Books

Nearly finished with Christopher Smith's "Bullied" and now I'll be helping put his other book "Fifth Avenue" back on Amazon's top 100.

He's got good reviews, folks!

http://www.weekinrewind.com/2011/04/giveaway-250-gift-card-at-amazon-us.html

Kindle

Charging History:

1. Dec. 18, 2010 - 2 days after receiving it with ~50% charge remaining. Of course, I had to tinker with it all the time, testing all features - Wifi, Text-to-speech, music player, internet browser.

2. Dec. 26, 2010 - One week in my hands and I've already loaded the Sambuhay missalettes for the Misa De Gallo masses, as well as some Sundays into January. Still playing around with it.

3. Jan. 31, 2011 - Yes, > 1 month, but of course, I would only turn Wifi on every morning at home/office, a few times at SM (to no avail - the login page won't allow me to log in. :( ). No music playing, no T-T-S. Only a few sessions at night.

4. Feb. 22, 2011 - around 5 hours charging time (started at 11pm, woke up before 6am and it was fully charged. Usage: almost daily Wi-fi just to download news, got to read a little bit of "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler, finally finished "Duma Key" by Stephen King. Started reading "What's Science Ever Done For Us?"

Kindle

I've finally given in. No, make that, I finally can afford it. Heh.

So last November 2010, I decided to ask permission from my wife, like I always do before purchasing gadgets, to buy myself a Kindle 3. And she'd lovingly replied, "Okay, happy birthday!" :D

See, ever since I read about the e-ink technology -- this was even before they've successfully made it commercial -- I've always wanted an e-book reader.

All the planets were in alignment -- a relative's son (let's call him "DH") was in the U.S. at the time, my wife gave her blessing, we had the budget, we had the means (internet access, credit card). All was a go.

So on the last few days of November, off to amazon.com I went, and lo and behold, the site mentioned that the Christmas shopping season was well on its way, and I'd have to wait at least two (2) weeks for the unit to be delivered (!!!). I told DH that he wouldn't have to bring me home a Kindle because his flight was scheduled for Dec. 14.

Good thing that after a few hours, Jing saw my sad status update on Facebook and pointed me to Amazon's Kindle 3 entry that said, "ONE DAY SHIPPING". HURRAY!!!

I hastily contacted DH and told him the good news (bad news for him, eh? :D ) and to make the long story short, by Dec. 16, 7:30pm I was holding my Kindle 3 in my hands. Aaaaahhhh... it was heaven!

Coming up: Feedback.

Trip log

11/22/2010: 7:37:50 AM - 8:04:34AM Home to Office thru Dolores Junction - Lazatin Blvd. - Capitol Blvd. - Consunji - Gen Hizon - V. Tiomico : 6.1KM, 2.2 sq.km., 1606 pts, 26:44, 14kph.

11/06/2010: 8:43:14 AM - 8:57:13 AM Home to EKG thru McArthur - B. Mendoza - HS Blvd - Limjoco - Tiomico - Consunji : 4.3km, 0.9 sq km, 13:59, 18 kph

11/06/2010: 10:18:57 AM - 10:49:04 AM Office to Home thru Limjoco - B. Mendoza - McArthur - JASA - McArthur : 5.2km, 0.4 sq.km., 1809 pts, 30:07, 10kph

Winmo apps I've tried on my Samsung Omnia Pro GT-B7610

Incompatible:

1. crazy kart racing
2. crayon physics
3. ferrari gt (I)
4. chris10230 middle lock button
5. EA Mobile NFS Shift v35.0...

Compatible:

1. Ferrari GT II v2.50
2. Opera mobile 10
3. Opera mini 4 (script + cookie issue with blogspot)
4. MSentinel
5. Palringo Premium 2.2
6. Sktools
7. Resco Explorer, Regedit, Taskman
8. Beiks Woman Calendar 6.2 (sadly, its database is not compatible with the Palm version :( )
9. Beiks Linguist Dictionary Bundle, Talking Dictionaries
10. Spb Backup
11. Rake in Grass Archibald's Adventures
12. Astraware Cubis, Zuma
13. Core Player
14. PushPush
15. Ganondolf Pangya Golf
16. Garmin Mobile XT
17. Glu Mobile Bugs Bunny, Deer Hunter 3D
18. ? BrakingHead
19. ? BrakingHead
20. ? Drago Memory
21. (to incompatible list #5)
22. EA Mobile The Simpsons Arcade v35.1.0
23. ? EA Mobile The Sims World Adventure
24. ? Gluga MiniGolf Wacky ...
25. GPS Sport Tracker (no map. how do i download a Philippine map?)
26. Gross Games Spinballs 1.2.1
27. Chess Genius
28. Deluxe Moon
29. RStein WifiProfiles
30. SPB Arkaball II,Backup,Balltracker,Quadronica,Quads?,Xonix II,Sudoku
31. WebIS Pocket Informant
32.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610

It's been 5 days after I installed the Giorgio Armani ROM by daskalos. So far, so good. I've encountered 2 coma's which were obviously caused by locking the device while Opera was still cleaning up the RAM, but just a few minutes ago, it wouldn't wake up again (3rd coma), even though I did not use Opera at all today. It might be due to a game or two that I installed just several minutes before the discovery of the 3rd coma. Will observe the games further.

When I poked the reset button, it booted just fine to 7% battery charge (It's been around 2 full days plus 8 hours since it was last charged (technically, since it was first used the morning after a previous night's full charge (Saturday evening charge, Sunday morning 6am first use).

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610

I have acquired said phone last May 1, 2010, and after only a few days, I modified its PDA ROM.

Original ROM:

PDA: B7610NXXIL1 (IL1 = 2009/December rev. 1)

CSC: B7610NXTCIL3

PHONE: B7610XXIK1

WinMo 6.5 Professional

CE OS 5.2.21868 (Build 21868.5.0.69)

Windows Mobile 6.5

Processor: ARM1176 ...

MODIFIED ROM:

PDA: B7610NXXJC2 (JC2 = 2010/March rev. 2)

WinMo 6.5 Professional

CE OS 5.2.23568 (Build 23658.5.5.0)

(Windows Mobile 6.5.5)

Changes I loved:

• Quicker contact search -- upon entering Samsung Phonebook, I can type letters and it will start searching matching names. With 6.5, I need to press the SEARCH button first before typing.

Changes I hated:

• The Wi-Fi radio would occasionally NOT TURN ON, as if the transmitter got disconnected from the electronics :(
• Sometimes the unit will not wake up from LOCKED state, and I need to soft-reset it by poking the reset button on the side. I am convinced, after reading this link, that Opera is the culprit.

Last week, after I charged the phone while tethered via USB-cable to my laptop almost all day, I went to the mall, and I couldn't make the Wi-Fi activate! After soft-resetting it 9 times (!!!) I eventually got to make it activate.

Then I read yesterday from Modaco that one user was loving the Giorgio Armani ROM on his B7610 because the Wi-Fi wasn't dying anymore. He mentioned that he was having Wi-Fi issues in ALL JC2 ROMs, but I think the issue was with WinMo 6.5.5 (and possible 6.5.3), because the GA B7620 ROM was based on 6.5 JC2, and so far, so good, I've downgraded my PDA ROM with it. :)

But now I have to press the Search button when selecting contacts. :(

Oh, and the Opera comatose problem is still here. :(