Gadget17's Gazette

Where's Your nearest Mobile Mast?

If for any reason you have ever asked this question, then a site I came across while looking for Amateur Radio info may be of use. The SiteFinder site listed below allows you to see where the Mobile Mast sites are located. It uses a map, which is good, but the detail of the maps isn't great.

Quote from Radiocommunications Agency:- In May 2000, following the publication of the report by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, the Government asked the RA to implement two measures relating to mobile phone base stations.

1. To undertake an audit programme measuring emissions from base stations to ensure they do not exceed ICNIRP (International Commission On Non-Ionising Radiation Protection) guideline levels.

2. To provide a web based facility, Sitefinder, containing the location of each operational, externally sited base station in the UK and information specific to each of these base stations.

These web pages have been set up to provide further information on these two measures as well as general information on mobile phone base stations.

Beta Released

We finally have released a Beta of the program I mentioned earlier.

It now has the name BluePhoneFrame.

To download the beta go to This Post at AllAboutSymbian.

It is at this stage Beta version 1 and very basic, but any feedback on the program, please add to the post. (Beta version 2 will be out shortly)

PC Digital Photo Frame Program

PROGRAM COMING SOON

• You take a photo on your phone

• Send via the phone's standard Send > via Bluetooth option the file is sent to PC

• The PC immediately then displays it on screen

• Images rotates either random or in sequence

• Ability to play BackGround Music!

• Be able to accept photos without having to touch the PC (i.e. No Accept buttons)

• Skinnable BackGround (If not Full Screen) to have ability to change from plain
black (for example to look like a Wooden Frame around image)

R U Gettin Scamed?

Well you now have somewhere to complain in the form of a website set up to take complaints.

"The Grumbletext site publishes your SMS texts about UK companies who suck - within minutes"

They also have a database of submitted Gumbles of Scam (and I shall be adding some soon).

You can complain to them by texting, online form and E-mail.

So why not Name and shame them on Grumbletext.

Click Continue Reading "R U Gettin Scamed?" to view Press Release.

Stamping out premium rate cons -
Grumbletext points the finger at big UK telecoms companies

‘Missed call marketing’ is the latest premium rate scam to be afflicting consumers. Widely reported in the press, it is just the latest in a long line of premium rate scams which do a great deal of consumer harm, but which apparently can’t be stopped by the authorities.

Not true, says Grumbletext, a UK consumer complaints website which hears from a lot of consumers duped by these cons – the scammers could be put out of business practically overnight, but to do so requires a crackdown on a small handful of big UK telecoms companies who provide them with the premium rate lines.

Premium rate scams are all designed for one purpose – to get consumers to call 090 premium rate lines typically at a cost of £1.50 per minute. Consumers are usually told that they have ‘won the £2,000 prize’ or similar and that in order to claim it they need to call the 090 number supplied. The result is typically £15-20 on your phone bill with nothing to show for it – there is no £2,000, it’s a straightforward scam.

The companies behind these scams are employing increasingly cunning methods to get you to fall for their con. With ‘missed call marketing’ marketing for example, a scammer’s computer calls your phone, immediately hangs up, leaving a missed call message which of course contains the number to call back. If you do so, you are back into the £2,000 prize scenario and are asked to call an 090 number to claim it.

Missed call marketing is, in the words of ICSTIS, the premium rate regulator, ‘completely illegal’, so how is it that it, and premium rate scams like it, are able to continue?

Here’s the problem; ICSTIS only directly regulates ‘service providers’ as it calls them. The ‘service providers’ are the companies who market the scams, often via text message or missed call marketing, and who lease the 090 premium rate lines from UK telecoms network operators from whence they make their money.

These companies almost invariably follow the same model; they are usually very recently set up, often for the purposes of the specific scam they are perpetrating. There is the minimum of statutory information filed at Companies House and if they get into trouble they just dissolve and disappear. The same director names will often appear in association with a myriad of such companies. It is quite usual also for these companies to be offshore and thus realistically even further out of reach.

Trying to beat these companies with the rod of regulation is ICSTIS’s thankless task. ICSTIS will typically fine those service providers who break its code of conduct and request that the network operator bars the service. The fines are collected by having the network operator retain sufficient of the service provider’s revenues to pay the fine. However, ICSTIS does not have the power to fine network operators themselves, nor to restrict their ability to do business in any way.

And what if the network operator doesn’t play ball? What happens if the network operator fails to collect the fine for ICSTIS, or it chooses not to bar the service? Unfortunately there’s not much that ICSTIS can directly do about it. It is supposed to be able to then approach Ofcom, which regulates the network operators, and attempt to get them to intervene. Ofcom has the power to suspend or revoke the network operator’s license, the ultimate sanction, so one suspects that if Ofcom chose to deal with the offending network operators, it would be straightforward.

