I know there are a lot of people out there who want have wanted a certain piece of music as a ringtone for their phones but they just dont know how to get that. This blog post is for those people ! Well - you do know how to use the computer ! So here goes. I use this process all the time and have created some awesome ringtones ! My friends all ask me to make them a ringtone now !

STEP 1: The source

YOUTUBE + DownloadHelper plugin

YouTube has a ton of shit and it probably has exactly what you are looking for ! Be it a commercial that you liked that had a certain piece of music (you probably dont even know the name of the music at this point) or something that is in a movie ! You will find it in Youtube. So head over and find that piece !

Now, the next part - Downloading the video that has the music piece.  You need to have Firefox for this step. If you already do then head over to http://www.downloadhelper.net/ and download and install the DownloadHelper add-on for firefox. Once you have done this, go back to YouTube and load the video you want. On the top left hand corner of the video you will notice a little 3 ball icon. Clicking on this will give you an option to download the video. Download it - It will be a file with the .flv as the extension which stands for Flash Video. Save the file to your computer. We will need this for the next step.

If you already have an MP3 that you want to start with to create the ringtone then you can skip directly to STEP 3.

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The other day I was talking to JWM and we were talking about some shortcuts in Eclipse and Firefox and it struck me that I use a LOT of shortcuts all over the place and that I really like it. To me a good user experience is not only the eyecandy but also the usability and most of all - the shortcuts and the easter eggs !

Thinking back, I guess I started using shortcuts when a friend of mine challenged me to use Windows without a mouse ! I won that challenge. After that I started using Pine to check email and that had a lot of shortcuts too ! I guess that stuck around with me ! I still use pine to check email and love it !

To come to think of it - this is the reason why I love VI ( the editor) as well. VI is all about shortcuts and commands to enter to get the work done - no point and click ! This is also the reason why I love QuickSilver on the Mac !

Here are some of the shortcuts I use (and in the program that I use). These are not your regular Alt+F4 to close a window or your Ctrl+C to copy text !

FIREFOX

• Ctrl + T                 : Open a new tab
• Ctrl + W                : Close the current tab
• Ctrl + R                 : Refresh a page
• Backspace             : Go back one page (in the history stack)
• Alt + Left Arrow    : Go back one page (in the history stack)
• Alt + Right Arrow  : Go forward one page (in the history stack)
• Ctrl + L                 : Jump to location bar
• Ctrl + Shift + L     : Force jump to location bar - good for those pesky Flash pages (thanks JWM !)
• Ctrl +Shift + R      : Force a reload of a page (override the cache)
• Ctrl + Tab             : Move between tabs in the forward direction
• Ctrl + Shift + Tab : Move between tabs in the reverse direction
• Ctrl + Shift + T     : Open the last closed tab (Very helpful when you accidentally close a tab)
• /                           : Brings up the search dialog. Same as Ctrl+F or  Ctrl+G. BTW Ctrl+G also searches for the next occurrence of the keyword that you were searching for
• F11                       : Full Screen mode
• Ctrl + Enter          : After you type something in the URL bar it appends .com and loads the page at that url
• Shift + Enter          : After you type something in the URL bar it appends .net and loads the page at that url
• Ctrl + Shift + Enter  : After you type something in the URL bar it appends .org and loads the page at that url

Find more at : http://www.mouserunner.com/FF_Shortcuts1Printable.html

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I couldn’t believe that the Motorola Q9h doesn’t have an option to turn off the shutter sound while clicking a photo ! I knew this had to be a stupid  registry setting and so I fired up my Registry editor and made the necessary changes and voila !

First of all, you need to download a registry editor for Windows Smartphone. There are a couple of registry editors such as PHM registry Editor, Resco Explorer and Total Commander. I used PHM Registry Editor which is a free tool. Download the CAB file, transfer it to the Q9h using ActiveSync or a memory card and install it using the file manager application on the Q9h. Once installed, run the PHM Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –>System–>Pictures–>Camera–>OEM. Click on “Values” which is the left soft key. This will bring up another screen with 3 list items:

• ForceShutterSound
• ShutterSoundVolume
• SoundFile

Select SoundFile (center select) and change the Value Data field value to \windows\*none*\. Click on the Done (the right soft key).  Thats it ! You’re done - no more shutter sound ! You can quit the PHM Registry editor. Now, you can set a ringtone of any size !

