Nokia N79 Review

I am back (Arnold Shalwar Naikar Style) and this time i am going to do a review of Nokia N-79 cell phone (which Nokia INSISTS to call as computer) but before i start i must thank the people who made it possible in the first place

• Mr. Adeel Hashmi (Nokia)
• Mr. Muhammed Ayaz (Syntax Communications)
• Mr. Muhammad Waqas (Syntax Communications)

The Box, Nothing Fancy Yet Have A Unique Presence

So now that i am done with obligation of thanking people lets go down (sounds pervert but honestly i don't mean it like that) to business shall we?

Technical Specifications

• 2.4" 16M-color LCD TFT display of QVGA resolution
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and AF assist light
• VGA video recording at 30fps
• Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI
• ARM 11 369 MHz CPU
• 3G with HSDPA support
• Quad-band GSM support
• Wi-Fi with UPnP technology
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality and 3 months of free voice-guided navigation
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• 4GB memory card included in the retail package
• Built-in accelerometer for UI auto-rotation
• Swappable Xpress-on smart covers (two of them in the box)
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• TV out
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• FM transmitter
• Stereo speakers
• Navi wheel navigation
• USB and Bluetooth v2.0
• One free N-gage game
• Keylock switch

History Of N-Series

Why reviewers avoid going into history of a product is beyond me, maybe it has something to do with the boring history classes we were forced take in school? Anyways i personally believe unless one take a quick look at the history of the product or brand we would not be in a position to justify the pros and cons of the product properly, Having said that lets explore the rich history behind N-79 shall we?

Like the name suggests "N" means that this particular line of product is targeting the "multimedia" market segment, that in layman's language means that any device having the brand name of "N-Series" will pack a serious punch when it comes to watching videos, photos, taking pictures, blogging, mobile gaming and other areas of multimedia.

Being only introduced in 2005 one can debate that the brand does not have that much history behind it but i'll eat my hat if someone can debate with me on the impact N-Series managed to make in such a short time, hat's off to Nokia's team for that.

The few common features one will find in N-Series phones would be

• Above average camera
• High Speed data connectivity
• Symbian platform (started off with Symbian 8.1 and now Symbian 9.1+ I would like to point that two N-Series phoens did not used the Symbian platform and were using Linux based OS, this is for "OMG YOU ARE SO WRONG OMGOMGOMGOMG" folks out there)
• Ability to view images, movies and listen to songs on the road bringing the device in parallel to mobile mp3/video players.

So now that we have taken a brief look at the platform this particular device is based of lets see which existing device(s) this particular phone (computer, ARGH) is going to replace.

N-79 Predecessor

Things get slightly complicated here, on the face this device looks and feels just like N-78 so i won't be surprised if it's automatically related to N-78 after all they share the looks (somewhat)

As you can see with N-78 on the left and the N-79 on the right, The N-79 DOES looks like an updated N-78 with more bells and whistles attached but that's where it all stops, I am serious if we go down comparing the specifications for both the phones its funny that they are ALMOST the same phones with different camera modules.

Why would Nokia want to introduce a new phone to replace an existing phone just couple of months down the road (N-78 available May 08, N-79 available 08) makes me assume that in Nokia's opinion N-78 was not a good seller and Nokia felt like bringing something new to the table. I personally believe that N-79 is here to take the crown from N-73 for being the new best seller phone packing features like 5 megapixel camera to make the deal more spicy.

That again is my assumption but N-78 failed to achieve the results and that does put a lot of weight on shoulders of N-79. Things get more complicated when we see the immediate competition the phone has from companies own offerings.

Target Audience

Before actually coming up with potential threats lets see the target audience this particular phone is catering. In my opinion the phone is for tech savvy style oriented people who (1) Wants the newest gadgets in their hand (2) Wants the top of the line technology with them. Maybe Nokia design team have something different in their mind but as far as i am concerned these are the target audience for the phone.

Internal Competition

My gripe with manufacturers is that they give you so many choices that making up your mind to choose a product becomes IMPOSSIBLE, an d by the time you end up deciding your mind there is a new product in market ARGH!

With the above discussed target audience in mind, N-79 have some serious competition ironically from it's own "brothers and sisters" like N-95, N-96, 6220 Classic, N-85 and N-82. You might say hey N-82 i understand but N-95 and N-96 noway! so lets see in which aspects the device is competing against the other three sets

N-95

At one time the flagship product for Nokia packed some serious punch, from 5 megapixel camera with xenon flash to integrated GPS, accelerometer and list of other goodies was a phone which many drooled on (myself being exception because i was never into BRICKS)

5 mega pixel camera was perhaps the main selling reason behind N-95 atleast in my opinion and N-79 packs a similar on surface 5 megapixel camera in a candy bar design and much lighter and slim.

N-96

The new flagship product from Nokia which replaces N-95 currently offers its user heaps of different features from a 5 megapixel camera to integrated GPS to what not, I shall be covering N-96 in more details in an upcoming review.