For whatever reason, that appears not to be happening. ICSTIS is well aware of the network operator problem, as demonstrated in the forthright industry open letter written by the chairman Sir Peter North in September 2003 in which he lambasted the handful of networks who ‘continued to contract with service providers they know are intending to run this type of service’.

Grumbletext’s analysis of information on both the ICSTIS and Grumbletext websites has revealed that it is indeed only a handful of network operators actively engaged in this grubby business. At the time of writing, 85% of all premium rate landline-based complaints on Grumbletext are accounted for by clients of the following five companies:

Redstone PLC	27.9%
Intelliplus Group PLC	22.2%
Opera Telecom	13.1%
Switch Call Limited	11.9%
Tiscali UK Limited	10.6%

Redstone has so far made few appearances in ICSTIS’s monthly list of adjudications; its high showing on Grumbletext is mainly as a result of its operating the lines for the well-known ‘BPQ voicemail’ scam, which is sufficiently recent that its investigation is believed to be still in progress.

However, second on the list, and well known to ICSTIS, is AIM-quoted Intelliplus Group PLC, recently acquired by Eckoh Technologies. The traditional argument which Intelliplus and the similar network operators make when confronted on these issues is that they have many, many clients, running thousands and thousands of lines, and it is simply not possible to police what is on them, especially since they do not know how the promotion was promoted in the first place.

In Grumbletext’s view, that is a very convenient argument which simply does not stack up. In reality, the actual structure and phrasing of these scams on the recorded telephone lines makes them stand out a mile. It is technologically fairly trivial to set up computerised monitoring of line content to alert for some of the wording these scams all employ.

In any case, they make enough money from these lines to simply employ people to spot check the content. What is not always clearly understood is that the network operators like Intelliplus who lease these lines to the scammers aren’t just making nice bit of line rental – they are typically taking about 50% in shared revenues of everything the scammers earn.

So Intelliplus make a pile of money enabling the premium rate scammers to operate whilst themselves remaining outside of the reach of the one regulator in the sector which has some appetite to take action. No wonder they are not falling over themselves to comply with ICSTIS’s requests with alacrity and timeliness.

ICSTIS has said in the Guardian, February 18th 2024, that “Intelliplus had not been co-operating fully with its inquiries". That's a reasonably strong statement for a regulator. However, it appears to be somewhat of an understatement when considered alongside the following facts, culled from ICSTIS’s own website and from correspondence between ICSTIS and Grumbletext.

With regard to fines levied in 2003 by ICSTIS on service providers involved in the promotion of inappropriate premium rate services via unsolicited text message:

• 26% (15 out of 58) of the service providers fined by ICSTIS were clients of Intelliplus

• By value of fines levied, 69% (£166,000 out of £240,000) was accounted for by clients of Intelliplus

• Of the £166,000 of fines against Intelliplus clients, at least 28% (£46,000) remain unpaid (Grumbletext is awaiting to hear from ICSTIS on the status of an additional £65,000 of such fines, a proportion of which may well also remain unpaid)

It is Grumbletext’s view that the continued widespread existence of premium rate scams suggests that ICSTIS fines, even when paid, are not big enough to make the promotion of these scams uneconomical; it is quite possible that the scammers merely view a potential ICSTIS fine as a marginal cost of doing business, and for the Intelliplus’s of this world, there is no downside.

What can be done? In theory, it's really very simple; Ofcom needs to semi-formally devolve its regulatory power to ICSTIS in this specific area of premium rate line leasing, to enable ICSTIS to bring sanctions against network operators with the full power of the law and statute behind it.

ICSTIS after all is an industry self-regulating body, and on this basis only semi-formal, in that it is non-statutory - even today, ICSTIS has no regulatory power which Ofcom has not directly sanctioned. There seems no good reason as to why ICSTIS's powers should merely be to regulate and fine ‘service providers’ involved in the inappropriate promotion of premium rate services. It seems a short step to extend that existing power to bring the likes of Intelliplus, the network operators, within its reach.

And if Intelliplus were not then to accord ICSTIS, as Ofcom’s agent, the same authority as Ofcom, then Ofcom has the power to suspend or revoke Intelliplus's network operating license, i.e. its ability to do any telecoms business of any type at all.

However, as we all know, expecting a ‘super-regulator’ to do anything quickly is a vain hope. With that in mind, Grumbletext is currently exploring the viability of using the Grumbletext website as a means to organise scammed consumers to launch a class legal action against Intelliplus and its ilk. The odd lawyer posting on the site has bandied around phrases such as ‘obtaining goods by deception’.

