Features of my dream mobile

1. TV-Out
a) Connect the phone output to any TV, and see the vidoes on the big screen.
b) Connect to LCD screen and use your mobile as GPS navigation system in your car.

2. Internal GPS
a) Use smartcomGPS software and maps from google/yahoo for excellent GPS navigation in India.
b) Multiple applications should be able to access the internal GPS simultaneously. 

3. Bluetooth
a) Use your phone as remote control for your computer
b) Use your bluetooth headset
c) Transfer data with other bluetooth-enabled phones

4a. FM Radio

a) Listen to FM stations on the go.
b) Connect FM transmitter to your TV and use the phone for listening without disturbing anybody

4b. Stereo FM Transmission
(a) You can play your favourite music on your mobile, and transmit it over FM, and let the car radio pick it up
(b) Play music in your mobile and let the audio system pick it up over FM and play it aloud.

5. Full fledged operating system like Symbian/Windows Mobile/Linux
a) Gives you the flexibility to install applications.
b) Use your mobile like a small computer.

6. External memory support
a) Either the mobile should have enough internal memory or it shud have external memory card support. Atleast 2 GB space is required.

7. Music / Video Playing
a) Watch your favourite videos/music while you are travelling
b) Standard 3mm jack to fit in any of your normal headphones/amplifiers

8. Camera
a) You dont have to carry a separate digital camera/ camcorder . (Minimum 5MP camera with atleast 3x zoom capability for normal usage)

9. 3G/WCDMA/UMTS
3G services have not yet started in India, but they are slated to start in 2008. It might be a good idea to have 3G support in the mobile.

a) Browse at broadband speeds
b) Make video calls to others having 3G handsets.
c) You will be able to use your mobile in Japan and South Korea (who have proprietary CDMA systems for mobile telephony, but also have a separate WCDMA network)

10. Quadband
a) With Quadband you should be able to use your mobile anywhere in the world. (except Japan and South Korea, unless you have 3G)

11. QWERTY keyboard
a) Use your mobile as a small computer wherever you go using the QWERTY keyboard.

12. Touch screen
Touch screen with iPhone like features.
The phone should still have normal keypads, so that I can type with just one hand.

13. Battery life
For a heavy user of GPRS/WiFi, battery backup is essentail. Recently companies are coming up with chargers using human motion.


14. Standby battery accessories


15. VOIP Call Support

Support for using Voip over 3G/WiFi networks. This will help to reduce your long distance calls when you are at home, or at a hotspot.

16. Minimum 128MB of internal memory 
Enough RAM will allow you to run multiple applications at the same time.


17. Accelerometer
Allows you to align landscape/portrait, by just turning the phone.(It should also be possible to disable this feature through settings)


18. Call quality 
Last but the most important thing, I should be able to make calls and talk to people !!!

When Grandma goes to court

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer. In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.' The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?' She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a Youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.' The defense attorney nearly died. The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, 'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair.'

UTV World Movies - The new movie channel

This is something which I was waiting for, for such a long time - a movie channel for international movies. Checkout http://www.utvworldmovies.com/ for their programme guide.

They are currently playing English, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, Polish andFrench movies. Some of the movies I like watching during the past month are :
a) Koma (Chinese, Thriller)
b) The Penknife (Dutch, Drama)
c) The longest penalty in the world (Spanish, Comedy)
d) My name is Justine (Polish, Drama)

Download free Germany/delhi/india/bangalore/pune/chennai/mumbai/kolkata/karnataka/trivandrum/hyderabad/andhra/sikkim map

Downloadable maps of Germany/Delhi/bangalore/chennai/pune/mumbai/trivandrum/karnataka/kolkata/hyderabad/andhra pradesh/Cochin/Mexico City/Helsinki/Stockholm/Springfield and major cities in India. Click on the thumbnails to download the full image size. The links will take you to rapidshare download page. Just click on the "Free" button and then enter the CAPTCHA code to download it free.

Bangalore Map (Zoom level 3) (21 MB)

Click on the thumbnails to download the full map

More detailed maps are here

Bangalore Sector 1 (0.5 MB)

Bangalore Sector 2 (1.5 MB)

Bangalore Sector 3 (2.2 MB)

Bangalore Sector 4 (1.0 MB)

Bangalore Sector 5 (0.5 MB)

Pune Maps (2MB)

Click on the thumbnails to download the full map

Chennai Maps

Zoom level 1 map (17MB)

Zoom level 4 map (4MB)

Click on the thumbnails to download the full map

Mumbai Maps (5MB, 8MB, 5MB)

Click on the thumbnails to download the full map. There are three sections for the Mumbai map. Click on them individually to download.