N-82

Before even writing anything about N-82 let me admit, i drooled a LOT on the set because of its features, yeah people might not agree with the style and specially the keypad (which resembles the one with N-78) but it had all the features one would want in a candybar form. You get a 5 megapixel camera with Xenon flash, accelerometer, GPS among other features.

For the record, i prefer the phone in black color.

6222 Classic

Personally i owned 6120 Classic and i loved it to death, unfortunately my wife lost it (WHAT? NO! ARGGGGGGHHH!!!!) and i still miss it, it was a powerful Symbian based phone which was very fast with adequate camera and was hassle free to use. I can go and on talking about 6120 Classic but we are talking about its elder brother 6220 Classic with among other major upgrades to the platform packaged a 5 megapixel camera with Xenon flash.

Nokia 6222 Classic, Following the Footsteps Of Highly Successful 6120 Classic

N-85

Both these phones are not really competition i mean they do feature similar set of features but in different form factor, i am personally not a fan of sliders or flip so candy bar has always been my style but there are people who prefer having sliders and N-85 is good option for them. With a 5 mega pixel camera and a good screen size (2.6 inch) the phone does offers a lot.

Nokia N-79 And N-85 Side By Side

So here we have three different models from the same manufacturer offering nearly the same set of features yet different slabs i.e. N-96 higher end, N-95 the previous higher end now catering the upper middle end and the N-82 catering the upper middle end.

The Box Content

Keep in mind that piece i received from Nokia was in retail packaging however it was not sealed so the content you may get in your retail back might be slightly different. There are products with box which gives you the "cheap" feel but N-79 feels every bit worth of the money you end up paying for it. The moment you lift up the lid your eyes would be dazzled with N-79 along with two covering

The Green Color Looks "More" Eeeky Due To Flash, The Brown Was Very Elegant I Must Say

• N-79 Handset (Seriously it was there! DOH!)
• Two bonus smart covers, our box had one in brownish color and one in green. The colors may vary.
• Two piece (two earbuds) handsfree with integerated remote.
• MicroUSB cable.
• DC Charger
• 4GB Memory Card.
• Leflets, Manuals, DVD's etc.

Design

From the pictures i saw i thought the phone would be BIGGGGGGGGGGGG!!! but once i got the device and i took it in hand i was pleasantly surprised, make no mistakes i still don't think it felt as nicer as E-51 or 5300 Express Music (You can judge from my approach that i like thin phones) but certainly its much better than N-95/96 or N-73. But let me just get away with one statement, this has to be the prettiest looking N series phone upto date and that Sir indeed is a compliment.

Much of the dimensions of the phone are covered by large and bright 2.4" display and the keypad. On the front you have the secondary VGA camera which serves for video conferencing a feature our mobile operators currently don't offer but can be used to take self portrait (This feature gotta get attention from self obsessed people)

On the left side of the phone you will find the slot for memory card and the micro USB along with the socket for the charger, i always prefer NOT having the charger slot on the bottom of the phone as it hinders placing it in holders etc.

On the right side of the phone you will find the volume rocker which also serves as zoom function in the camera mode and a dedicated camera key. You will also found two stereo speakers on the right side.

On top of the phone you will find a power button which can be used to change profiles quickly and a small "slider" button which locks and unlocks your phone, i found this feature to be really nifty (instead of using the good old keystroke combination) however i did found it to be slightly buggy (at times it didn't locked and took several attempts same goes for unlocking)

On the back we have the 5 megapixel camera which is covered by a active cover and dual LED flash. Once you slide the slider to expose the lens camera application automatically starts in landscape mode. While we are talking about the back it would be unfair to forget the battery which powers this baby, not a small measly one but a powerful 1200 mAh BL-6F Li-Ion battery and through out the vigrous check for a week it never let me down.

While we are talking about back lets talk about the interchangeable covers, the model i received came with green and brown in the box and the phone itself had blue colored cover, now one neat feature which Nokia has added is that when you change a cover thanks to a "contact" (you can say a chip) the phone automatically changes the theme according to the color of cover you are putting on. You however do have option of turning it on/off.

Overall the phone is very pocket friendly and light (i still remember how i used to hate the weight of my N-73). I honestly could not find any reason to whine as far as the build quality of handset i received is concerned, now i was just not happy with that so what i did was to visit few local mobile dealers in Khadda Market (DHA Karachi) and managed to see 3 sets and even they had awesome build quality (When will Shop Keepers start keeping actual working demo sets than those dummies?) so it's not that Nokia specifically choose their best assembled set to send for reviews.

Display

Sharp and bright, i would had not complaints with the 2.4" display IF i had not seen the OLED display of N-85, honestly why Nokia choose not to give OLED goodness to N-79 is beyond me, unfortunately i did not had a N-85 on hand to show you side by side comparison of the displays so until i get my hands on them together you will have to take my word for it.

If we ignore the OLED factor than like i said above the display is sharp and very much readable in sunlight. No complaints here with the 16M color TFT on that front.

