It took me a while to dig up the URL of Daytum from my Google reader. I came across it by randomly read in Feld’s Blog.

To be honest, it’s not the easiest tool to use. It was cruise to find out who to navigate around simply because it’s challengingly difficult! Curiosity kills the cat. I signed up an account, played around for a bit, but then just leave it as I couldn’t be bothered to keep track on everything I do, like how many coffee I consumed, or how many gym session I attended.

But recently I found myself in need of a tool like that, because I’ve just got some new goals set up in my life. I’m not saying my life was purposeless back then though. And when you have a goal, it’s easier to quantify the time you spent everyday on working towards the targets. It’s easy to say “I’ve been working hard lately”, but “how hard” is easier to be demonstrated in numbers. So here comes Daytum. I can’t find it featured in Techcrunch or other tech news I read, so it’s worth recommending here. All you need to do is to spend a few minutes to learn how to use it.

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Go Borris, you have my support on this! If it happens, we can have it before the Olympic in London! See the letter on My Flickr and read more about this here.

This is the first gov that letter I’m going to respond seriously.

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Blackberry is good, but the only lacking feature is multilingual support. If you want to display (or type) any language other than English, normally it means some painful searching on the net for instruction, following by some painful installing process.

I did my search when I got my new Bold 9700, and here is a good guide I got from a Japanese site. I posted a Chinese version, here is the English one. It worked for me so hopefully it will be useful for you.

(If any links in the article don’t work, please leave a comment and I will try to fix them)

1) Download and install the “Blackberry Devices Manager” from Blackberry website. You can also find it from the CD that comes with your berry devices.

2) Language pack. You can find different language pack files from this page. I used “Hong Kong CSL Limited” one but I assume others shouldn’t be much different although I haven’t tried them. In the next page, you will need to choose your model. I chose “Blackberry Bold ™ 9700 Smartphone”. Next page, you should see three download options. You will need to choose “BlackBerry Handheld Software v5.0.0.680 (EastAsia)”. Then the rest is just filling the registration form. The file should be around 126MB.

3) Open up your Blackberry Devices Manager, and then connect your blackberry to PC. Next, run the “BlackBerry Handheld Software v5.0.0.680 (EastAsia)” file that you just downloaded. It will ask you to shutdown your device manager, just follow its instruction. After installation finish, you should see a message with an option asking if you want to open the Devices Manager, *Note* you don’t need to tick this option, just click on [Finish] to close the window.

4) The following few steps are quite important. Go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader folder, and delete the file named “vendor.xml”. And then run “Loader.exe” file, you should see the following screen:

5) You should be notified for your Blackberry PIN, just click on next, then the software should start loading some data.

6) Lastly you will come to this screen, where you can choose which language to install. Once you selected everything that you need, click on [Next], and it will take about 10 to 15 minutes for installation. It’s normal to take a while, so don’t stop you or shut down your computer during the installation.

You should be able to see or write Chinese in your Blackberry now if you have reached this step. The same instruction can be used for Japanese or other Asian language. Do post a comment if you success following this instruction. Or thank my sponsor below:

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One of the nightmares of moving home in England is you have to deal with your phone lines and Internet etc. Although there are some other companies like TalkTalk or Sky out there to offer Internet connection without having a BT landline, the majority of ISP (Internet Services Provider) still require a BT landline. If you are one of the unlucky ones like me, moving to a new flat that hasn’t got a BT landline, you will be charged for £120 something for a “connection fee”.

I managed reduce that to £29 by signing up an eighteen months contract, but that comes with efforts and lucks. I made four calls. The first one I was told I had to pay £120, no other options. Second call I was offered the deal to reduce to £29, but I said I would think about it and get back to them. The third time I called, the operator didn’t know there is such a deal so I told him there is one. After confirming with his manager, he placed the order for me. The next day, I got a text message telling me the order was placed, but the charge was £120. I went mad, as you would have guessed. So for the fourth time, I called them, and they corrected the order for me, also let me know there will be an engineer will come in THREE weeks time to connect the line for me. After that, I can then start to order their Internet package and it will take another FIVE working days to go live. So simply put, from the moment you call, it will take one month at least to have internet, if you are lucky.