So the whole world is raving about the new App store that iphone and ipod touch just got today ! I saw the apps and they look good. Kudos to Apple to get it to work so good ! They do know how to do some stuff really well.

Well - this post is not about iphone apps - that you can get directly from the phone and read about it all over the place !! This post is about what Windows mobile apps are out there and where you can get them. I have a Motorola Q9 and I installed some of these apps and they make me feel better - at least for the time being until I get my iphone 3G !

NOTE: I would recommend that you get an unlimited data plan before using any of these apps. These are usually data heavy apps

Skyfire
http://www.skyfire.com/

Skyfire is a full fledged mobile browser designed for Windows Mobile platform. It is a very nice browser  that displays web pages as you would see it on your desktop. Its no Safari on the iphone but it is much better than a lot of other solutions. I like Opera mobile a lot and used it a lot before I came across Skyfire. I use this all the time. I can visit sites like Facebook, digg etc. and do all that I want to do as I would from the desktop.  It plays video and does Flash too ( 1 up on Safari ) !! Sadly enough Skyfire is not openly available and you need to be on the Beta program to be able to use it. Sign up at their website - its a good chance that you will get into the program (if you have a windows mobile device). I have been on the program for a while now.

Google Maps
http://www.google.com/mobile/default/maps/index.html

This is one of the best apps that I have had on my phone for the longest time. It has evolved well and has a lot of features. One thing I like about this is that when you search for a business it gives you the phone number and you can click on it and it calls the number - very nice integration considering this is a third party app ! I have a 3G phone and that makes a BIG difference and I would recommend you getting a 3G phone if you want to optimize the performance of these apps ! This app also shows you satellite view and traffic conditions !

All in all - a very crisp and useful application

Microsoft Live Search Mobile
http://www.livesearchmobile.com/

MS Live is a lot like Google Maps with a little bit more like the ability to search for a lot more things than just the business locations and phone numbers and maps. I have used it in the past but I am not a very big fan of it. That being said, it is still a good app amongst the few good ones that exist for Windows Mobile

Shozu
http://www.shozu.com/

One of the really good apps. with continued improvement ! This app allows you to upload photos and videos directly from your phone to various websites such as Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. You can set up various websites where you can post to and also set up one-click websites (default ones) to upload to. I like this app a lot - it doesnt do contact backing up as well as they claim. I still like this app a lot - very smart idea ! Posting to some websites doesnt always work to well, however it has improved ten-fold since the initial versions !

Dashwire
http://dashwire.com/

This is one of the newer apps that I found recently. It backs up your SMS, Call registry and even your contacts. It claims that if you have a new phone you can download your backed up contacts too - I haven’t tried that yet ! You can post (share) your backed up contect to various websites using the website and not the phone (unlike Shozu) but it has its own usefulness. It can also backup your ringtones !

zaTelnet Professional
http://www.zatelnet.com/

I just found this most awesome application that allows you to telnet, ssh, ssh2 and ping from your Windows Smart Phone. Since the Q9 has a keyboard this is the most awesome app ever !! I downloaded the trial and it works right out of the box and it supports proxies ! There is one catch though - it is not a free app and in the trial mode, the app. disconnects from the server in about a minute I thought I would buy the app (its for $19.99 for 1 license) however I saw that the payment goes to a company in Russia or Germany and that dissuaded me from buying the app. I will keep this blog updated if I buy it in the future … I still want to but I am a little apprehensive !

