Flock: New Mozilla Kid On The Block
I have been using Firefox for a while now and there are obvious reasons why one loves to stick to Firefox. Flock takes Firefox to a whole new level. I know that there are a number of “flavor of the day” alternatives to browsing, but Flock is something that all a browser can be and still be a lot more! I love the set of goodies the browser comes equipped with. It is already my default browser and there are reasons aplenty why I would not change that.
The browser complements existing services of Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and 15 other services. It has a cool Media Bar feature that displays pictures and videos as a stream. Other features include an RSS feed reader, a sidebar that can display favorites, accounts (GMail, WordPress etc) and web clips, a blog editor and a photo uploader. There are three little buttons to the left of the address bar that ‘light up’ when you visit websites that have a media stream (such as YouTube and Flickr), rss feeds and an installable search engine (Wikipedia, for example, has one). Interesting pages can also be ’starred’, which is Flock lingo for ‘Add as favorite’.
While these are the pre-loaded features, there are several hundred extensions that can be added because the core of the browser is still Firefox. Some extensions may not be supported, but all popular ones are.
The layout can be confusing at first, and the ‘about:myworld’ may seem a little cluttered. But once you clear out the mess to only display what you like, you will start seeing how functional a browser can be.
Flock is being advertised as a Social Web Browser because it integrates with most of the popular social networking sites. For me, however, the browser is more than that and therefore, I would recommend this even if you dismiss social networking as a fad. There are a few shortcomings, but with growing popularity, increased attention and some clever thinking (they came up with a green edition in time for Earth Day), Flock may someday replace Firefox as the second most popular browser. I guess the Man was referring to this when he said “the Kid is the father of Dad” – or something like that!
Use Your Nokia Camera Phone As A Webcam
I recently bought a Nokia E61i smartphone for myself because it has almost all the features I was looking for (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, Camera, Blackberry, 3G and so on) and comes with a reasonable price tag. I knew that the phone could also be used as a webcam and a Google search pointed me to this software called SmartCam – a free, open source software that turns a Symbian Series 60 phone with bluetooth and camera into a handy webcam ready to use with my PC. And this was exactly what I wanted – a free, open source application! I had a few initial glitches in setting up and getting this software to work with my E61i, but once I managed to figure out a few little workarounds, it worked like a charm! So, if you too have a Nokia camera phone, you actually have two things – a mobile phone and a webcam! Here are a few questions that I found answers for in my ‘adventure’.
1. I understand that the software is nice and free, but it only works on a bluetooth connection. My PC/Laptop does not have Bluetooth. What should I do?
Its simple. Purchase a Bluetooth-USB dongle for about USD 8-10. Walk into a computer store and look for one – dont ask them what you want because they might not be aware that they actually have something like this in stock! This happened to me 
A word of caution though. Don’t use the driver that came with the dongle to set it up on Windows. Let your Operating System recognize the dongle and install the native Windows drivers for the bluetooth stack. My dongle came with IVT BlueSoleil drivers and I had trouble in using that with my phone.
Once Windows completes the installation of Bluetooth drivers, you will see a blue little icon in the taskbar 
indicating that your bluetooth is up and running. Right click and you could change a few settings if needed. Download and install SmartCam on your PC.
2. The drivers and the dongle are in place. I click the SmartCam.exe to launch the application and the application launches, but nothing happens after that. What do I do next?
You need to install an application on your phone too. Browse to the installation folder and you should see three files – jSmartCam, SmartCamS602ndEd and SmartCamS603rdEd. Determine which version of Symbian 60 your phone uses (Google for your model to find out) and install the appropriate application. SmartCam also supports Java, so if your phone has Java, you could try installing the jSmartCam.
Another note of caution, if your phone has both Java and Symbian 60, like my E61i, install the Symbian file. If you get an application installation error while trying to install any of these, browse to Menu -> Tools -> App. mgr and select Options -> Settings on your phone. Change Software Installation to “All” and Online certif. check to “Off”. Try reinstalling the application on your phone and start the applications on your phone and the PC. You now have a webcam ready! Use it with Yahoo, MSN or Skype…
3. When I use the Java application jSmartCam, I get repeated popups asking me for permission to use my camera, video player, audio applications blah, blah…
There is a solution here
4. Only Nokia phones? What about the others?
Some Java phones could work. But sorry Windows mobile folks! This does not work on your phones. But then, what can actually ‘work’ with anything that is remotely connected to Microsoft!
The comments section is now wide open for attack! A “Thanks” would be good.. still waiting for that first comment on my Blog
Free PDF to Word Converter
There are many, many tools to convert Microsoft Word files into PDF documents, including those built into the latest office suites, but what about the other way around? Sure there are a few products available, but most of these are Shareware and very expensive. How about a FREE program (No Spyware, No Adware, Freeware) to do the job just as well? Free PDF to Word Doc Converter is a desktop document conversion tool to convert PDF files to Mcirosoft Word documents and looks to solve a big headache for some office and document workers.
The program can extract text, images, shapes from the PDF and preserve the layout. It can convert all the pages, or a page range of the PDF file. And it is a standalone program – you can convert PDF to Word Doc without Adobe Acrobat Reader or Microsoft Word installed!