Keypad

The keypad of N-79 is joy to use, i have small hands and it took me no time to type sms in giffy, In fact if you have EVER used any Nokia phone it would take you not time to be at home with N-79's keypad. I HATE (should i repeat myself? oh well my blog, my review so my rules, I HATE) keypad of N-82 and N-78, i didn't got much time to spend with both these devices but it was frustrating experience and fortunately enough with N-79 we are back with "proper" keypad.

The Navigation "Wheel" or the D-Pad is touch sensitive (i admit that it took me some exploration of the phone to figure it out, *blush*) but after a little while i switched it off because it was not "smooth" enough for me, maybe its just me or maybe its something which would be resolved in future firmware updates.

Battery

I had the phone for over a week and during this time i only charged it twice. I used the phone extensively to shoot pictures and videos, doing browsing via wifi and playing around with different options on the phone. Since mostly i had my secondary sim in the set the actual voice and sms conversation was not that much. Still i am very impressed by the battery life of this set considering all the features it packs in the little candybar body.

Voice Quality

The phone was loud enough for me even in busy environments. I managed to easily talk while bowling at Royal Rodale on top of all the music and noise there (If you have been to Royal Rodale's bowling alley or to Area-51 you can understand the amount of noise there)

Speaker phone was pretty good too, managed to use it a lot when driving and had no problems what so ever with it. No complains from my side as far as the sound is concerned.

Camera

*sigh* If i had to express myself in one word than it would be DISAPPOINTED. What's the use of having a 5 megapixel camera when most of the time you end up having a grainy picture? If you are looking for a Camera Phone than honestly go for either N-95 or N-82 they simply RULE when it comes to imaging.

Now i know you must be thinking that i have totally dissed the camera module on this phone, not entirely true, the image quality which one can achieve using the camera depends HEAVILY on light conditions, in good light conditions the phone managed to take some awesome images but unfortunately like i said those "awesome" shots were in minority. I personally think if this phone had a Xenon flash than phone would had given N-82 a run for it's money because in my opinion the ONLY aspect this phone does not wins/draws over N-82 is the camera, in all the other aspects N-79 is equal and excels when in comes to keypad. Cost factor was an issue at one time when N-79 was cheaper than N-82 but with recent price drops the N-82 is couple of thousand cheaper than N-79 (If you want a fast phone with excellent camera capabilities and do not mind measly keypad issue than go for N-82 no questions asked)

Few are just few of the pictures i took using the N-79, Click on the images to see them in full resolution.

I was satisfied with the videos i was able to make with the phone, VGA resolution at 30 fps with okay image quality was adequate for those "candid moments"

Connectivity

The phone offers you almost all the available mediums to connect your phone, Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, USB, Wifi someone i know whined about IR not being there i punched him in the face for being an idiot, on serious note i think with all the options available for connectivity not having IR is not your average user will even notice considering that even the lower end phones have started coming out with bluetooth.

The front camera supports 3G video conferencing which is a feature which we lack here in our nation so unless some provider decides to introduce 3G here in Pakistan our only means of "broadband" on cellular phones is EDGE.

Browser

Nokia has the BEST browser out there, there i got it out of my system, Safari users are going to hunt me down now, the virtual mouse cursor makes navigation very easy and the results are crisp with seeming less shift from horizontal to vertical views.

Productivity

Calendar, Quick Office, Alarm, ZIP Manager, Unit Converter, Calculator, Notes, Voice Recorder and other typical applications makes a return in N-79 and like in many other cases of higher end phones i don't understand why Nokia gives the half baked cake (Office) to us? Why only give us the ability to view documents and ask us to "purchase" the full version, it would had been nice if they had provided the full version at least for their higher end of phones. Overall the productivity suite is complete.

N-Gage Yeah Baby!

The phone came with a N-Gage client and 10+ trial games which i had to install (under 1 minute time per game) and included was a coupon by which i could purchase a game (nice touch there Nokia). Now the first thing which i noticed was the resemblance with XBOX Live was just uncanny, from having your "gamer tag" to "gamer score" to "reputation" and i felt right at home, of course i did not ended up making my own tag and stuff which i doubt i could have done in the first place since Pakistan would not be in the supported list but i liked the N-Gage system.

There is also a "market place" where you can browse games, download trials and purchase games, again all this sounds all to familiar to me :) Overall the gaming experience was nice and i wasted good amount of time playing games which was partly due to KESC and partly due to the fact trial games could only be played for limited levels/time.

Other Features

Yes there are things i could not test and they are

GPS here in Karachi WITHOUT going third party hacks / software's which honestly i would not want to do with the phone Nokia had sent me, if it was my own phone than definitely i would had jumped the band wagon and tried "stuff" out! :)

FM Transmitter is a new "gimmick" added which will transmit the song you are playing to a fixed frequency so that your friends can "tune in" to that frequency and listen to the same song as you are.

Price

Currently the phone is available for 31,000 Rs and in that price range you can get phones like E-71, N-82, N-95 to name a few, in my opinion if the price range of this device was around 20,000 Rs. than it would had taken the market by storm much like N-73 did.

