SKYFIRE - The Next Best Mobile Browser

I think I have found it. After trying out different mobile browsers including Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, IE (sucks) & Minimo, I think I have found what works for me. SKYFIRE!!

I mean just the name does it, doesn't it? Hehe...

No really. Speed matters a lot when u r trying to transit over to the mobile way of browsing from the traditional PC way and I have found SKYFIRE as the fastest option available to date. I was reading about it and found out that they concentrated on this particular aspect of speedy browsing and have found a solution by re-routing traffic through a US-based proxy server by default. This works great as the speed has drastically improved. It is even faster than OPERA Mini, which was boasting the speed game as of now.

Skyfire is going to compete with Opera Mini as it is basically the Mobile browser which becomes your main browser on your Mobile. It is not in the league of Opera Mobile as it doesn't have tabbed browsing which Opera Mini doesn't either and hence that is not the direct competition. Mozilla is coming up with the Mobile Firefox version to join the party but no news on that one as yet which should compete with all of em.



Skyfire is the new thing as it covers all previous issues faced by Mobile Browsers like content viewing such as Youtube and also comes as a non-java midlet as compared to Opera Mini. You can view the website as you would on your PC with the option of a Mobile version as well if required. Not all phones in the market have got the processing speed to handle Java midlets such as Opera Mini and Skyfire addresses the wider market of phones. So the Skyfire team can actually hold up their claim that you can open any site on your mobile just like you would on your PC. This is what does wonders for sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Facebook etc.

I am putting it in trial for the moment as it is still launched in beta but I love the initial outlook and approach taken by the developers of it. If speed is what you want, then this one is for you. If Skyfire becomes tabbed and gets a feed reader, I don't need any other browser on my phone.

Get Skyfire from their website. You wont regret it. My websites look good on it also :)

I have got pretty much my whole Internet life on my HTC TyTN II now. This is what I can do on my mobile currently, 

1. Check Gmail through the Gmail Java Midlet


2. Check Hotmail & use MSN Messenger through the Windows Live application


3. Use FRING for IM and VoiceChat with Gtalk, Skype, Yahoo & MSN Messenger contacts


4. Use Google Maps with the respective Java Midlet (excellent application)


5. Check all other pop email from the built-in messaging application


6. Browse through sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Wikipedia & Google Search for anything through the Skyfire browser


7. Read my fellow blogger's feeds through Google Reader on Opera Mobile (need the tabbed browsing advantage while reading blog feeds and commenting)


8. Read all other news & sports feeds on Opera Mini's built-in feedreader (liked it).


9. Play RealDice MC Texas Hold-em Poker :$ online (no money involved). Will switch to Facebook's Texas Hold-em soon.


10. And last and most importantly manage my blogs UTP & UTP's Sports Blog and UTP's SportsTalk Forums.

I don't think I missed anything that I do other than the above online. I am happy and content with my HTC TyTN II. Gets the job done. Alhumdulillah!!

P.S. I am going to be on leave for a little while and be back after my CFA Level 1 exam & EID Vacations. Pray for me and my exams and miss me :) Thanks for sticking around readers. Each one of you means so much.

Abhi Na Jao Chor Kar

Here is a Golden Oldie that no one can hate. A beautifully rendered number even in those days bringing out the purity and innocent side of love, which is hardly found anywhere these days heheh...

Abhi Na Jao Chor kar...kay dil abhee bhara nahi...



If the above doesn't work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

Man Benefits from the Economic Crisis

I wouldnt write a long post today. I ll keep it simple. Here is something I recieved in my email a few days back...

"The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love...!!!"

All Positive Energy needs is Direction

So it was a day when Pakistan was facing West Indies in the final ODI of the series held at Abu Dhabi (read Abu Dubai by the pakhtoon taxi drivers...). Also, the Lahore Baadshahs were facing the Hyderabad Heroes in the rebel version of IPL, ICL. Guess which one got more attention? OK I have taken enough frustration out on the new form of the game called 20-20 so won't waste another post on it.

Anyway, this post isn't really about cricket.

A few friends came over and we were having tea while enjoying the cool winter breeze of Sharjah when we noticed the big crowd outside a shop. This was the local satellite shop which usually has a similar rush when matches are on as he puts the tv ON showing the LIVE match while cricket crazy fans watch jumping over one another outside his shop. He should actually sponsor his shop-door when matches are on hehe...that is some quick money...

