As with all the good things that could have happened to our beloved country, you gotta give it to the politicians to spoil the celebrations!

Suresh Kalmadi (Image Courtesy: Times Of India)

As if the preparations for the Common Wealth Games (CWG) wasn’t enough, we have started reading and hearing daily bytes of the corruption (obviously with the ‘blessings’ of the high & mighty politicians) trickling in. The web is spread so wide that it’s surprising. It has acted as the perfect disgrace for a rising country called India.

No one from the government seems to be ready to talk about CWG. No statement from anyone has come in yet. Suresh Kalmadi, the man in the eye of the CWG storm seems answer-less to all the allegations that are coming up.

It is only in India that Mr. Kalmadi continues to head the CWG Organising Committee despite all this. What has happened to the moral responsibility of this man? (even if there is no proof of his involvement in all of this which I honestly doubt).

Even the PM hasn’t reacted to all this.

I request the hon’ble Prime Minister of  India to intervene on this matter and make Mr. Kalmadi resign to avoid further embarrassment for our nation.

Looks like finally we Nokia/Yahoo! users are in for some treat. As per the official blog post, Nokia and Yahoo! are partnering once again (they had previously partnered to offer Yahoo! Go on N series Handsets most notably the likes of N70, N95 and so on).

So, you must be wondering, what’s in it for us: the users? Here’s a brief from the post I would like to reproduce for you:

As part of the alliance Nokia will be the exclusive provider of Yahoo!’s maps and navigation services, branded as “powered by Ovi.” Nokia brings its ample experience in top-drawer, location-based products and maps to Yahoo!’s users. In turn, Yahoo! will become the exclusive global provider of Nokia’s Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services, branded as “powered by Yahoo!.” Yahoo! brings its expertise in world-class internet offerings to the table for Ovi users.

From what I see, this pact is a kind of “switching of services” pact between the two giants. Nokia’s Maps services would power Yahoo! Maps as “powered by Ovi Maps” and Ovi Mail/Chat would be run by Yahoo! in return (also to be credited as “Powered By Yahoo!”).

For us Nokia and Yahoo! users, we would definitely gain. Especially, the crowd which owns Nokia phones and use Yahoo! services.

I can’t wait to see the difference that this pact would bring to the overall user experience.

Both the companies are at a difficult juncture in their remarkable success paths. Nokia is facing an onslaught from the various wannabes and they are well equipped indeed (And, you thought being an industry leader was easy! Nokia should learn lessons in industry dominance from Intel), while Yahoo! has been struggling to expand its profits by focussing on areas where it holds expertise. (Fact: Yahoo! is still the most visited homepage on the internet today).

Let’s see what comes out of this exciting collaboration.

Links of Use:

• Yahoo! Yodel Anecdotal (Official Yahoo! Corporate blog)
• Nokia Conversations (Official Nokia Blog)

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims in the tragic accident involving the Air-India Express Flight from Dubai to Mangalore on 22nd May 2010. Even though I have been late in doing so, my intention is clear. I am saddened by this tragedy and I hope that the government of India can investigate the cause behind this tragedy and put checks in place to prevent any such disaster in the future.

As of today, some of the key recorders/devices including the ‘black box’ from the doomed aircraft have been recovered and I hope the investigating teams find the cause.

Once again, my heart-felt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims. I pray to Allah to protect us from such tragedies and safeguard everyone from such harm. Amen.

For complete information, check out: Special coverage of the Mangalore crash tragedy on TOI.

After thinking, analyzing and customizing, I have finally updated the Mobile website for All Pumped Up!^©. The new site uses the WordPress Mobile Edition 3.1 plugin from Crowd Favorite. This is an upgrade to the previous version that I had been using: version 2.1a.

By making this upgrade, you will benefit from the following features:

• Added support for touch screen phones like the iPhone, Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 and many more
• A Lightweight theme called Carrington Mobile lets you enjoy your visit to the site while not adding too much load on your data plan
• Support for many plugins to work in the mobile edition as well
• Plus an increase in performance and revved up code.

Well, that’s all that I could think of. There maybe more benefits of shifting to the new version of WP Mobile Edition. I leave that for you to explore further. I hope you like it. If not, just lodge a complain in the comments and who knows, I may roll back.

Ciao!

Got a sparkling new Nokia N97 Mini mobile two days ago. Before I continue this article, I must say one thing: this phone’s good. I was thinking and even planning to buy an iPhone but a brand new one seemed out of budget and I was not ready to settle for a used one. Solution: the N97 Mini. The N97 itself is a big boy and although there wasn’t a great difference in price between the mini and the N97, the compact size of the mini did matter for me.

The box did not have much to offer (when compared to the N97). The following things came with the mobile:

• Micro USB Charger
• Micro USB Data Cable
• Integrated Headset with music controls
• CD-ROM containing Ovi Suite
• User manuals
• Quick start guide

The following deserved to be included with the phone of the category of the mini:

• Leather case
• charger conversion pin (for use with the old chargers)
• Stylus
• Hand strap

Sigh! They forgot to include the above. I miss them. Ever so that I have been spoiled by Nokia when they shipped the 5800 with some great items (including some of those mentioned above).