The idea is simple; to use technology to help eradicate these scams, which are themselves enabled by technology. They all rely on the idea that they can get away with taking a little bit of money from a great many people, none of whom individually would consider legal action to recover it. All communication with class action co-plaintiffs will be effected via the Grumbletext website, email and text message.

Indeed, to register for the class action, consumers will send a text message to Grumbletext for which they will be charged £1.50; this covers the cost of the insurance necessary to pay for legal costs should the case be unsuccessful – using premium rate to beat premium rate; it’s kind of ironic really…

In order to assess consumer appetite, Grumbletext has set up a special page on the website (www.grumbletext.co.uk) where you can find out more about the proposed class action and request to be contacted when the lines open for registering as a plaintiff.

Enquiries
Contact: Adrian Harris, LiveWebs Ltd t/a Grumbletext
Tel: 020 7244 9099 Mob: 07931 381198
Email: [email protected]

Ideas for Series60 Developers

There are some ideas for Series60 developers who would like some of what to work on. I would gladly Beta Test these programs if made.

1. Star Trek Tricorder, utilizing the Camera in some way
2. Random Ringtone Player (Changes with each call with percentage settings for eac)
3. Operator Logo Maker/Editor/Sender
4. PC/Mac Program that work like a Digital image frame so you can send images from phone via BlueTooth/infraRed

• To Acheive Smaller File Sizes

More ideas may be coming later!

Smart Launcher Star Trek Skins

If you click to continue reading, you will find for Series60 phones, 2 SmartLauncher (Symbianware) Skins in a Star Trek Style and a Gif you can use with Psiloc's Screensaver.

Version 1 of My Star Trek Smart Launcher Skins

Download Version 1

Version 2 of My Star Trek Smart Launcher Skins

Download Version 2

This is a Gif I have made that is the right size to be used for PsiLoc Screensaver. Save it to you PC and copy to phone for use. Enjoy

Christmas (Xmas) Mobile Ideas

eXpansys now have a Christmas category at their website.

Click Here to view the Xmas category.

On my Xmas wish list though is the Nokia SU-7 Image Frame, not that I am expecting to receive it unless I purchase it. Still if it's released before Xmas, and I get my pay rise, I may have to invest in it!

Another mobile post

I am writing this walking home from the hospital. I went back (although only 5 hours instead of 3 days) as my abdominal pain returned. But after various blood and urine tests, they found nothing. Instead they gave me some strong pain-killers (Co-codamol) which is all I wanted when it happened in October and I went to the Doctors.

Also whilst there, I saw the other side of the police you don't often see on the news. A elderly lady was told she would have to wait at Least an hour for ambulance to take her home.

But one of 4 police officers I could see (who were at the hospital with someone they arrested who was suffering withdrawl symptoms) offered to take her instead. Just goes to prove there are some good ones out there.

My Mobile Phone History

I am not sure of dates when I owned these phones, but am listing them with Photos here with most recent at the top.

My Current Phone is a Nokia 7650. It was a quick decision that I upgrade from my 3510 as was put through washing machine. Also I am on my second 7650 due to losing the first one during a Drunken night out.

Nokia 3510 (On Vodafone Monthly Pay). A300 was so bad (battery for example needed daily charge), I got a 3510 to see me through until had enough money for 7650.

Samsung A300 (On Vodafone Monthly Pay). Sold 9210 and got this phone and £165 cash. Sold 9210 as was too big and started to save for 7650.

Nokia 9210 (On Vodafone Monthly Pay) My First Symbian Phone.

Nokia 7650 (On Vodafone Monthly Pay)

Siemens S25 (On Vodafone Monthly Pay) My first phone with PC connectivity

Motorola D170 (On Vodafone Pay as you Go)

Azure Mobile Post

Well I think I finally have this Azure program working on my Nokia 7650.

This is my first post that I have sent from my phone although I will not make too long as I am still at home and to keep my Phone cost down.

ICSTIS

The Following message (you may need to click "Continue Reading ICSTIS") is most of a message from ICSTIS regarding a message I kept receiving from a company saying I Had won money and to call them on a Premium rate number.

I was suspicious, so when I got a 3rd, I complained to ICSTIS. Although it took them a while, they eventually replied to me!

Dear Sir

Unsolicited text message marketing

I am writing with reference to your complaint about the receipt of an unsolicited text message which advised the recipient that they had won a prize and asked them to dial a premium rate number in order to make a claim. Please accept my apologies for the delay in my reply which is unfortunately due to a backlog of complaints.