Conclusion

Time to wrap up this long review, Overall i loved the device, i wish they had provided a good quality camera with Xenon flash. I have said before in my review that this perhaps is the best looking N-Series device out there. Problem is that the phone offers almost all the features every other new phone is offering and does not bring anything innovative to the table and that makes the buying decision very hard for the end user, this device is no E-71 or 5800 Express Music for instance, both the devices i mentioned have unique propositions on the table which make them attractive to the consumer.

On a scale of 1 - 10 i would give this phone a nice 8

A Day At Business Plus

I got invited as a guest speaker / geek / expert on Right Click a technology show which air's on Business Plus hosted by charming Ayeesha Athar and stud Faraz Tayaab, We talked about information security and general trends in our daily computing lifes which can create potential problems for us and give a hacker a walk in the park to our sensitive information. It would be unfair not to mention Imran Khatak the person behind the show for his energy and brains behind the show, I wish all the best to Right Click team and would be looking forward to working with them in the future :)

Reboot Episode 5 On Youtube

Episode 5 got aired this week and it is on youtube for you to watch!

Part 1



Part 2

Reboot Episode 4

Episode 4 of Reboot is now on youtube for you to watch!

Part 1




Part 2

Debug Episode 3 Now On Youtube

In case you managed to miss the episode you can now watch it on youtube

Part 1



Part 2

Debug Episode 2

In this episode we talk about alternatives to iTunes, i don't know about you guys itunes is crappy piece of software, very heavy on system resources and slower than a pregnant elephant in a marathon. I love my ipod don't get me wrong but i hated itunes so i started looking for other ways to sync my ipod to my comptuer and i found loads of alternatives. Today we are going to discuss few of the top alternatives.

1. Foobar 2000
2. Winamp
3. Song Bird
4. Yamipod

Foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org/) is free media player available which can play nearly all the media formats you can throw its way, apart from being a good media player (although i have other favourites when it comes to media players) it can also sync with your ipod to transfer songs to your ipod.

Few are few screenshots of foobar2000 in action

Main Interface

Main Interface Alternative

Convertor Lets You Convert Between File Formats

Winamp (http://www.winamp.com/) does not needs any introduction unless you were hibernating for past few years or so, perhaps the most popular and oldest mp3 player around lets you play different media formats. Among several other features it also letsyou sync with your ipod and transfer songs to it.

Nice And Easy To Use Interface With Loads Of Skins To Alter The Looks

With Enough Features To Keep You Busy For A While

Songbird (http://www.getsongbird.com) is yet ANOTHER media player in the list, and like the predecors it can play variety of media formats and among its numerous features it lets you dock your ipod to your comptuer and transfer songs to it.

Yamipod (http://http://www.yamipod.com) is the last program on our list but certainly not the least infact it happens to be my personal favourite program among the list, Why? because its a no nonsense straight ipod manager and it shows from the name (Yet Another Ipod Manager) with letters rearranged to make it better "sounding". It virtually lets you achieve all the things you can do with your itunes including having podcasts while keeping a very small memory usage.

The Main Interface

Find And Remove Duplicate Files Among Several Other Features

That's it for this segment from Reboot's 2nd Episode, do feel free to write to me with comments and suggestions both for the show or the blog and i will try to answer you as soon as possible. :-)

Reboot

Well what is reboot? it's just another tech / gadget show on air, what makes it different from other show is the fact that this show for a change have people both on and off camera who know what they are talking about, so instead of getting lousy facts and figures copied from google and lack of research evident from the content you will find something you can relate too.

We shall try to address common problems and provide some solutions catering to our local market, not everyone can get something from bestbuy and fix their computer, so how about relating it to our local market and telling viewers what to do :)

Ali Ansari, a very humble and down to earth person who enjoys gadgets as much as he enjoys music


Well, it's me, much to horror of many friends, i now haunt everyone on TV :/

Reboot - Episode 1 - Debug

So in the first episode of Reboot we decided to explore the topic which bugs us the most, so we decided to do a segment on different freeware utilities which are available and can be used easily without going through pains of cracks and serials and what not

Achieve / Zip / Compression Programs

When it comes to achieves the name winzip automatically comes to mind, but its small in size, its free and it gets the job done, this freeware program will open most of the achieves you will come across.

7-Zip (Archieve) - http://www.7-zip.org/

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Acrobat reader is widely and most used program when it comes to pdf, but as far as we are concerned it is heavy on resources and honestly does install many unnecessary features (crap or blotware) which one might not want. If you are the sort of person who wants a simple to use and low on machine resources pdf reader than I will strongly suggest foxit reader to you.

Foxit Reader (PDF Reader) - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Windows Notepad

May sound strange why we want to include an alternative to a program which is already included for free in Windows, well·Although Windows Notepad does gets the job done but lets admit it, its undermined and that is because it lack features which could make it a powerful WYSIWYG editor, this was deliberate on part of Microsoft team in our opinion to differentiate notepad from its elder brother Wordpad.