The story does not end yet. I called again today to see if I can postpone the appointment with the engineer. And guess what, I was told the order was cancelled because “the client doesn’t require moving home anymore”. They managed to drive me mad twice in one week! Amazing! I asked to speak to her manager. The next logical step is to put me on hold, she spoke to her manager, and came back to me apologising that she got it wrong, the order is still valid. So I required to postpone the order, she said she will need to change with her manager again. Then I was on hold for another 10 minutes. She came to back me, apologised and thanked me for my patience, because her “system was shut down” so she had to “reboot it”. And… I was on hold for another 10 minutes.

During the holding time, I just had to let my anger out somewhere. So I twittered it (1, 2) and harsh it as #BT. Surprisingly BT on twitter picked that up and replied to me straight again. So I started the conversation with him/her and they responded very quickly. I was impressed. Not by the speed, but by the fact that BT, a commonly perceived as monopolistic company with not reputable customer services, cares enough to get on twitter and talk to people who say good/bad about them. That is worth a thumb up from me. However, I would still prefer to have a better customer services over the phone. Although you are expressing to help me on twitter, but I don’t how you are going to do that.

Lastly, I managed to postpone my appointment. Just in case I will be told otherwise in the next call, I wrote down the operator’s name and made her promise to delivery what she said. Well, let’s cross fingers for that.

*** Update: 30/04/2010 Friday Afternoon***

I just received a call again from BT. They had to change the appointment ONCE AGAIN because the last appointment I booked was on Saturday and they don’t do Saturday services. I was guaranteed by the last operator that she will send someone on the Saturday morning to fix my line. She was so sure that she even gave me her name as a promise. If you are a BT PR manager who cares enough to read this post, and you want to get that person’s name or my account number to pull that conversation record, leave your email address here.

I will keep update this post until my Internet is up.

*** Update: 18/05/2010 Tuesday Morning***

First thing first, I have finally got a BT land line connected!

I was waiting at home this morning (had to ask for a leave at work) to wait for the engineer. However he/she didn’t turn up! At around 09:00AM a lady from BT called and told me the line is connected. I think she is in a “special case handling team” or something similar. I spoke to her before when I was frustrated, but she was always very polite to me. Anyway, I shouldn’t moan about “it doesn’t really need me at home to wait for the engineer” bit. Now it’s connected, that’s what matters the most.

A special note on one of the email that BT Care sent me.

Sorry about send you that email by mistake, I seem to have missed the fact that you had included your order number in the subject field. I have been looking this order and I am sorry that you were given the wrong information regarding the availability of our engineers to visit your property on a Saturday. I have been looking into this and I do apologise that I am unable to arrange an appointment for a Saturday for you. This is down to the availability of Openreach engineer is your area.

It’s not too hard to apology when a mistake is made and it does earn back some of your credibilities!

*** Update: 26/05/2010 Wednesday Evening***

I finally have connection at home! I’m connected! Despite I requested to deliver the broadband to my work address, and they called me the day before to and let me know it’s indeed going to be delivered to my company address, at the end it was still sent to my flat in the morning. Luckily my flatmate happened to be home to receive, otherwise there could be another delay. But anyhow, it all worked out at the end! What’s more, I didn’t need to pay for the reconnection charge because “there was already a line connected”, confirmed from an email respond from BT.

Conclusion
1) It took 37 days days since I made the first call until finally got connected
2) Spoke to about 5 different people regarding this case
3) 5 Emails from BT

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There are enough debates about these two devices but I still want to add mine. Luckily, I have both. And both are the latest model – 3GS and Bold 9700. iPhone is for personal use and Blackberry is for work. However since nowadays it’s hard to distinguish a fine line between work and personal life, I have them with me 24/7. Yes, 24/7. And here are some likes and dislikes about both devices.

iPhone

Absolutely the best devices for entertaining. The ease of use plus some outstanding apps that make it very sticky once you get used to it. I used Mobile RSS to do my daily reading on blogs that I subscribed in Google Reader. If you use this tool, you can even subscribe the full content from those only export part of their contents via RSS. The camera is very convenient for taking notes and some quite snapshots. Especially for uploading some interesting stuff to Twitter, like this pic. Google Map plus the compass is the must-have when I go on business trip. I need to meet clients spread out the whole country and it’s really a life-saver whenever I travel to a new city. There are many other apps that I used on a regular basis. I might publish my app list as a page when I have time. But all in all, it’s the apps that make iPhone sticky to my pocket. But it’s Apple’s iPhone where all those creative and useful app become possible and accessible.