UPDATE : I took my chances and ordered it and I got my activation code immediately ! I was pleasantly surprised ! I did use PayPal to pay the amount and that made me feel a little safe ! My trustworthy Firefox also showed me that the PayPal site I was visiting was actually verified by Verisign.  The activation code worked well and now I can stay logged in using SSH as long as I want ! The payment did go to Germany but the company selling the software does have some customer support etc. in the US. The person who wrote this software is from Russia - makes me a little nervous but I think it should be fine. Reputed sites like softpedia (that are in the US) actually point to zatelnet.com so that makes me feel more and more confident. I think this company is actually a trustworthy company !

Others that I tried and did not care too much for…

• Zumobi : http://www.zumobi.com/
• Point UI : http://www.pointui.com/
• AvantGo : http://www.avantgo.com/

Check out more Windows Mobile Freeware at : http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/

A few weeks back my Motorola Q9h display died on me and wouldn’t come back. After searching the net and not finding anything I was wondering if I could open it to see if the display connector was loose, since, at times it would come on and go off again. I searched the net again for directions on how to disassemble a Motorola Q9. Unfortunately there was no site that explained how to to do that. I know there was one for the Motorola RAZR (which I found) but there wasn’t one for the Q9h.

So I went ahead and started to disassemble on my own with a lot of uncertainty. I have broken electronic gadgets (while opening it) in the past that I meant to repair. When I started doing this I realised how nice it would be to actually know what I was doing and refer to some guide with pictures like I did when my RAZR died on me ! I thought to myself at that moment - “Why don’t I do one guide which will benefit others !”. o here it is - in the least possible words:

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This post of mine has been rusting in the drafts folder and I thought that I should really post this before I forget the details of the trip.

I took a trip to Alaska in July 2007 and it was an awesome experience ! I liked that place a lot ! It is very different than the other places that I have been to. I loved the 20+ hours of daylight - no wonder it is called the “Land of the Midnight Sun”. I felt the place was very raw - It is left untouched for the most part, and that made me feel a little uncomfortable in the beginning because I was not used to it, but I quite started to like the place after the while - the rustic feeling is something that everyone should experience !

This post is how I went about doing my trip - it wasn’t perfect and I will give you tips on how to plan and do things better. Once again (like from my Maui post) - this is all based on what I did, what I feel I should have done and what majority of the people do !

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It is way too late in the night and I am still awake and so frustrated that I am actually writing this blog entry. I am playing the Challenges in God Of War : Chains of Olympus (don’t ask me why but I am) and it is absolutely stupid ! I think there was a lack of QA support for this part of the game ! I have restarted the challenge about 300 times and I am not exaggerating one bit ! These Challenges are so bad that I don’t know where to start. Here is an attemp. I hope someone from Sony and/or Ready at Dawn reads this blog entry of mine and does something about it.

1. To start of with - Why do I have to kill 20 bad-ass enemies without getting hit even ONCE ???
2. The enemies just swing their swords at one place and even though I am far from them I get hit and of course I die cause the challenge is to kill all of them without getting hit even once.
3. There are 5 of these guys coming at me at one time
4. The shield I have is LAME !!
   1. It has to be activated at the exact time. A fraction too soon and a fraction too late and thats it - you’re dead !
   2. Some times the shield doesn’t even activate !!
   3. You can’t keep the shield up for a long time. It works only for a second after you activate it
5. If you press a key to use a combo to kill an enemy then you are a 100% sure to die ’cause you can’t press any other key at that time to block your self
6. It seems that when 5 guys are hitting you at one time all you are expected to do is block, ’cause the moment you try to run, jump or hit back, you’re probably dead !
7. You cannot jump to escape the enemies, so even though the enemies are swinging the swords on the ground and you are in the air - you get hit and die !
8. Sometimes you can’t even see the enemy attacking you because of the camera angle

And the worst part is - this is only the second challenge !! I barely crossed the first one after like 20 retries !!
Don’t get me wrong - I love the entire God Of War series and I have finished them all, but I really hate it when developers go super-crazy and do shit like this. I wonder if the developers ever played the Challenges themselves and finished it !!