Following are few screen shots directly from developer's website to give you a better idea of its features

Multi-View (document in clone mode)

Multi-View (document in clone mode)



Multi Document And Multi-View



XML Syntax highlighting and folding



HTML (and embedded php, java script) Syntax highlighting and folding

Notepad++ (text editor) - http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Will be posting more utilities and freebies in another post so keep on reading the blog ! :)

Creating A Simple Button In Photoshop

Few of my friends were asking me how i manage to work in photoshop, Well i am learning on my own and consider myself as a "noob" and as far as i am concerned photoshop is not rocket science anyone can learn it provided time and effort is given.

So i thought about writing this small tutorial for a friend of mine, i will try to cover the steps to create a simple button in photoshop from scratch

Note :

1. I am NOT an expert in photoshop
2. This is roughly the way i do work, there would be dozens of other ways to reach the same effects, feel free to explore
3. The "button" or all the images were taken soley for purpose of creating this tutorial so i haven't bothered with any refiniements or any other thing, they are just to provide the user with some basic knowledge and than its upto his or her's creativity to explore. :)



I assume you already have started photoshop, for this tutorial and all the images i have used photoshop cs 2, your interface might vary with the version you are using. First thing is to create a new document, you can do this either by going to File -> New or simply press CTRL+N on Windows. A window will open looking similar to the image below, enter the dimensions as indicated by the image i.e. 300 x 300. For this exercise i had my background color as black (i love working with black or white)


When you are done click OK to proceed

Now you will be presented with a small window, we now will proceed to make the basic shape of the button, we want to be rectangular with rounded edges, so as indicated in the image below click in the toolbar and select "Rounded Rectangle" or you can use the keyboard shortcut "U"


We want to modify the settings so that our "button" will have more rounded edges for that find the setting in the top most menu bar and modify the setting for "Radius" the default value is 10 we want to make it 20, you can see it illustrated in the image below


Now go ahead drag your mouse (press left button and move the mouse) and create yourself a vague rectangular shape something like in the image below



Now the fun part starts, we will now convert this boring looking rectangle into something more "fancy". Right click on the shape layer and you will be presented with a menu



Click on "Blending Options" and you will be presented with a new window with different options, we will explore different options one by one to see their effects

First click on "Drop Shadow" and make the settings as per the image below, while you are playing around with different settings feel free to explore and learn what impact they do on the image


Next we will explore settings of "Satin" and make the settings in accordance to the image below


Now we have a general "shape" of a button, its time to give it some edges and bevel it, we will now check the settings for "Bevel And Emboss", As before try to match the settings as per image below, like i have mentioned before feel free to explore what impact different settings do to your image


Now go to Filters -> Artistic -> Plastic Wrap, PS will ask you if you want to resterize the layer blah blah blah, press okay, you will be taken to a window which will resemble something like the image below, make the settings accordingly



Now its time to add some text to the "button" press T and type something and it will look something like the image below (provided your text color is white)



Again right click on the text layer select Blending Options and give the text some drop shadow so it looks nicer like the image below



There you go a simple way to create an average looking button in photoshop, its not good or anything but at least it shows you certain ways of getting things done, hopefully it will come in use for someone out there :)

How many BAQAI's Does It Takes To Change A Light Bulb?

Okay, i admit its a lame joke, to be honest its perhaps beyond being lame, sue me for it like i care :) I was amused to giggling like a girl today (much to amusement of my wife) when i read email from Faisal Baqai, YES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THERE ARE PEOPLE (NOT ALIENS LIKE PREVIOUSLY CLAIMED) WHO READ THIS BLOG! Okay now that i have this need of self bragging out of my system let me come to the subject.

Baqai's are known inherently as DOCTORS much credit of that goes to Dr.Fareed Baqai (Baqai Medical University fame) and Hakim Moazam Baqai (Azam Dawakhana Fame) so telling anyone that you are BAQAI and NOT from medical field mostly gets you "you are retarted" look :)

I admit i had plans of creating a website for Baqai family but Faisal beat me to it, Hat's off to you for creating a dedicate site for the Baqai family, i was limited to creating communities on facebook and orkut and now we have a official "Home Page"

Yeah Baby! Baqai's are Online Now ..... okay enough of my stupid writing go and browse http://baqaifamily.com/

Again Faisal Baqai, Hat's off to you ! It takes ONE Baqai to put light of the family online! :)

In The Name Of Father : Benazir Bhutto

Much like my fellow citizen's i was shocked to hear the news of assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto, i was glued to the tv screen with my wife and my parents while my 10 months old was trying to break everything around totally unaware of the fact that death of a person can create so many problems for a nation.

One advantage / disadvantage of media and today's high tech world is that news travels so fast that it's really hard to do any damage control, this is what happened with Government of Pakistan that evening, much like a person caught with his pants down GOP and Law Enforcement agencies were still trying to comprehend the amount of damage done and strategy when public started havoc on the streets of different cities in the country.

The rest of the time we spend trying to contact our loved one's, confused,puzzled,angry (at the mob destroying properties and robbing shops etc) and helpless. It was time which reminded me of the days of Karachi Operations when riots and burning tyres was for a regular routine. By late night we were hearing from our relatives and their stories, the damage they had to take and hell out on the streets of Karachi. I think nobody was sleeping or was able to sleep that night.