Now there are some areas that I would very much like to have in iPhone. Firstly, please increase the battery life. It’s not really comparable to a Blackberry. Secondly, please make a good app for Gmail. I guess the author of MobileRSS is capable of creating an excellent app for Gmail just like he/she did with MobileRSS for Google Reader. Lastly, the ability to run apps in the background. I guess one of the reasons people use Blackberry more than iPhone is the ability to do all the emails while commuting in the tube then all got sent out the moment when the phone is connected to the net. At least, that’s the main reason I use Berry for business.

Blackberry

Light, efficient, multi-tasking, real keyboard and push mails. But more importantly, I need to run Bloomberg on it (Bloomberg supports iPhone for Bloomberg Anywhere users but it’s not as functional as in blackberry). I can get things done approximately twice quicker using berry than iPhone. There is not much to say about Blackberry. If there is one sentence to describe it – “It gets things done!”

Now some drawback compare to iPhone. It’s really a pain to read in Blackberry. Mainly because the size of its screen (we are talking about 9700 here, not Storm), but also the flexibility of flipping through pages, zoom in and out. In terms of reading experience, it’s not really comparable to iPhone.

What’s your mobile devices? And what do you like/disable iPhone or Blackberry if you have got one?

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I was luckily enough to get a three weeks holiday from work to go back to China for the Chinese New Year. It was the first time I went back for New Years celebration after I left home more than 7 years ago. Jenn were back with me as well and we both spent some time in Shantou and Wuhan.

There are always different thoughts every time I go back. Now that I have been working for more than two years in London, there are more aspects to be compared between life in the UK and China.

Can we do it now?

Regardless if it’s for business or non-business, things are expected to be done in an immediate manner rather than planned ahead. I can often have my schedule filled for the next week or two with clients meetin, and rarely had to change or cancel. However in China, a lot of things are expected to be done “Tomorrow” or even “Today”.

I spoke to a manager who is in charge of UK and Chinese market in a property firm once. I asked “how is your schedule for the next few weeks?”, he told me “it’s difficult to say, as Chinese clients don’t tend to plan things ahead but UK clients need to book meeting at least weeks or even months in advance”.

It’s not cheap anymore

Five years ago, when I was back home I did a lot of shopping, as things were much cheaper compare to UK. Now it’s still cheaper, but not as much as before. I can clearly feel the price is increasing for daily commodities, not to mention when you go for a night out in town.

Despite that, the average income is not increasing at the same pace of goods’ price. I can’t pull out any official figures here but from my conversations with friends or local business, 1000 – 1500 Yuan/Month seems to be a common standard for graduates from good universities. But of course, this is just the approximation in Shantou (Guandong Province). Income in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing is another story.

Holidays?

It’s normal to have weekends off with 25 days annual holidays in the UK. I’m not sure what’s the legal requirement on holidays but I guess it’s different depending on the industry. When I asked my friends about holidays, they told me if you are working for private business, annual holiday is around 5 – 7 days and you will have two days off in a month. I was surprised to hear the “two days off in a month” as that sounds pretty good! But later I was told those two days are the ONLY holidays in a month. Working 7 days a week is normal for private business. However working for state owned business is better, and working for government is the best choices.

Politics?

I often change the channel when I see there is a political discussion on TV. To be honest it’s not the most exciting programme to watch. In the UK, however, I know they are available if I want to watch. TV in China has more soup dramas and entertaining programmes. Not because it was new year period while I was there, it’s the same every time I went back and watch TV with families.

How about the Internet? Within my families and social circle, there is few people I know who is actively looking at political news on the net. The younger generation might have more exposure to information on the Internet, but definitely not for those who are over 35 (estimated).