ICSTIS supervises both the content and advertising for premium rate services. ICSTIS develops and applies a Code of Practice to the companies which operate premium rate services (service providers). These companies are bound by their contract with the network operators such as BT, Cable & Wireless and Vodafone to comply with the requirements of this Code. Premium rate numbers are usually prefixed with the 090 code.

For some time now ICSTIS has been receiving a significant number of complaints from recipients of unsolicited text message marketing. Some complainants contest the claims made in these text advertisements, while others object to or even take offence to the subject matter. However, most complainants simply express aggravation at the undue inconvenience of receiving unwanted unsolicited text messages. In our experience the companies who advertise by unsolicited text message appear to obtain recipients> '> mobile telephone numbers using one or more of the following methods:

* Random dialling of 07 number ranges.

* From recipients who have previously requested aftermarket ringing tones or
logos to be sent to their mobile telephone.

* From people who pass on their > '> friends> '> mobile telephone numbers for > '> recommend a friend> '> marketing schemes of various sorts.

* Purchasing lists from brokers - the numbers held by list brokers are obtained from an almost infinite range of sources.

In recent months we have used our emergency powers against a number of companies who have been advertising services which appear to be in clear breach of the ICSTIS Code, such as those which claim that the recipient has won a prize of some monetary value when this is not the case. These messages often imply an unnecessary sense of urgency for responding and often fail to clearly identify the cost of a call and the identity of the company providing a service. Most fail to provide information on > "> terms and conditions> "> which consumers need to see before deciding whether to dial a premium rate number or text a premium short code.

Our emergency powers allow us to require the suspension of a service prior to an adjudication being made on a case by the ICSTIS Committee. In all recent cases involving services of this kind, our investigations have resulted in the continued suspension of services and the imposition of substantial fines.

The service you have identified is one which is known to us. It has been the subject of other complaints. I can assure you it is under investigation. Based on what we have seen it is likely that breaches will be found and that any adjudication will result in a fine and bar on the company involved. Details of the ICSTIS adjudication will be available on our website www.icstis.org.uk .

If you wish to purse redress or to ensure that your details have been removed from a company> '> s data-bases, should contact the company responsible for the > '> service> '> and message in question at:

Lifestyle Promotions
Suite 8
2 Crawford Hall, Western Road
Co Cork Contact: Keiron Fallon
Republic of Ireland Tel: 00 353 861 694 485

With reference to the general issue of text messaging, unlike telephone calls, faxes and terrestrial mail, currently there is no method of blanket barring unsolicited marketing text messages. ICSTIS is currently liasing with the relevant lawmakers - The Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) - regarding the legality of text advertisers targeting recipients who are already TPS (Telephone Preference Service) registered. In the meantime, ICSTIS > advises complainants to register their mobile numbers with the TPS. The TPS are available on 020 7291 3300.

If recipients still receive text messages after registering with the TPS, they may contact the OIC on 01625 545 700 to register a formal complaint.

We are also working with mobile networks to prevent spamming and with Oftel to send the message out to all premium rate call-terminating networks that they should not make numbers available for any services of the kind described, without proof that the service has been viewed by ICSTIS.

I hope that this is clear and we would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us.

YourSymbian Editor

This weekend I have spent a proportion of my time editing for YourSymbian.

YourSymbian is a fortnightly newsletter for the Symbian world.

The 16th edition is the first one I have edited and was helped though making it by Ewan Ewan who also produced some of the articles.

Not sure as of writing this whether it has hit the 9000+ e-mail boxes as when Rafe first tried would not send.

In it I have written some articles about the funnier side of the Mobile world, but to read you are going to have to subscribe to YourSymbian or visit the site in 2 weeks when it's archived there.

Software Wanted

I am after a program for my laptop so when is running can receive images via Bluetooth (BT) or Infrared (IR) and will be shown directly on the screen, similar to how the Digital Image Frames work (for example the Nokia Image Frames).

Anyone know of such a program?

On This Day - 1954: 'Metal fatigue' caused Comet crashes
The first day of the public inquiry into the crashes of two Comet airliners within months of each other hears that metal fatigue is the most likely cause.

Second AAS/Mobitopia Pub Meet

On Tuesday (12 August 2003) this week, I attended the second AAS/Mobitopia pub meet. I arrived at about 6:15(ish) and I believe I was the first there (I left just after time at the bar aournd 11:10). This was due partly to the fact I headed to The Dover Castle straight from work.

Eventully there was about 18 people from AAS & Mobitopia and what a night it was.

The guest speaker of the night was the owner of AllAboutSymbian, Rafe.

Prizes were on offer in the Raffle which there was so many prizes everyone won and got something. I got a Black Symbian T-Shirt.