Of course Government Of Pakistan had to give an explanation and they had to clam things down, much to our amusement the statement given by GOP for the assassination was changing from the initial reports and it seemed rather impossible to most of the people. It was a mistake on Government's part and later on denials came but damage was done to credibility of Government.

For three days we were forced to sit inside our house like we had committed a sin and were being punished for it, if we tried to move out of our house due to some emergency we were subject to constant danger of being mugged and deprived of anything we were carrying, the events followed by Ms Bhutto's death were a dream come true scenario for all the thugs around the country and they took full advantage of the situation. Our own family was saved on the third day in night when we had to go to a nearby store to buy some medicines for our kid and to get some grocceries and few people decided that we don't have right to do that and opened fire in the area forcing the shops to closed down, Rangers were close by and came to the rescue but damage had been done, shops were closed again and customers were rushing back to the safety of their homes.

On the first working day we were relieved to be back to our normal lives and were busy trying to cover up the pending work when the dreadful news of riots starting came, DAMN NOT AGAIN followed by HOW WILL I REACH HOME and IS MY FAMILY SAFE were the immediate thoughts, Cell phone was constantly ringing and panic was wide spread in very little time much credit of that goes to few rumors which spread (Like i said above this is disadvantage of news traveling fast that anyone can spread rumors and create havoc). Finally took a big gulp and left the office for home. Driving in such situation is a unique and horrible experience, everyone looks like a person coming for you, any traffic congestion ahead on the road and you will slow down the car thinking some riot is taking place. Took me more than an hour to reach home safe and sound much to relieve of my family. Again spend the whole day calling friends and relatives to find out if they were okay.

Now after the fifth day of assassination of Ms.Bhutto i am forced to ask myself few questions

1. She was a great leader for many in this country and also very popular internationally, but all the riots and mobbing was she worth it?

I personally don't think so, Muhammed Ali Jinnah passed out everyone was shattered but back than nobody took it out on public property, Liaqut Ali Khan was shot down but nothing like this happened, JFK was assassinated while he was the President (not Ex Prime Minster like in case of Ms.Bhutto) and nothing like this happened, why?

I don't blame PPP leadership or PPP workers totally for the situation in the country, they were a huge factor but i personally believe there were other foreign interests involved trying to disrupt the peace of the Country and when they saw (and perhaps even encouraged) PPP workers coming out on streets and showing their frustrating and anger they joined the ranks and had their goals achieved.

2. When she knew she was on target list than why did she had to pop her head out of the sunroof?

This is where my mind boggles, she was a highly educated person, she was again and again warned not only by local agencies but from international agencies about possible attacks on her, she was told to follow security protocol which she didn't, Having a bullet/bomb proof car and wearing a bullet proof vest is not going to do any wonders if you stick your unprotected head out of the sunroof in clear view for any person with ill intentions. People say she liked to be close to her supporters but i guess in this case it was Too Close For Comfort.

3. Where do Shireen Rehman gets her news from?

Laser guided bullets and smart weapons? damn either i need what ever she is on or she tells me which author she likes to read, she was seen roaming around wearing a neck strainer thingie while she seemed to be moving her neck without any problems.

4. Why poke your nose into other people's business?

Seems to me that western media is having a field day covering the events followed by Ms Bhutto's assassination, Presidential candidates coming and talking about situation in Pakistan when they should really be talking about their own situation in Iraq. They are trying to teach us how to handle our affairs when they were not able to manage disaster recovery in case of Katrina. They just need any excuse to bad mouth us and much to my disgust Geo is following their footsteps being local Fox News.

5. Practice what you preech?

PPP announced Bilawal "Bhutto" Zardari (Bhutto was added to his name much like a callsign), a 19 years old student to be the chairperson of the party, this atleast to be is absurd, i was hoping to see Makhdoom Amin Fahim coming up and taking the charge of the party, but i guess Chairperson of PPP has to be from Bhutto family making it a family inheritance. Makes me question if political parties can't have democracy within their own structure how can they advocate and promise democracy for the nation? PML (N) is again an example with Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif being the leaders and they would be followed by son or nephew or family relative. This is a system which needs to be changed before we ATTEMPT to achieve democracy.

Democracy Is The Best Revenge, were the ending statement of young Mr.Bilawal and that sends a negative vibe to many of the listeners.

6. What was Government doing?

Opposition or not, She was one of the biggest name in local politics in current times, i was disapponted to see that no one from the government or political parties went to her Namaz-e-Janaza. It would had shown a very polite gesture (which again can be taken as a sign of weekness, and we know politics is all about who has bigger balls right?) and perhaps had cooled down the situation. Maybe it was due to the angry crowd consideration at the tadfeen?

7. International Investigation?

This really cracked me up, Mr Zardari apparently stopped the autopsy to take place, maybe its because of family values or what ever maybe the reason. He has announced that he has no faith in Government investigations (much due to blunders made by them which i discussed before) and he wants to get international investigation teams to conduct investigation. I think they will conduct an autopsy too so DUH!!