My first impression from the N97 mini is that the phone has great build quality (when compared to the N97) and has the QWERTY keyboard coupled with a resistive touch screen.

The phone runs on Symbian S60 5th Edition OS which is a touch oriented UI. The phone, as of March 2010, is being offered with free for life navigation with Nokia Maps. Now THAT is the surprise package! Free navigation for life is what I was looking for. Nokia finally has come to it’s senses and given the users what they should have been offered long ago.

Anyway, apart from the exterior finish quality, I am impressed with marked improvements in the UI since the 5th edition was first launched with the 5800 XpressMusic. Kinetic scrolling makes you feel good. The UI could use more enhancements as far as user experience is concerned, though.

On the flip side, some settings are difficult to find or simply tricky. I was puzzled with how to copy my SIM contacts to the phone!

On the whole, I think I am pretty much happy with the phone and hope you also like it. Try the phone and I know you will never dare to be seen without it.

The N97 Mini: Your partner on the Go!

Useful links for you:

• Nokia N97 Mini Official Product Page
• Nokia N97 Mini Review at GSMArena

As per reports, Johnny Depp is having second thoughts in returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as (the now famous) Captain Jack Sparrow. I must say that this is the very franchise that shot Johnny to fame six years ago. Wonder what he has in his mind?

Well, the new Pirates movie is set to be the first in a new trilogy of movies. Let us hope that Johnny finally reprises his role rather than sit out on another fun-tastic adventure in the Caribbean. What say guys?

The moment there’s a mid-air scare, we trust ourselves in the so called safe hands of our pilots and cabin crew while we are taking a flight to our destination. Now, what if the cabin crew and the pilots slug it out while the hapless passengers pray to The Almighty to save their lives with the stewardship of the plane seemingly taking them for disaster?

That’s what happened in this surprising and condemnable incident aboard an Air-India flight IC-884 from Sharjah bound for Delhi via Lucknow!

In order to settle their dispute (over whatever issue they claim it to be for), two members from the cabin crew actually came to blows with the pilot and the co-pilot right inside the cockpit.

Scary… Now, I’m having second thoughts over taking that Air India flight to Delhi the next time I have to fly home!

The incident is outrightly condemnable and all those who are involved should be severely punished in order to teach them a lesson and also set an example for all the other cabin crew whether in India or any other place.

The government should immediately take appropriate action otherwise it’s good bye to Air India for me. I can’t possibly ignore this bizarre incident at all.

Another disgraceful achievement for the once mighty Air India after the shocking engine fire incident of September 2009 where a Riyadh bound plane’s engine caught fire right before take off from Mumbai. If thing’s keep going this way, I don’t see any reason to keep the Maharaja flying.

The government should either privatize Air India or shut it down. Apart from this, I don’t see any other solution where AI could be safe and also free from Babus.

God help Air India and us. Amen.

For the millions and millions of fans of the one & only King Of Pop, Michael Jackson, here’s a neat fact sheet which I am sure fans would love to know (and many may already know most of them, I’m sure).

Go To: Facts About Michael Jackson

There’s a hoax/phishing email doing the rounds called “Hotmail Activation 2009″. It came to my notice when a guy I know forwarded the same to me. While looking at the email at first glance almost (yes, almost!) convinced me it was genuine.

But then, I noticed certain grammatical errors in the email and also saw that the email was asking us to signup once again by clicking a button in the email. Look at the screenshot below:

Beware of the above email and if you see it being forwarded to you, immediately notify everyone down the chain (of emails) about this mail being a fake and also report to Microsoft.

In the meantime, I have reported about this email to Microsoft today itself and am awaiting their response. I will update my blog as soon as I get any response from them.

2009 is truly the year of innovation for the touchscreen based phones. In 2007, Apple set in motion a trend that many ignored. By introducing the ground breaking (well, not exactly) iPhone, Apple set in motion a renewed mass interest in touchscreen phones which until then were considered only novelty toys.

By 2008, rivals had realised the importance of the iPhone and Apple itself introduced a better version iPhone 3G. By end of 2008, the world’s no. 1 phone maker, Nokia, announced the 5800 XpressMusic which gave a stamp of legitimacy to the iPhone’s brand of phonomics.

Following Nokia, other makers introduced their own versions of iPhone beater phones. SonyEriccsson has released the Xperia X1, BlackBerry the Storm, Samsung the Omnia and HTC has introduced the Touch HD.

So, if you plan to checkout which phone is the best for you, here’s an article that compares the leading non-iPhone touchscreen phones on the market and gives you a lowdown of the features available with each phone. It is, then, for you to decide which one suits you the best.

I already have the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for my entertainment . Great phone for me!