Being the true sports fan, I thought I'll also see where the Pakistan & West Indies match has reached and how is our team performing. I was disappointed to see that the rush was about the stupid 20-20 game. Anyway, it was more like Pakistan & India considering the Lahore baadshahs had pretty much a better team than today's Paki international team and the Hyderabad Heroes were no short of superstars. That is what money can do and has done. It was not a nail-biter but people enjoyed the boundaries.

The wonderful thing to note was the positive energy.

All people around the shop in the worst of crowds. Jumping on top of another shoulder and trying to get a glance at the game. Discussing strategy, buzz. A smarter guy had brought 2 big bricks to stand on and watch the game. At the end of it, he smartly took them and went back to hide them from where he had brought it. Obviously, this was obviously a regular thing for him.

The whole crowd would clap at a big six or a great catch. I mean its TV guys. But that's how enthusiastic we are about the game. I saw a guy actually cheering the replays as well. That's how deprived he was.

Anyway, I stood wondering. So much of positive energy. So much of will to do something. All it needs is direction. Our religion and our history has made us very emotional & sensitive about the smallest of things. The politicians have used that to run student unions, election campaigns and win elections. They have used that energy to create more monsters out of the student lot which could have been directed to something more positive.

I believe it is never too late. All our country needs is direction and leadership. I wonder who will provide it. Will it be me? Am I up for it? Will I be able to do something? or will I just buckle under the pressure and become one of them. Just another part of the corrupt system.

Can I actually get up there at the most powerful chair in Pakistan and run the country? Make that difference? Re-direct the positive energy for the betterment of Pakistan? ....NAH...Its too big a risk. Enough what ifs come rushing through ....in a blink of a second.

But that is the solution. All we have ever needed and do need right now is the right leadership. Who will provide it? Who will bring the revolution? Not me...will you?

Kuch Na Kaho

If there was a law against what I am trying to do, I would probably be hanged till the death for even thinking about posting what I am today. "Kuch Na Kaho...Kuch bhee na Kaho..." by Lata jee in 1942 a Love Story.

Singing is one difficult art medium which requires lot of dedication and effort which I certainly have not put in. I am not looking for acclaim at all, just sharing my traffic jam pastime with my readers. Here it is...



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Enjoy...

The Man Who made a Difference

Dear Sir,

This is to thank you for all your efforts of bringing me up when I needed most. Since the day I was born and you tried to name me Eid Mohammad or Eidu (considering I was born on Ramadan Eid) till the day that I last I saw you heading towards peace and tranquility underneath this tough world, you made a difference to my life in every possible way.

From teaching me how to walk, how to talk. By telling me what is wrong and what is right by showing. It was not about lecture when you were teaching it was more about practicals and real-life situations. Doing things from one's own hand. I owe you the biggest thing that you ever did which was get me on to a computer at the tender age of 6. I wrote my first piece of programming code when I was in Grade 2. From there on I had no fear of computers which I believe a lot of people did have until recently where the new generation has taken over. I am using the same strategy for my daughter as well who is progressing great Alhumdulillah with her own laptop as well.

What else can I say? You have and will always be by my side as I tread towards future goals and aspirations. I so want to share with you my success and my happiness. Try and thank you for all that you have done for me. I am fooling myself. I can do nothing that can ever come even close matching what you have done for me.

Grandpa, tussee great ho!!! [You are great]. Miss you.

Regards,

EIDU

--------------------------

Dear readers - It's been 12 years since my grandpa passed away and I can't help writing a post around end of each year. He was my mentor and I intend to be someone as straight-forward, truthful and honest as he was. If I reach even 1% of that, I think I would have done much well for this world.

You can read last year's post as well if interested. I must say that was much much more emotional than this one. Maybe I am maturing and have learned to cope with missing him so much.

Kuch Tum Socho

Continuing with the tradition and great success (:$) of last week's post, I present to you a song that played a part in making Sonu Nigam famous and hopefully which will do the same for me also?

Kuch Tum Socho...Kuch Hum Sochein...Phir Khushi ka Mausam...Aaaye...



If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

How to "Ensure" that the Boss Is Always Right

This is not a 10-ways-to-ensure-that-your-boss-is-always-right post. I have not reached that enviable level of blogging as yet. There are actually bloggers around who constantly produce top-5-ways, best-7-methods, etc etc.