Secondly, we are calling the same people who in all these years are unable to find one person which in their opinion is the world's biggest menace and whose name this War On Terrorism was started, There is still controversy about JFK assassination and they are going to come here and solve our problems?

8. What's next?

Nothing, i had enough typing for a day and i am going to end it here only! Our nation lost a leader in a tragic event, people may had liked her or not, supporters or not, but we have to admit that she had a strong public support and to many she would be remembered as a Hero. She spend whole of her life in the name of her father and followed his fate.

A Practical Joke For Office

Got this from another place so won't be taking the credit for the first one, the second prank is quiet popular too but i did it on my own :p

1. On your mark's computer, go to the Desktop and make a new folder.
2. Rename the new folder to e.g. “Porn” or "XXX" or What ever title that will grab attention
   
3. Make a screenshot
4. Delete the folder that you’d just created
5. Install the screenshot image as a Desktop wallpaper
6. Enjoy!

Another trick i loved to play is

1. Take a screen shot of the desktop
2. Hide all the icons
3. Move the taskbar from down to another position and hide it
4. Make the screen shot as the wall paper
5. Enjoy especially if the victim is your average windows user :p

Ubuntu Solving The Problem Of Disappearing Disc Space

For past few days i was puzzled by this problem that i kept deleting files but there was no difference in the hard drive space, so by searching and reading i figured out a way to solve this problem,I thought about writing this small tip/guide for newbies like me

Problem / Symptom

I delete files from my hard drive (it can be linux partition or it can be NTFS partiont) yet the space on hard drive remains the same as it was before deleting the files.

Solution

What happens when you delete a file in GUI is that Linux moves the files to a Trash folder instead of actually deleting the file,

For Linux Partition i would suggest you open the terminal go to

Code:

cd /home//.Trash

Replace the with your user name e..g

Code:

cd /home/baqai/.Trash

now to see if you have any hidden files in the directory

Code:

ls -a

this will show you all the hidden / non hidden files in the directory

now for deleting the files

Code:

rm 

If you want to remove a directory than use

Code:

rm -R 

For Windows Partition

Say you have a windows partition mounted and the volume of that drive is "Downloads" you can follow the same principals as above with slight twist

First lets go to your partition

Code:

cd /media/Downloads

Now lets find those files which you deleted

Code:

cd .Trash-

e.g. in my case i typed

Code:

cd .Trash-baqai

Now you will enter a new directory

Code:

ls -a

You will be again shown a list of files, now you can follow the steps above to get rid of the files once and for all and can recover your hard drive space.

On windows partitions you will also have another directory by name of .Trash-root which you should also check just in case you deleted some files by your root account and they are there, For most of the new users like me it should not be a case normally

Fixing the Desktop Resolution in Ubuntu Linux

This is one of the lessons i learned on my own by screwing up the display configuration of my GUI of Ubuntu (Linux). So what happened is that i changed the refresh rate and resolution to match my TV (It's a HDTV which supports VGA) and everything was messed up, here is what i did

I suggest you backup your display settings before making any changes otherwise you will be sitting like an idiot like me :P

1. Either boot in recovery mode OR you can simply press CTRL+F1 to go in the CLI (Command Line Interface)

2. go to /etc/X11

[code]cd /etc/X11[/code]

3. Baclup your config file

[code]sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup[/code]

4. Fortunately for me ubuntu had already kept my last configuration file so all i had to do was to over write the current one

[code]sudo cp xorg.conf.1 xorg.conf[/code]

5. Than had to reboot the machine [code]sudo reboot[/code]

there were couple of backup configurations in the folder so it was trial and error procedure till i found the configuration which was working for me

this was a hap hazard way of describing things but what the heck, hopefully it will help someone out or perhaps me in the future to recall my footsteps to solve the problem :P

Communication Problems :P

A man spoke frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" "Is this her first child?" the doctor asked. "No, you idiot!" the man shouted. "This is her husband!"

In The Men's Room

Found this HILARIOUS joke

I was barely sitting down when I heard a voice from the other stall saying,
"Hi, how are you?"

I'm not the type to start a conversation in the men's restroom, but I don't
know what got into me, so I answered, somewhat embarrassed,
"Doin' just fine!"

And the other guy says,
"So what are you up to?"

What kind of question is that? At this point, I'm thinking this is too
bizarre so I say,
"Uhhh, I'm like you, just traveling!"

At this point I am just trying to get out as fast as I can, when I hear
another question.
"Can I come over?"

Ok, this question is just too weird for me, but I figured I could just
be polite and end the convesation. I tell him,
"No......I'm a little busy right now!!!"

The i hear the guy say nervously...

"Listen, I'll have to call you back. There's an idiot in the other stall
who keeps answering all my questions!!!"

Ebay Funnies !!!! :-)

Following are some of very funny and absurd replies / feedbacks on ebay ! :)


POSITIVE: Item shipped quickly, have been having erotic dreams about seller. Thanks!

POSITIVE: Thanks for great Rainbow Brite lunchbox. Should shrunken head be inside?