Also there was discussion of Symbian devices including the soon to be released N-Gage.
I will hopefully be posting some photos to the AAS forum gallery. Keep an eye out for them

On This Day 1980: Shipyard Poles strike for their rights
Shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland, strike in protest over the dismissal of a trade union activist

Bluetooth

I finally got a Bluetooth USB adaptor, and hope and prayed would work as got one that didn't say on package that would worked on Mac, but the Mac OS X bluetooth software got it working. In case any with a Mac is insterested, it is a Kondor USB BT Adaptor that most of the phone shops in my High Street sell. By the time I got to last one and found the same product (even packaging) I decided to buy from Vodafone and checked if didn't work I could take back. Luckily it did.

Was quite surpised when I iSync'ed that even the contacts photos were sync'ed. At the moment, I believe that only the Address book can be sync'ed but Apple are working on that.

It's Been a While

Well it's been a few days since I posted anything here so what have I been up to.

I am back at work after 2 weeks Annual leave (and already feel I need some more leave).

What else. I have a Apple Mac G3 and have finally got Mac OS x (10.2.6 (Codename: Jaguar)). Also I got some kind of virus on my PC (Sony Vaio Laptop) and backed up about 200Mb of files and reinstalled from the original CDs. I have taken the precaution for future that only my Mac will now handle my E-mails. I will also be beefing up the Virus protection on the PC. I will install Norton Anti-Virus and Grisoft AVG, as well as ZoneAlarm.

Back to Mac OS X it has some interesting Features, and software (Some I think are unique). These include as standard: Safari (Mac Web Browser made by Apple (I believe)), Address Book (Which can connect to Bluetooth phone (with adapter) and display callers), iSync, iTunes, iMovie, iPhotos, iCal (Calendar) and more. Also installed Fire which is a Mac OS X Chat Client that connects to 6 messengers in 1 package (AIM, ICQ, IRC Jabber, MSN, Yahoo) and which is like Trillian for the PC.

Yesterday I have purchased for my Laptop a TV USB tuner. (Cost £35.99 from my local computer shop). Was the Hauppauge (pronounced Hop-Hog) WinTV USB and features include Full Screen Display, Screen Capture, and Teletext capabilities.

Lastly: Last Night I set up my 7 day Wine Home Brew Kit. I had thoughts that when I checked on it before I went to bed that it had not started bubbling, but I was relieved that when I checked this morning that was bubbling away nicely. Hopefully this time next week should have some nice wine to drink. (* Hiccup *)

Isle of Wight (Part 2)

On the Thursday of my holiday I had a lazy morning watching TV and did not get up till gone 11 o'clock. I then watched some more TV including an old black & white film until my dad finished work at about 5:30.

We decided we would go into Shanklin for a few pints and after getting changed went to the Harry’s Bar. We were got there long when someone said that a band would be on later in the evening.

At about 9pm the band called Don’t Call Me Harry started playing and did various songs including Black On Blue and Paint It Black.

We left the pub after the last song and headed back to the caravan and ordered some food to be delivered. I had a Belly buster steak, which is a steak in pita bread with salad; chips and my dad had a Vampire burger and chips, which is a burger with Garlic Mayonnaise.

Friday started with TV again and at about 1pm we went into Shanklin to get something to eat. We had the all day breakfast which consisted of bacon, sausage, fried bread, tomatoes, eggs and baked beans, although I had mine without the eggs as I don’t eat them.

After we had our meal we went to Newport, and I couldn’t believe that Southern Vectis buses charge about £3.00 + each for the two of us to travel and in London I only pay £0.70 for any bus journey. It’s hard to think that London is not always the most expensive for some things.

Whilst shopping I got a portable mobile phone charger (takes 2 AA batteries) and 2 wine making kits (each makes 6 bottles and are medium dry flavour).

2 or 3 pints later in The Railway Medina we came back to Shanklin and my dad made a Chilli Con Carnie and as we didn’t want to wait for rice to cook, we had it with some Onion Bagels and Home-Made bread.

The evening was spent watching TV.

Isle of Wight (Part 1)

I thought I would write an account of my trip to the Isle of Wight, so here it is.

The trip away started on the Monday when I stayed at my grandmas. When I arrived at my grandmas I was given £50 as my grandma. This was as had recently paid for things for my sisters and nephew, but she felt she had left me out.

For the evening meal my grandmas made a delicious Chicken Casserole with roast potatoes and various vegetables. I spent the rest of evening watching TV and then some time on Internet to start poll for photo contest on my 7650 Yahoo group.

I then went to bed.