India Map (6725x6131) (3 MB) (ogf2 format) (ozf2 format)

Karnataka Map (3840x3840) (3 MB)

Kolkata Map (7733x7163 ) (10 MB)

Trivandrum Map (5120x3840) (2 MB)

Hyderabad zoom 3 Map (8 MB)

Hyderabad upper portion zoom 1 Map (16 MB)

Hyderabad lower portion zoom 1 Map (16 MB)

Andhra West Map (12.3 MB)

Andhra East Map (12.3 MB)

Sikkim Map (1.3 MB)

Germany

Part1(42MB)

Part2(64 MB)

Part3(62 MB)

Part4 (65MB)

Delhi Map
Delhi-Detailed-Part1(12MB)
Delhi-Detailed-Part1(11MB)

Delhi-Coarse Map (3 MB)

Cochin Map , Kerala, India(1.5 MB) OGF2 OZF2

Agra , Uttar Pradesh, India(5 MB)

Ahmedabad , Gujarat, India (7 MB) OGF2 format OZF2 format

Chandigarh , India(6 MB) OGF2 format OZF2 format

Dehra Dun, Uttaranchal, India (3 MB)

Jaipur , Rajastan, India(6 MB)

Lucknow, India (7 MB)

Mangalore, India (2 MB)

Panaji , Goa, India (3 MB)

Patna, Bihar, India (4 MB)

Sholapur, Maharashtra, India (2 MB)

Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India (2 MB)

Kuala Lampur , Malaysia (8 MB)

Springfield, Missouri, USA (7 MB)

Mexico City (8 MB)

Copenhagen (JPG) (2 MB) OGF2 OZF2 (contains calibration map file)

Stockholm (2 MB)

Helsinki (2 MB)

Bellary, Karnataka (2.5MB)

Chattisgarh, India (2 MB)

Davangere, Karnataka, India (2MB)

Goa, India (3.6MB)

Haifa and Tel Aviv , Israel (2.5MB)

Indore, India (4.5 MB)

Kolhapur, India (1.2 MB)

Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India (165 KB)

Panaji, Goa, India (700 KB)

Salem, India (2.8 MB)

Srinagar, India (2.7 MB)

Surat , India (3.2 MB)

More maps are being added. On the hot list are Cochin, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Trichy.

If you need maps of any other place in india or abroad, please leave a comment, and i will try to add it.

If you trying to use maps with your nokia mobile, I will be adding an article on it soon.

Check here to find out how to download maps like these.

Download free maps from Google maps using Perl

The following is a step-by-step guide for downloading google maps to your harddisk and open it with your favourite image viewer.

Requirements:
1. Internet connection
2. Perl installed in your machine (Windows version available from http://www.activestate.com/store/freedownload.aspx?prdGuid=81fbce82-6bd5-49bc-a915-08d58c2648ca) In fact, you can use any scripting language you are conmfortable in.
3. Download wget executabel (Free windows version at http://users.ugent.be/~bpuype/cgi-bin/fetch.pl?dl=wget/wget.exe )
4. Irfanview image application (Free version at http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm)

Procedure:
1. First go to http://maps.google.com and browse to the location you want to see.Move around in the map and in the bottom status window, you will see some thing like this:
http://mt3.google.com/mt?n=404&w=2.69&hl=en&x=54&y=108&zoom=9
2. Note this down. The value for x and y will depend on the location that you have browsed. The value of "zoom" will depend on your current zoom level. Also note down the values at the four corners of the area that you want to make a map of. Lets say thay are x varies from 1072 to 1090 and y varies from 600 to 900.
3. Using notepad open a file and type the following lines into it. Modify the $x1, $x2, $y1, $y2 ,$zoom and $step variables from step 2. Also modify the wget statement with the values of "n" and "w" from step 1:

#-------------------------------------
$x1=1072;
$x2=1090;
$y1=600;
$y2=900;
$zoom = 9;
$step = 1 ;
for($j=$y1;$j<=$y2;$j++) {
for($i=$x1;$i<=$x2;$i++) {
`wget -O $j.$i.png "http://mt3.google.com/mt?n=404&w=2.69&hl=en&x=$i&y=$j&zoom=$zoom"` ;
}
}
#-------------------------------------


4. Copy the "wget.exe" to the same directory as the above file.
5. Open command prompt , go to the same directory and type:
perl
6. The Perl will run and download all the images as small small tiles.
7. Open irfanview. Choose "Files->Thumbnails"
8. In the thumbnails window, choose all the png files which were downloaded earlier. Right click and choose "Create content sheet..."
9. In the dialog box, enter the image width , height etc using the values used above.
For eg, image width = (1090-1072+1)*256
image height = (900-600+1)*256
column width = (1090-1072+1)
row = (900-600+1)
Chooe spacing as 0.
10. Create the output, and that is your map file !!!!!