*Mourns the death of Palm OS

Palm CEO Ed Colligan announced the death of the Palm OS last week. I couldn't help but shed a tear. The Palm OS has had a lasting impact on me. I'll never write the letter 'E' properly ever again thanks to my seven or so years using Palm's Graffiti and Graffiti 2 handwriting method.



The world's abuzz with touchscreen phones today, and it'd be a shame not to credit at least some of this to Palm's venerable OS. From the simple grid based icon layout to third-party apps, all these trends have their roots in the venerable Palm 3.x OS and every generation after that.

Third-party apps
The third-party apps thing is probably the biggest. Way before Apple had an AppStore, hundreds of thousands of crazy Palm OS users were busy adding fun but ultimately useless apps to their Palm devices. One of my favourites was Yoda - a simple app where an animated Yoda spouted tidbits of Jedi wisdom. "There is no try, do or do not."

There was also that calendaring application. The note application. The list application. That campy 3D RPG game in black and white (Dragon's Breath I think it was called). And the Gameboy emulator. Don't forget the MemManager that helped you maximise your RAM and the nifty SimCity 2000 port too!

If you ever needed an app, there were millions (number exaggerated, but you get the point) to choose from.

Accelerometer Games
Few people might know this, but one of the coolest things people did with their Palm devices was to slap an accelerometer mod on and play games with them. Yups, I remember the tricky ball game I played where you had to tilt the device to guide the ball where you wanted it to go. Just can't remember the name.

Grid Icon Layout / interface
Couple of years after Palm got the early lead out of the door, Windows CE (as it was called then) came out and introduced the taskbar to the mobile PDA. Today, every mobile computing platform is using the grid layout, even the one that's got a taskbar still. I'm so glad Palm won that battle.

So, even as we bid goodbye to our dear friend the Palm OS, I'd like to record a little thank you and say - hey, it was great to have you around.

Next post, I'll post a couple of pics and my brief history with Palm devices.

On the importance of health

If you've noticed the significant drop in postings on my blog over the past two weeks, you'll notice something has probably been the matter. I've been unwell, really. That and too busy to blog.

One of the things I've come to really appreciate right now is good health. I've set a new record since the year started for seeing the doctor. Four times in two weeks. Five, if you count the time I went before Christmas.

These past weeks, I've had rashes, headaches, nosebleeds, fevers, body aches, ulcers, overwhelming phlegm - the works. It occurs to me I've never been this sick before.

I've never really taken my health seriously before. But this time, combined with the workload, I just felt I could have done without all the bad health. So I've started myself on a new regime. It'll be cycling, Brands Chicken Essence everyday, and a couple of new vitamin supplements I've taken from GNC. I'll also progressively sleep earlier.

I hope this works. I don't want to get sick again.

My finished Citadel Gameboard

Just finished the final touches of my most recent miniature hobby project. With all the things that's been happening, I've had almost no time at all to do anything hobby-related. So what's the secret?

Nights. One coat of paint a night. 10 minutes of drybrushing here. 10 minutes of overbrushing there. And in the space of one month - Wah lah! Enjoy the pics below. I'll come back to this post and do a how-to later.

Malaysia's most avid mobile data user?

Ladies and gentlemen, I've an announcement to make... I've reached the big 10.

That's right, just 4 months after starting to use my Nokia N96, the data packet indicator has now rolled over to a whopping 10 Gigabytes of downloaded data over the course of those 4 months.

See for yourself:



Personally, I attribute all this to the huge amount of podcast listening I do, web-surfing and of course, online-gaming on N-Gage (you have to love Reset Generation). Now, I wonder if these numbers are the reason why I've been getting relatively lousy service on my 3G connection recently?

Debunking the FUD on Mobile Number Portability

Yes, you can now switch to DiGi and still keep your 012 (Maxis) number. Or vice-versa. And no, it will not incur extra charges or hidden cost to your subscription package.

I'm writing this because so many people have asked me and come to me with the impression that switching from your DiGi line to Maxis will make all your calls out and receiving calls more expensive.



Well, here's the good news. No it doesn't. Mobile Number Portability in the simplest terms means that mobile phone number prefixes (012, 016, 019 etc.) are no longer tied to specific telcos. So, you could subscribe to Maxis and keep your 019 number for example. Similarly, you can be on DiGi with a 012 number.

Then why do people say, or you read in the newspapers, that it may cost your friends more to call you if you switch telcos using MNP?

Here's the scenario to explain:

Let's say you and your friend are both currently on Maxis. Calls between Maxis numbers are RM 0.12 per minute (for ValuePlus50) so that's the rate you currently enjoy. One day, you decided to switch to DiGi but through MNP, keep your 012XXXXXXX number. After you've switched, your friend who's still on Maxis calls you and starts getting charged RM 0.18 per minute because you are no longer a Maxis subscriber even though you have a 012 number. This is exactly the same as if you had switched to DiGi, taken a 016 number and he was calling you.

Likewise, if you had switched to DiGi but maintained your 012 number, you will get the better rate for calling other DiGi subscribers (not necessarily 016 only anymore) but will no longer get the lower rate for calling Maxis customers even though you have a "012" number.

Makes sense?

I guess for some time, there will be some fear, uncertainty and doubt over this whole MNP thing, but it really doesn't cost you more to switch providers. And that's the important part, because it means we have that little bit more of power to choose the better service provider without fear of losing our cherished mobile numbers.

So, I say, go forth and let the switching begin!