time to replace it.

I was initially thinking about a Blackberry product or the iphone. The iphone’s touchscreen and functions looked out of this world while the Blackberry series have always being solid performers. However, in the end, I chose E71 because it had a really solid feel and professional look. Despite its obvious lack of an oversized touchscreen interface, the E71 had a metallic feel with chrome accents and a glossy screen. It can also protect sensitive corporate information with integrated security features such as device and memory card encryption, mobile VPN and more. Plus, it is one of the slimmest Nokia phone to date, at 10mm thick, and claims it’s the thinnest QWERTY smartphone on the market.

At 10mm thick, it’s the slimmest Nokia phone to date.

It has two separate customizable home screens. One is designed to house all of your work applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint while the other is geared more towards entertainment with programs for audio, video and gaming. Setting up the Nokia’s Mail for Exchange program required no IT help. QuickOffice lets you create, edit and send Word, Excel or PowerPoint files on the fly.

Battery life is basically a non-issue, with 20 days of standby and 10.5 hours of GSM talk, though the 4.5 hours of 3G talk might pose an issue.

Rear view of the phone – a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.

However, the metallic cover is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges. The key was pretty cramped and it took me some time to get used to it. This phone is really a business phone; hence it does not have stunning photo or music capabilities. For me the 3.2 megapixel camera was enough and the music playback was fine. I managed to use the phone to connect to our wireless network and surf the net, visiting my websites, checking my email, using Twitters and etc.

The unpacking.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Product Review: Subscription to Derek Gehl’s private "Search Engine Marketing Lab ."

Did you know that it’s still possible to attract 1,000s of qualified buyers to your website every month (i.e. FREE traffic!) using the organic search engines?

It’s true… And Derek Gehl has proven it with his recently released "Search Engine Marketing Lab."

To help you get #1 and #2 rankings in the "Big 3" search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) WITHOUT spending $1,000s on SEO experts or wasting 200+ hours a month reading SEO newsletters…

… Derek is giving you access to the exact same SEO strategies he pays over $13,750 per month to learn.

As a member of Derek’s Search Engine Marketing Lab, you will first be run through his "SEO Bootcamp for Beginners" where you’ll be shown, step-by-step, how to apply all the basic SEO strategies to your websites.

No technical mumbo jumbo or fluff filler here. Derek and his team have designed his portion of program for the absolute NEWBIE, so you’ll know exactly how to best prepare your website for the search engines.

Then, every month you’ll receive Derek’s hard-hitting "Search Marketing Lab Report ", a 7-10 page newsletter that gives them a concise overview of the latest advanced SEO strategies that are working TODAY…

… Straight out of Derek’s own personal testing labs!

So there’s no guesswork and no wasting time reading HUNDREDS of SEO newsletters, trying to figure out what changes you need to make to keep or improve your top search engine listings!

And finally, you ALSO get a complementary membership to Derek’s SEO Discussion Forum — where you can ask his team of experts unlimited questions about your SEO campaigns.

All this for a ridiculously low monthly membership fee that makes the $1,000s per month that *other* SEO experts charge for this level of personalized assistance and expertise seem even more outrageous!

I give Derek’s brand-new "Search Engine Marketing Lab" my very highest recommendation. The monthly newsletter is invaluable… and I can’t believe the quality of information his team is giving away EVERY DAY in his private discussion forum.

To check it out for yourself, click here now !

Popularity: unranked [?]

This is a follow up to my previous post about Dell XPS M1330. I ordered my lappie on 18th and was scheduled to deliver on 25th September. But, Dell customers service person called me on the 20th and said my order has been revised, the new estimate delivery date will be on 2nd October.

Dell came a knocking on my door at 10am today! (Surprisingly my estimated ship date has been brought forward to 27th) XPS M1330 is probably the most beautiful laptop I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Here’s some photos of my unpacking process:

Your XPS will also come with this branded laptop sleeve below which you don’t need to order seperately. I like the sleeve as it looks pro.

I opted for Crimson Red. The finish of the lid is matt and is nice to touch. According to DirectToDell.com, the finish on the lid of XPS M1330 is similar to a custom paint job on a car. It takes about 7 coats of paint to get the appearance. I have also read in some forums that it pick up fingerprints easily.

Along with the XPS itself, Dell provide a few goodies as well. This include product information, basic “Getting Started” pamphlet, and reinstall discs of:

• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dell MediaDirect
• Dell Webcam Manager
• Dell Drivers and Utilities
• Microsoft Works 8.5
• Roxio

What should I say about the LCD screen… Awesome! It’s much much more brighter and colors are more vivid. I’m happy with it because I’m a fan of LCD screen.

XPS travel remote control is cool to play with… The remote buttons are nice to press… The charger is smaller than other Dell laptops which is great for mobile users.

The palmrest looks nice with it’s hairline metal design, but it get rather warm after a while. Keyboard is absolutely solid… the delete key is located at the right top corner which I’m used to! The con is the keys are slightly loud when typing quickly. No compaints for the touch pad. Some owners complaints about the touchpad a little cramped, but I think it’s just nice. The pad have some texture on it so your finger moves smoothly over the surface. Overall, it’s responsive. The touchpad buttons feel very nice with no loud click sound, unlike my old Asus laptop.

The volumn touchpanel is cool too… but for the slot drive, I found myself inserting and ejecting CD quite noisy. The webcam quality, not bad.

XPS Elevations:

On the right side, there’s slot for travel remote, slot-load DVD burner, a single USB port and a security cable slot.

The left side is much more busier, AC adapter connector, video & network connector, single USB port, HDMI connector and a hard drive output.

The front of XPS has a mic imput & 2 headphone outputs, and a 8 in-1 card reader.

Popularity: unranked [?]