The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

I wouldn’t normally post an eBook on this blog but The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is special. I have read a bit in hardback and so far it is hilarious and superbly written as most of Bill Bryson’s works are. Available on MobiPocket and thus also on the E61

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century. A book that delivers on the promise that it is “laugh-out-loud funny.”

Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people’s hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.

Bill Bryson’s first travel book opened with the immortal line, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes – especially to anyone who has ever been young.

E61 Blog WidSet

Just finished- the E61 Blog WidSet. RSS Feed has also been set up.

Holux GPSlim240 GPS Receiver Review (a perfect add-on for the E61)

Holux GPSlim240 GPS Receiver Review by Shaun

There is a current trend in bundling GPS receivers into the latest PDAs and Smart Phones. The Loox T830 and Mio A701 are just two examples out of many models out there. The thought of integrated GPS appeals to me and in a device like the Mio it appears to work well and not overly bulk up the device. The question is could devices like the T830 and others be made smaller if they did not have a GPS receiver built in? I use GPS for long trips and thus only once every two weeks or so and so prefer to have a separate GPS receiver.

There are some disadvantages to separate GPS receivers such as having to carry two devices and keep these two items charged up but with the right charging equipment in the car the latter should not be an issue. When you are walking in for example a city like London GPS can be very useful to get you to your destination and a converged GPS device is ideal for this.

So what to do if you have a Smart Phone or PDA without GPS built in?

Clove showed me the Holux GPSlim240 last week and I initially thought it was a USB memory stick. It is so tiny compared to other devices on the market and will slip into your pocket without being noticeable. There is also a small space for a lanyard to fit so you could carry it on your key ring if you wish and it would feel no different to having a USB stick with your keys. I’m not sure whether it is the shape or the size or a combination of both that lifts it so high in my opinion but as I look at it now I am still impressed that so much can be squeezed into a 64 x 22 x 15 mm form. It is also only 35g in weight. Here’s what Holux have managed to get in to the 240 (remember those dimensions)-

SiRF Star III chipset / 20 - channel GPS Receiver for fast acquisition and reacquisition 200,000 effective correlators for fast Time To First Fix (TTFF), even at poor satellite signal / Built-in WAAS/EGNOS Demodulator Compatible with Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP) completely / Built-in rechargeable Lithium-ion battery for at least 8 hours operation. Built-in rechargeable battery for memory for RTC backup and fast Time To First Fix. (TTFF Support NMEA0183 v2.2 data protocol or SiRF binary code.  

Those specs are about as good as it gets at the moment and most impressive to me is the 8 hours battery life- the device itself is smaller than most batteries on the market!

In the box you get just about everything you need to get you started-

GPSlim240 Receiver / USB Sync Cable / Vehicle Power Adaptor Tool CD / Quick Guide Warranty Card 

The Holux is charged via miniUSB so chances are you will already have wall socket chargers but if not just use the included USB or vehicle charges.

I used the Holux on a trip from Gatwick to Brighton to Heathrow and back to Gatwick and it performed admirably. I switched on the Bluetooth on my E61 and upon loading up TomTom Navigator 5.0 the first lock was achieved in less than 2 seconds. Throughout the journey the signal held 100% of the time and even through the long underground tunnels at Heathrow Airport it kept a good signal. I would say it is slightly quicker than the new TomTom receiver at acquiring a signal and equally as good at holding a signal.

The simple slider switch on the side is nice because I personally hate buttons that you have to hold down to turn on and off- always a pain when driving. There are three light-up indicators on the top for battery, Bluetooth and signal and for once these are clear and obvious. A lot of Bluetooth GPS receivers give little indication of what is happening on them of which the TomTom receiver is a classic example.

Finally there are a few other features which are worth noting-

It communicates with other electronic utilities via Bluetooth, USB-compliant interface, and has a built-in rechargeable battery to save such satellite data as the status of satellite signal, the last location, and date and time of previous use. With low power consumption, GPSlim240 tracks up to 20 satellites at a time, re-acquires the satellite signal every tenth of a second and updates positional data once a second. The power saving mode (Trickle-Power) allows the unit to operate a fraction of the time. It also provides a time and position fix function (Push-to-Fix) that will switch on the unit at a designated time, even when the receiver stays off.

Conclusion: What can I say except that there is nothing wrong with this product. At under £70 it is good value and works extremely well. The size is the main feature and I can recommend this product to anyone who requires good quality GPS for their PDA or Smart Phone without the compromise of carrying a large extra device.I own the TomTom receiver and also an older receiver which both work perfectly well but I really do not want to send the Holux back- it is cute, functions perfectly and is easily the best receiver I have used to date.

Available from the 247 Clove Hardware Store for £58 + VAT.

LearnWords

LearnWords is now working on the E61- “LearnWords - highly effective training program for learning foreign words and various facts (Windows, PocketPC, PalmOS, Symbian and Smartphone editions)
For each word of dictionary it is necessary to execute a sequence of six exercises (”Card”, “Mosaic”, “Select translation”, “Guess translation”, “Select word”, “Writing”). Exercises change automatically as you reach a certain level of points. Points are added for the correct answer and are lost for the wrong answer.

Automoving of words is method of passive study: program move the set of records of dictionary like the slide-show without any actions!

Features:

transcription and pronunciation of words
games and amazing forms of levels of study
creation and editing of dictionaries, export/import, sorting and more in the free editor ‘LearnWords Editor’
adaptation of process of training (ball system of an estimation, penalty for the incorrect answer)
statistics and informations about process of study for each word (number of the current level, current points, count of the learned words and etc.)
opportunity to exclude a word from process of studing
cleaning statistics for all records of dictionary”

New S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1

London, UK and Espoo, Finland - The world’s leading smartphone software, S60 3rd Edition, targeted to reach the mid-range product categories, has been enhanced with a range of features that enables handset manufacturers to create smartphones for various user segments.

Demonstrated at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 offers new features that enrich the platform and thus the user experience with browsing, location capabilities and device management functions. S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 is readily available for S60 device manufacturers, and at the Symbian Smartphone Show three licensees are showcasing devices based on Feature Pack 1.

A single browser now supports both the Full Web and mobile-optimized content. Browsing is made more compelling with a variety of features, such as auto complete, password manager and a floating toolbar that gives quick and easy access to the most-used features. Advanced device management features enable businesses to manage add-on applications remotely, and the full featured location middleware in S60 makes it possible to efficiently create location solutions. To support the superior user experience there are practical new features in Feature Pack 1, including audio messaging, a video ringtone, an animated screensaver and multiple alarms.

“S60 has an integral part to play in creating a compelling user experience on a mobile device. S60 is what makes the smartphone smart,” said Matti Vänskä, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia. “With the new Feature Pack 1 we provide our licensees with functionalities to meet the growing demands placed on smartphones. We are delighted to see new S60 devices from multiple licensees demonstrated at this event.”Feature Pack 1 is backward compatible with S60 3rd Edition, and applications developed for Feature Pack 1 will run also on 3rd Edition based devices.

According to Canalys research (July, 2006), S60 is the clear leader in smartphone software with over 50% market share globally. To date, 46 devices based on S60 and Symbian OS have been launched, 17 of which are based on S60 3rd Edition.