From India to Hong Kong: Part 1
An overseas assignment is perceived with varying degrees of excitement – it may be exciting, saddening, worrysome, liberating, promising and any of the gerunds that you could probably associate with emotions. I was excited because this was my first ever assignment and sad because I was to be away from my family and would soon be stepping into a mysterious island. I was also worried because there is, surprisingly, very little information available for somebody moving from India to Hong Kong. Sure, there are innumerable guides and expats-exchange forums but almost all of these are good for a tourist. I was relocating here and wanted more comprehensive information than where to go and what to see. I set out to write this blog as a guide for someone from India moving to Hong Kong and I hope to make it as detailed as possible.
Before You Travel
A. What you pack obviously depends on how long you are planning to stay. However, there are a few essentials one must carry in order to ease in to the new city.
1. Ready-to-eat foods – MTR and Aashirvad have a range of ready to eat foods. Be sure to carry 10 to 12 packs of rice, subji and rotis. You could open the packs and leave out the cartons back in order to save a few grams on the baggage weight. Being a vegetarian can be quite a challenge in Hong Kong. More on where to eat in Hong Kong later….
2. Pickles, puliyogare paste, maggi noodles, soups, etc.
3. Home made delicacies – ask your mom or granny to prepare laddoos, mithais, khara etc… you will find that you might have to survive on these for the first few days unless you are ok with eating non-vegetarian or vegetarian food in a non-vegetarian restaurant.
B. It would be necessary to carry enough cash in the form of a cash card (Citi Bank has one of those international cash cards) and some currency notes (usually US dollar bills).
C. If you know your place of stay in Hong Kong, be sure to carry both the English and Chinese versions of the address, neatly printed in large bold letters on a piece of paper. Most taxi drivers understand basic English but may not comprehend your pronunciation.
D. I found the travellers packing list available at http://www.travellerspoint.com/packing-list.cfm to be quite helpful in packing my luggage. There is a link to download the list in Excel or Word at the bottom of the page. Take a print of this list and check against each item as you pack them.
E. The electricity in Hong Kong is transmitted at 230 V/50 Hz – the same as India. Electrical outlets in Hong Kong take a three-pronged plug. Make sure to buy an adapter for your electrical appliances before you leave India.
F. A good English-Mandarin-English dictionary with words written in Mandarin against their equivalent in English would be of help when you transact with street vendors and the locals. Though English is widely spoken, people generally tend to respond better when you at least make an attempt to converse in the local language.
The maximum luggage you can check in is 25 kgs if you are travelling by Economy class. Your hand baggage could weigh upto 8 kgs. If you are carrying a laptop, you could have that as an additional piece of hand baggage.
During Travel
As far as I know, there are no direct flights between India and Hong Kong. Be prepared to spend at least three to four hours in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur airports depending on where your stop for transit. I had to spend 4 hours at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The place is wi-fied and there was no problem with the connectivity. There are a number of duty free shops that are open thru the night. There is also a Starbucks Cafe, a Burger King and other eateries. You could convert some of your money into the local currency if you plan on buying something or sipping a cup of coffee.
On Arrival
Hong Kong International Airport is one of the best airports in the world. The airport staff are very helpful and there are signs in English everywhere to help you with directions. The first thing to do on arrival is covert some of your money into Hong Kong Dollars. There are shops in the airport that sell SIM cards. Its a good idea to buy one of them – 3 Mobile or CSL – and insert it into your mobile just to give a call back home, informing your safe arrival. The cellular network in Hong Kong operates on quad-band GSM and if your mobile works in India, chances are that it works in HK too. Head next to the immigration counters and get your passport stamped. The process should not take more than five minutes and you should be speeding to the baggage claim counters. Be sure to check the counter number for your baggage on your way to the immigration counter to get to the right baggage claim belt.
There are various ways of commuting from the Hong Kong International Airport to your destination. You could take a bus or hire a taxi. But the easiest and cheapest option is to take the Airport Express – a train that runs from the airport to various parts of the city. Hong Kong has a very fast, clean and efficient railway system known as MTR (Mass Transport Railway). There is a MTR customer service counter right next to where you collect your baggage. Purchase an Octopus card by paying HKD 100 and refill it with HKD 200 for your journey. As you will know later, the Octopus card can be used at a lot of places in Hong Kong. You could push your trolley all the way to the station which is about a minute or two from the baggage counter. The Airport Express operates from 0550 to 0048 hours and there is a train which runs every twelve minutes. It takes 24 minutes to reach downtown Hong Kong. Click here for a detailed map of the MTR which also shows you the route the Airport Express takes.
You will hear announcements in English right from the time you step into the train informing you of the next arriving station and the names are displayed clearly in the screens inside the carriage as you arrive at each station. You will most probably get down at Kowloon or Hong Kong depending on where your hotel/apartment/guest house is. There would be taxis waiting just outside each of these stations to cover the distance between there and your destination. The drivers are very cooperative; they do not over charge and take you by the shortest route possible. There is no need to tip them.
In my second part, I will write about getting around in Hong Kong.