My sincere question is - What is the point of making the game so difficult?

Update 1 : I have seen some videos of Challenge 2 on Youtube and I am impressed with the skills and patience some players have. I guess I am old now and don’t have that kind of patience anymore ! I still don’t understand why the developers are so anal about these things. Why don’t have these Challenges on different difficulty levels? I am surely sick of this and if I owned this game (I am playing a borrowed copy) I would take this shit and trade it in for peanuts !

Update 2 : I have given up on the challenges and will be returning the game back to the original owner !

I just came back from the movie (Taare Zameen Par) and this is one hindi movie I didn’t want to miss, and let me tell you that I am not BIG on hindi movies, so when I say that I don’t want to miss a hindi movie it translates to “You shouldn’t miss this hindi movie !”. I saw the movie from the corner seat of the 3rd row and didn’t complain one bit - now thats a shocker !

This movie is awesome ! A 5 star for me no doubt - a simple story with no BIG actors dancing and trying to be cool ! This movie doesn’t try to be cool or prove that we are hip in India too ! Instead it has emotion, spirit and character written all over it and for me that is much more cool than sexy actress just prancing around in a skimpy dress swinging to a sexy tune ! Aamir - good job directing this one mate ! As usual its the small things that I like. For example, at one point everyone has enough hints to figure out that Aamir’s character is also dyslexic but there is nothing said about it. At the end of the class, the way he breaks it to “Ishaan” (the dyslexic kid around who the story revolves) is something that stuck on to my mind ! Anyways- won’t give away more spoilers ! Go see the movie !

Some other things that struck me in this movie were the sketches and the animation - It was very well incorporated into the movie, not just for the heck of it !

Oh - and by the way, the soundtrack to Taare Zameen Par is awesome. I must confess I had not heard it before I saw the movie, but I did download the entire album right after I got back from the movie (and just before this post). I am listening to it right now and I like most of the songs. My favourite song is “Kholo Kholo” - I have already heard it some 5-8 times !

A few posts back I wrote how the Bollywood industry was going down the drain, but there are still people like Aamir who will keep up my hopes and expectations ! On my way back I realised there are a select few in Bollywood whose movies I like. Some of them include Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ashutosh Gowarikar and a couple more.

Just came to know that one of my panorama of Snoqualmie Falls (close to Seattle) was chosen to be featured in the “Schmap Seattle Guide” which is an online guide to all the attractions in and around Seattle. This is quite a big deal for me. There are a gazillion good photos of Snoqualmie on Flickr and mine was selected from all of them !! I am quite proud of this and want to share it with all of you !!

Here is the link to the Fourth Schmap online guide to attractions in and around Seattle.

I finally got a Motorola Q9h and I like it. I am getting used to it and there are some things really nice about it. I love the fact that it is a 3G phone - I can do so many things with it. There are a couple of things that I don’t like about it (as usual) but I can live with those things. For one, the GPS doesnt really work that well and when it does, it drains the power ! Another thing I don’t like, and I know that AT&T is doing this, is that there is a size limit on the ringtone. The ringtone can be only 299Kb. I understand that the ringtones shouldn’t be that large but I do have some ringtones that are just barely over that size. Luckily, there is a way to overcome this problem and here’s how…

First of all, you need to download a registry editor for Windows Smartphone. There are a couple of registry editors such as PHM registry Editor, Resco Explorer and Total Commander. I used PHM Registry Editor which is a free tool. Download the CAB file, transfer it to the Q9h using ActiveSync or a memory card and install it using the file manager application on the Q9h. Once installed, run the PHM Editor and navigate to HKEY_CurrentUser –> ControlPanel –> Sounds. Click on “Values” which is the left soft key. This will bring up another screen with 3 list items:

• AllSounds
• Ringtones
• FileSizeLimit

Highlight FileSizeLimit and click on “Menus” which is the right soft key. From the menu select “Delete” to delete that key. Thats it ! You’re done. You can quit the PHM Registry editor. Now, you can set a ringtone of any size !