NEUTRAL: Excellent communication, but should've poked holes in box before shipping the kitten. Refunded.

NEGATIVE: Despite indication in listing, I could not fit item into any of my body cavities.

NEGATIVE: Honda R-Type sticker did not add horsepower as advertised.

NEUTRAL: Item shipped promptly and in good condition, but I should not have to bid on birthday presents from my parents.

POSITIVE: I don't really remember what I ordered. But I've been sitting in the box it came in all day, and it's great!

NEGATIVE: Product didn't work, possibly broken. I woke up this morning and was disappointed to find I still believe in Jesus Christ our Savior. :(

POSITIVE: Excellent Buyer. A++++++. Thrilled by the quartz movement of the "Rolex". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

NEGATIVE: Should have been clearer that seller only accepts payment in Bhats via Eastern Union Moneygram.

POSITIVE: Plain brown packaging seemed to fool my wife. Thanks!

NEGATIVE: The dog won't hunt.

NEGATIVE: Very nice monkey mascot costume, but it's a size 34, not a 63 as advertised.

NEGATIVE: Lederhosen not as pink as the picture led me to believe.

POSITIVE: A+++++. Items are exactly as described. Best case of kalashnikovs I've ever bought. Allah Akbar!

NEGATIVE: This is clearly the ninth, NOT THE SIXTH, repackaging of Mad Super Special #24.

POSITIVE: One of the scents mixed in with the packing peanuts remind me of a passionate weekend in Rio... was that you?

POSITIVE: The way you wrote my zip-code makes me weak in the knees. Such smooth strokes. A+!

NEGATIVE: Though you did nothing wrong, I am giving you this negative feedback to teach you that the universe is arbitrary and unfair.

NEGATIVE: Buying this Space 1999 Lunchbox did not fill the void in my empty life for as long as I'd hoped.

Some Wierd Yet Amazing Facts

1) In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb".

2) Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only... Ladies Forbidden"... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

3) Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

4) It is impossible to lick your elbow.

5) Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

6) Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king in history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs - Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

7) 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

8) Question: If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

Answer: One thousand

9) In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase... "goodnight, sleep tight."

10) It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

11) In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down." It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

12) Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

13) This is pretty sick. I can read it actually!

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amazing huh?

Call Of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare Review

Note : This post is dedicated to Nomi (Maskman) :P

Well, honestly i didn't felt like putting down the controller but

• My son was crying
• My wife was ticked off again at my xbox :P
• Playing on hardest difficulty was granting me endless deaths on one spot so i took a break

So here is my small hand's on experience with this awesome game

GUI

It's not every day that you boot up a game and GUI comes and you KNOW that its going to rock, the main menu sets the mood of an action flick ready to unfold by you, all the transactions during the mission (briefing) are done in a very eye catching / breath taking cinematics which will make you believe that you are watching a superb war movie till the game kicks in and you are ready for action, superbly done, yes there is difference between cinematics and actual game play graphics at times but none the less infinity ward managed to set the mood, 10/10

Graphics

I guess when they said next gen this was one of the games they had in mind, the graphics are simply superb and to top it all it runs without a frame drop on 1080p. Surroundings are according to the map and mission, the first map cargo ship reminded me of good ol counter strike map with the same name hehe!

Second map was mix or urban and jungle environment and most of the times i died because i was admiring one thing or the other, you have to rescue an informant here

You start the game as SAS and than move to Marine Core operations and the first mission reminds you of none other than Black Hawk Dawn, if you are playing on Veteran than you really can't help but question yourself "shit can it be so freaking hard for real?"

Cinematics

Although i have praised the cinematics before but honestly they deserve a section of their own, Till now i thought the intro movie was breath taking and than i was slapped with another awesome fmv in which you see yourself being dragged in a car and than pushed in the back of the car and drove around the city and than ....... maybe you should watch it on your own to enjoy it :)

Game play

Honestly FPS have nothing unique to offer recently, its all old school, run from point A to B go behind a cover (very much necessary if you want to servive) shoot, move ahead. What makes COD4 a little bit exception is all the "action" going around you, shots are being fired, RPG's flying over your head, grenades coming right to your feet when you go in a cover, damn you really can't stay in a place for a long time without dying :P

I would like to mention this one instance in which i shot an enemy point blank as he came out of corner, as he was falling down he fired his RPG and it went swooshing right besides me hit the wall behind me and i died, i was like stunned for a moment, so yeah getting killed in this game can be fun and unique too

Sound

For the sound track till the point i have played i would love to give it 20/10 (Yes, Twenty out of Ten, its not a typo) it very much sets the mood for you.

Sound effects other than the music are crisp and room comes to life if you have decent set of 5.1, bullets flying, grenades exploding, your team mates yelling, its insane, its fun ! :)

Multiplayer

I haven't tried playing on live as yet, but my experience of Beta is superb i have posted it some place here i believe, will post once i have a go at it

Overall

Overall, honestly if i had to buy this game (which i am by the way) i would go for the regular version of the game, not the collectors version but than again that's just me