I the morning I was woken about 7:30 and after a shower I had sausages and bacon for breakfast. It was a while (few hours) before we left as my granddad always takes an eternity to get ready. At about 10:30 we left for the hour-long journey to Portsmouth. Before I headed off to catch the Fast Cat (catamaran) service to the Isle of Wight, they took me for a meal in Southsea. I had Chicken covered in cheese, chives and a few other ingredients and was called Mississippi Chicken and came with potato wedges and onion rings.

After the meal and whilst they freshened up, I headed outside for a quick cigarette as although they know I smoke, I don't normally smoke in front of them.

I was then taken to Portsmouth and we said our goodbyes and I was dropped of at the Hard Interchange outside the harbour train station, which is also the home of the Fast Cat (catamaran) to Ryde. I got my ticket then waited in the smoking area for about 20mins.

During the Fast Cat journey I watched the video they play for safety and with info on the Isle of Wight which this time featured Godshill including the Model village, with replicas of Shanklin Chine and Godshill. When I arrived at Ryde Pier Head, I headed for the train, which was waiting, and whilst on train I tried to phone my dad to let him know I was almost at Shanklin. I got no answer. When I got to Shanklin, I got a taxi to Broadslade Court (I still think of it as Fairy Court as was the name of property when I was there).

I phoned my dad from there and I got though and a few minutes later he turned up on his Matchless motorbike. Almost as he pulled up the next door neighbour came round to ask for some help later in the week with some trees in their back garden and I popped around with them as they showed him the trees. It had been a while (since I moved from the Island) since I had last seen them and they had made quite a few changes to the garden. Whilst I was living on th island I had spent a few times mowing their lawns for a bit of extra money.

When we got back to my dads caravan my dad cleaned up as had touched the sap from trees then opened his birthday cards. I also gave a loaf of bread made by my grandma in her bread maker. We then decided to head for the pub where we met with some people who later in the afternoon would be taking us to the Speedway at Smallbrook Stadium in Ryde.

At the speedway, there was 14 races in all and quite a few crashes a well ("Ouch"). By the end of the evening I was very drunk and fell asleep not long returning to the caravan were my dad lives.

On the second day I slept till about 10 then watched ER on TV then decided that I would visit my friend in Sandown. She was still at work, but said I could meet her when she finished at 2:30. When I arrived in Sandown at 2:15, I checked but when was still going to be working till about 3:15, so I went and had a coffee. I then went to the monument on Sandown sea front where I would meet her about 20mins before she finished, and made a few phone calls before she arrived.

When she arrived we had a drink on the sea front the wondered back to her flat collecting her bike on the way. As we were almost back at the flat, her boyfriend phoned to say that he had finished work and was on his way back to the flat as well, and arrived about the same time, which was lucky as her had forgotten his key.

We spent the afternoon catching up and then about 6 we went into the town to get something to eat. the evening was spent watching TV like ER and Big Brother. At 11:00 I decided to make a move back to my dads caravan.

My friend had a timetable and realised I would have to leave promptly to catch the last bus. When I got to the stop, I check that timetable as well and thought I had to get the 2B bus. At 11:15pm a 3B bus turned up and I nearly didn't get on the bus, but thought would be prudent to check with driver. He said was last bus. I had apparently misread the timetable and had I not got on would have been a long walk, or expensive Taxi back. The bus didn't go the full journey, so had to get a Taxi from the centre of Shanklin.

When I got back my dad had gone out and I realised I hadn't taken my dads spare key. I sent a text message to my friends to apprise them of situation and sat down of the step of caravan to gather my thoughts to have a cigarette. After the cigarette my friends sent had sent a message back and said to come back over and they would put me up for night.

I decided before getting back in contact I would phone a taxi to make sure I could get back to Sandown and phone 3-4 taxi numbers but was unable to get hold of one. As I was trying to think of what to do my phone rang. It was my dad saying sorry he had missed me phoning and where was I. I said was round corner and would be there in 5 secs. It was lucky I hadn't decided to go back to Sandown earlier or I could have missed him completly.

Isle Of Wight Soon

* * Isle of Wight * * Well it's not long now (Tuesday) that I will be off to the Isle of Wight. I shall be going down to stay with my grandparents the day before and they will take me down to Portsmouth on Tuesday.

I has been a while since I last went down and I am looking forward to seeing my Dad who lives on the Island and also my friends who I am still in contact with like Tammi!

If possible I will still blog whilst I am there, although I don't think I will be able to post any photos whilst I am away, but if I can I will.

Whilst I am away it will be my Dads birthday, but I am not sure what to get him (last year I got him a Mobile phone). I may take him out for the night and we both love our Real Ale.

I am also looking forward to see his motorbike which is a BSA built in the late 1950's and has been highly customised. The last time I saw the bike it was in pieces as he was unable to get hold of some parts for the engine.