My post has just a 1-point agenda which will always work to ensure that your boss is always right.

OK before going into it, why should you be interested? I ll give you a simple answer. Because...the Boss "IS" always right. The only thing that you need to do is to get in line and make him know that you are absolutely behind him and whatever he needs will get done.

So when I use the word "ensure", it doesn't mean that you played any role in making the Boss right. Please don't think you had anything to do with that. He has been and will always be right. "Ensure" is more about how you can let him know that you did as required and the objective was achieved. This may or may not be the project's or the task's objective but it certainly was the required objective as far as the boss is concerned. Isn't that what really matters in the end?

So now that we have realized the importance of ensuring that your Boss "IS" always right and also learnt indirectly how to climb the corporate ladder, lets get down to the lesson.

I ll explain this with some illustrations. For any project you can really have just two methodologies. Yes this is a post on the theme of 1) What not to do... and then a drum-roll...and voila...2) The RIGHT way to do it. NO gimmickry...

Ok here is the first illustration...

As you can see, this the traditional way of doing things, not always successful. In fact mostly unsuccessful. In this approach, you would set up your project plan, time-lines, get approvals at different milestones, keep working hard which is synonymous to painting the target. Your boss will shoot the arrow at project closure which may or may not hit the bull's eye. It mostly doesn't. If it gets within the 20% range of the bull's eye, it would be a successful project cos there is no such thing as a perfect project.

There is a variant of the above strategy where you would be holding the board and trying to catch that arrow after the boss has already thrown it . Agility plays a big role here. You have to follow the arrow and try to catch it at the center. Tough job.

If your project has multiple drivers or bosses, I wish you luck. You will need all of it. Such projects if applied with the above strategy could easily end up as the following....

So is there any better way? Something that is applicable to all projects? My friends, I am happy to tell you that there is and it might as well be the best management lesson you may ever learn. Thanks to a senior colleague of mine, I have a great solution. This will work perfectly in the worst of situations and will yield a 100% result. Yes 100% !!! I am not holding anything back. Do you want to know? Here it is....

Yes people. This is a proven and tested method. Build your project around what your Boss wants. Leave everything on one side. Your project management skills, plans etc. These are all irrelevant to the eventual goal. Follow the standard practices and show your sweat but ensure that you are drawing the bull's eye around the arrow rather than hoping that your boss's arrow hits the created and placed target board.

There you go. One of the best management lessons you could learn. You want to thank me? I am sure you know by now how you can do that? What are all self-employed part-time bloggers really looking for? I hope you get the message ;) I can't give any more hints or I wont get paid.



Thanks MAYG for the wonderful work with the illustrations and of course many thanks to one of my senior colleagues for yet another brilliant management lesson.

See you all at the top of the corporate ladder soon...I ll be waiting... :)

Aitebaar

Let's bring back some great memories from one of the pioneers in Pakistani Pop Music, Vital Signs. I am humming away to their super-hit, "Aitebaar".



If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

Maradona is back? Watch out WORLD...!!

Argentina's greatest hero is back. This time in a different role though, as manager of the Argentinian side. It seems one cant keep the legend away from the field. I believe this man has enough genius and passion about the game to turn the Argentinian side back to being world beaters and more importantly champions of South America where it has got a bit boring with

Andy Murray - Almost there at No.1?

I have always rated Andy Murray very high and definitely among the top prospects after the usual 3 of Federer, Nadal & Djokovic. I wrote about him being top five material much before he was even in the top 10.

He has now already questioning the top 3 players and may even make it to the top 3 before end of 2008. He is young and

Massa vs Hamilton - Fight till the END

I don't think F1 - Motor Racing fans are too much used to close finishes to the season. Its usually been one guy taking the throne pretty much in the middle of the year with clear dominance. There have been close ones in the past but not been as close as this year where the last race could decide either way between number 1 and 2.

Even though Lewis Hamilton is

David Beckham - Headed to Milan... Money Making?

When the rather unknown LA Galaxy signed up David Beckham to play in the Major League Soccer in US, I know many serious sports fans called it a stupid money move. I mean what a waste of talent. Of course there was a lot more involved than just that. People talked about how Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham, his wife wanted the LA life style and glamour and the husband