Friday, December 07, 2007

Mobile phone - solutions in times of emergency

There are a few things that your mobile phone can do that might prove useful in an emergency.
1. Emergency telephone: Your cell phone can be used to dial an international emergency number. If you find yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an
emergency, dial 112 and the cell phone will search for any available network in range to
establish the emergency connection. This number (112) can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.
2. Emergency car access: If you have locked your keys in your car, you might still be able to open your car. This trick will only work if you have access to a mobile phone (anyone's) and your car uses an electronic car lock and you have a spare car key at home. You can call home to get someone to press the unlock button close to the phone. Your car will be able to detect the sound waves, and your car or trunk will open. Ensure you hold your cell phone close to your car door. This trick will save someone having to drive the spare set of keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car.
3. Spare Cell phone battery: Its common to run out of battery power on your phone at critical times. But the Nokia phones have a backup option for such contingencies. Every Nokia phone has a reserve battery. If your cell battery is very low, and you need to make an emergency or important call, you can activate the reserve battery by pressing the keys *3370#. Your cell will restart powered by the reserve battery and the phone will show a 50% increase in battery. This
reserve will be recharged the next time you charge your primary cell phone battery.
4. Disabling your cell phone: If you dont like having your cell phone stolen, here is how you can payback the perpetrator. Plan ahead! If you record the serial number of the cell phone, you can disable your stolen cell phone, even if they have changed the SIM card. To find out the serial number, type in the following keys: *#06#. Your 15-digit serial number will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your cell phone. Write it down so if ever your phone is stolen, you can phone your network provider and give them this code. They can then block your handsets access, so the thief cannot use the phone even if they change the SIM card. I wonder however if they can still use the phone overseas with a different network provider?

Looking for a good portable laptop? Try the Dell XPS M1330

My Sony Vaio has finally had its day so I'm looking for a new one. I'd have to say the old unit was pretty reliable but the latest Sony designs really miss the mark. I might have said the same for any number of competitors however I have come across a good one :)

Dell's latest laptop - the XPS M1330 - seems to hit the mark. The design doesn't grab me, but the unit is pretty feature rich for such a cheap laptop. The basic unit sells for $US999 in the USA.
See http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/xpsnb?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~ck=bt. It is thin, lightweight, and it has a long battery life. Consider it comes with:
1. Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250 (2MB cache/1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB) - good enough
2. Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition - puke! Downgrade to Windows XP
3. 1GB4 Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - a little low, I prefer 2GB
4. 120GB2 SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) - fine, get a backup drive
5. CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
6. Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
7. Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini-Card
8. 37Whr Lithium Ion Battery (4 cell) - too small upgrade to 9cell battery for added life
9. 1Yr In-Home Service,5 Parts + Labor,24x7 Phone Support - good enough

The next question is how to get my hands on one? Looking at the Australian website, I wont be going back there to get one, as the price is almost double at $A1,899. Same in Singapore.
See www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=au&l=en&s=bsd&cs=aubsd1. But nice - its cheap in Japan at just Y100,150 - see www1.jp.dell.com/content/products/results.aspx/notebooks?~ck=anav&c=jp&l=ja&s=bsd&cs=jpbsd1&a=23845~0~129106&navla=23845~0~129106. The next question is how to get one? Its to cold to go to Japan until April. Hmm? The other issue is whether I can get an English OS? Hmmm...the Japanese take pride in being difficult whilst appearing helpful. Ok I give up.
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