Well thats enough for today!

ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

I am really annoyed that I cannot find for love nor money a program with the features I need.

I want a program for my 7650 either in .sis or a Java J2ME midlet (or other format for Symbian Series 60 phones) that will allow me to post text and images to my blog direct from my phone.

The Moblogger program will allow me to e-mail and the program will pick and post the image and text, but I end up having to edit the IMC SRC so is not 100% perfect. Also the program runs on my PC and monitors my e-mail.

I want a program that runs 100% on the phone.

Oh What a Night!

When I got in from work at about 5pm, I went straight to bed as I was too tired. I slept till nearly midnight and then came online to try to work out how to get Moblogger to work. It is almost there, but does not seem to want to upload the images to any directory on my FTP site, although it does connect!

I will e-mail the guy who created it to see if has any ideas!

* * PhotoBlog * * If I get the program to work, I will hopefully on a regular basis post images direct from my phone. In the meantime, when you view this Blog there may be posts which I have posted to test and will most likely say "Test Post" but I delete them after a short period!

Wide Awake

I am wide-awake at 4:30am and cannot sleep. It seems like an eternity that I have been lying here.

Earlier in the day I had been planning on watching Enterprise as I always do on a Monday at 8pm on SkyOne. At 8:15, I realised that I had missed the first 15mins. I watched the rest, but I can see the repeat on Sunday.

Why can't I sleep? I have to get up for work in about 3hrs.

Blog From Phone

I thought today I would write a post from my Nokia 7650. I am writing this away from my computers in the hope I may be inspired to blog something not computer or phone related. Here I go...

We had my nephew over for his normal weekend visit. Although I don't spend much actual time with him, I enjoy him being here. He is getting to be a handful though. But what 4 year old child isn't. One of his favourite things at the moment is "YORKIE" as it Not For Girls!

This weekend I have been busy sorting my room out as at the moment I sleep on a Futon bed. I originally got as was sleeping in smallest bedroom in the house. But I have for a while been in the biggest bedroom and will be getting a normal bed.

I have been sleeping on the Futon for a long time, but feel glad I will have a normal bed again. * * Sweet Dreams At Last * *

Opera Code

Today I had a quiet day at work. So got a lot of dormant (closed claims) filing done.

I received today my winning Opera browser code (Thanks Jordan and Dag)! Considering it's small size, it surprising at how good some pages look!

Opera and Vexed

Well today I have installed Opera on my Nokia 7650 after a few error messages, saying memory low, or not enough memory. But thanks to All About Symbian forums, I managed to install.

Have e-mailed someone at All About Symbian in regards to the Free Registration, which may arrive as early as tomorrow!

Yesterday I installed Vexed from Freepoc on my Nokia 7650. Have got to Level 30, and am stuck, but apparently everyone gets stuck there! :(

All About Symbian Pub Meet

Well on Monday Night, (this is first chance I have had to write about it) I went to the AAS Pub Meet. The pub was near Regent's Park London Underground Station, and around the corner from the Chinese and Polish embassies.

The Pub itself was tucked away down an alley that you could walk past everyday, and realise there is a pub down there. I only knew as I had the help of Streetmap.co.uk.

When I arrived in the Pub and after getting a drink, I enquired as to where the meeting was taking place, and when I walked in, I think because of my AAS avatar showing some of my face a few shouted "Gadget". I was introduced to everyone in room, including Rafe, Jordan and Ewan from AAS.

Around about 8pm, there was about 50 people in attendance, and Oz from Siemens gave a presentation about the Siemens SX1 (series 60) mobile phone. (See Photos in my FotoBlog taken throughout the night).

Then there was a raffle with various prizes including a Siemens Mystery Prize bag (was sugar sachets from CeBit conference in Hannover, Germany). I also won a prize. I decided to choose Opera browser for my Nokia 7650. Some of the other prizes (most had gone my time I had won) included Symbian Books, A Jacket, T-Shirts, Mints, and various software including, RMR software, a Golf Game, as well as Opera.

Rest of the night was spent taken the photos mentioned above and mingling with everyone there!

Was there till after Last Orders, then made back to station before the last trains ran, although nearly got lost at Elephant and Castle, as went wrong way.

But All In All A Great Evening!

I have found a site that offers translation into Chinese, Korean, and Russian, so may be able to offer these languages soon. Will need to sort out the links, and will be posted as relevant flags, as left (and below in text).

Where's My Phone Gone? (Part 4 (The Final))

Hooray! Finally I have my replacement Nokia 7650.

Although was not smooth sailing. When I got home, I thought the Restore of the software and the Contacts would be easy! How wrong I was.

Took me a couple of hours and all I managed to restore was the Contacts (Which is better than nothing). But I will need to install all the software from fresh!

But At Least I Have The New Phone! * * * Phew * * * (And I am planning on keeping hold of this one! LOL!)

Where's My Phone Gone? (Part 3)

Well Sods law. Now I have a phone again, Mitsubishi Trium, the only message I have received is saying I have won some money (LOL) and I need to call a £1pm line!

I may be stupid losing my phone, but I am not that stupid! :)

Where's My Phone Gone? (Part 2)

I was told yesterday after phoning Lifeline (Carphone Warehouse Insurance People) that would cost me £29.99 to get new phone. So today I headed down to Carphone Warehouse with the £40.00 left in my bank till payday. Everything seems fine till they say I will also need to pay the first month premium, as although I had been a Lifeline customer for a number of years, as I had just purchased the new phone recently, I still had the first premium to pay on this new Insurance!

£29.99 (insurance excess) + £23.99 (first Months premium) = More than £40.00 I have! * OUCH *

So, I will have to use the money I had saved to go to the All About Symbian pub meet and hope another will be organised soon, or I will have to raise a few quid through other sources! (i.e. Generous Grandparents!). All I ask that if anyone goes, and I do not, get some photos! :)

Even worse, I got a loan phone. A Mitisubishi Trium

Where's My Phone Gone???

I was out last night and got rather Drunk celebrating a colleagues Birthday. When woke up this afternoon, I had lost my phone, either down the Pub or the Taxi.

Spent a while phoning Vodafone and the Police to get phone blocked and a Crime Number, then contacted my Insurance people to claim for a new phone. Will cost me £30.00.

I might ask to see if I can upgrade to a Nokia 3650 instead of a Nokia 7650

I don't seem to have a great deal of luck with phones, my last one went through the washing machine.

* Website * My site has had quite a few hits and I now have 9 members in only about a week! People haven't started posting yet, but hopefully they will!

Yahoo Group gone and 24hr shopping

Well, my mum has just returned from the 24 store (at about 3.30am), and forgot her key. I can't believe she went shopping (we don't have a car) after going to the pub, and leaving at closing time. She then had to walk home a couple of miles with the shopping (in a trolley).

At least I was up, and got a coffee and some sandwiches as she thought she woke me up! He He He!

I said in a previous post that I run a Nokia 7650 Yahoo Group called 7650-World. I was also a member of some other Nokia 7650 Yahoo Groups and today, I went to check on my group and discovered that all but 2 groups I was members of have disappeared. I believe it maybe that they were distributing warez software, codes, and cracks.

I actively discourage this, but have a feeling this was the reason for them groups from disappearing.

What a day

The day started by taking in some food for a all day food table at work, as our current boss is leaving. Every body has to bring in some food, and whenever we are in the canteen, we can help ourselves. At what a spread of food it was. Cheeses, Ham, French Bread, Crisps, Sweets, Cakes, Drinks (Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic), chocolates, biscuits, and more. Needless today everyone had their fair share with some left over at end of day, and will possibly have more tomorrow.

After we closed the office to the public, we had a short meeting to wish our boss farewell, and to hand over the present we got from a collection went around the office. She got a Crystal Vase, and a Build-it-yourself Candle Holder kit.

I took some photo's on my Nokia 7650 and which I will forward onto her.

After work, I went to the pub. I joined a colleague there at about 5pm, and about half an hour later, we were joined by more of our colleagues. We had our usual drinking the Carlsberg (we call of our colleagues the Carlsberg Queen has collects Carlsberg goods and memorabilia!) and joking session (Yes, anything we say some how ends up being turned into a joke). At about 8.30, we moved onto a Indian restaurant for a meal.

We had a great meal, and only cost about £15.00 a head, including drinks, and my friend took home the usual Doggie Bag! Also I have to mention that the reaturant is one of the better in the area as their fod seems less greasy than offers, and you can taste more of the food as not Swimming in Fat! And then there was the Cobra Beer!.

I Won 7650-World Contest

Well I have finally done it! What, I here you ask! This!...

I run a Yahoo Group called 7650-World which is for the Nokia 7650 camera phone.

I run a Monthly Contest and After 6 months! I HAVE WON!

I now have the Task of selecting a Category for April's Contest! (AND NO THIS IS NOT A PRANK)

My Nokia 7650

Recently I purchased a Nokia 7650 camera phone. This Blog may become a place where I vent my problems, ideas, or anything related. Again, I am not sure where this will go!

If you own a Nokia 7650 you may visit my Yahoo Group by clicking Gadget17's 7650-World Yahoo Group.