The reason I want to point this out is that when I read about China in western media, economic, politic or human rights dominate most of the topics. But within China, those aren’t the common topics among ordinary people’s life. Propaganda or lack of interest? I don’t know. But one thing I’m sure is that when I watch TV, although there are some reports on social issues such as crime or employment, the majority are still entertaining programs and soup dramas. That kinda explained when the drama “Wo Ju” showed last year and provoked some social reaction on the rapidly increasing housing price, there were rumour saying some government officials once tried to ban it.

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So I dashed off to a client meeting at 8:30AM last week. After an hour and a half meeting, my empty stomach was calling for breakfast. I walked into a sandwich restaurant called “Pod” and ordered a scramble eggs a sausage. After the casher lady packed my order in a bag and handed to me, I realized I must have left my wallet in the office. I embarrassingly apologised as the food is already cooked and I can’t pay for it. However the cashier lady smiled and said “Don’t worry, just come back and pay tomorrow morning”. I refused the offer first as I worried it might get her into trouble. But she insisted. I thanked her and appreciated her trust on me.

That breakfast was extra tasty.

The next morning although I don’t have client meeting there, but I left home early and went there again for breakfast. The lady was still there. I bought another set of meal and asked for the total amount that I have to pay. But she just charged me one set of meal and told me not to worry about the previous one. I tried to refuse the offer but she insisted again. At the end, I still pay for one meal but double the amount as tips.

I believe if I didn’t go back the next day it wouldn’t be a huge lost to the restaurant. But the trust and friendliness that cashier lady left me are something that likely to overweight that potential lost. At least, it worth me posting it here as a free advert for them.

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It’s a bit shocked when I noticed that the domain fee in yahoo has risen up to $34.95 per year. I thought that’s the total amount that I have paid up to now, but later I was told by the customer support lady from yahoo’s help line that I was right – it was indeed raised to that price.

While I was out on hold for more than 30 minutes, I found another blogger posted this information too. We had the same situation, our credit cards were about to expire. But thanks to that, otherwise I would had been charged without noticing, because I think few would expect that much jump on price. The lady on the phone told me its their domain provider out the price up, so they had to follow. But she was also very kind to provide me information about how to move my domains out from yahoo, which I told her is the only thing I could do now.

So yahoo domain holders, the $1.99 dream was over, now comes the surprise so move out quickly! I think I’m going to move them to Godaddy soon.

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Number One:

James just came back from his summer trip in China. When I asked him how long does it take from Qingdao to Beijing, he said ‘it only takes five hours’ by train’. ‘That’s quite a long way’, I replied.

Then we both realised he got used to the distance in Chinese scale, and I got used to the English one.

My train to London on Saturday is 3 hours, that’s a cross country journey!

Number Two:

We went to a restaurant called ‘No. 1′ in Newcastle China Town to have hot pot again for My friend’s birthday tonight. When I took him there a few months ago, he was like discovering a new continent and taking his friends there to try out. They love it too.

It’s funny when you walk into that restaurant. They have two sections – one for hot pot buffet and the other for the normal English Chinese buffet. Although there is no sign saying that hot pot is for Chinese customers and the other is for British, you can hardly see any British customers in the hot pot section. The same rule apply to the other one – few Chinese customers.

Tonight we sat on a table next to the counter. While a ladies was waiting for paying the bills, she looked at our table (the only one has both British and Chinese in hot pot section) and saw how we cooked our food. I didn’t hear the whole conversation between she and her friends, but I can’t help to catch one line, ‘I can’t be bother to do all these’. That remind me a scene in ‘Lost in Translation’, when they commenting a syabu-syabu (‘hot pot’ in Japanese) restaurant, the guys said ‘what kind of restaurant was that, you need to cook your own food’.

The world is just so different!

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It has been in my to-do list since the beginning of this holiday. Now here it is, took me the whole day today!

I used Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 which came with my Sony VAIO this time. It’s got a lot more functions than the Ulead Video Studio I used to make my other videos before. Although other factors matter too, but making videos with a 2G RAM is an incomparable feeling to my old laptop with 512M RAM. One minus point is the video clips that I took with my Lumix are mov format, which I suspect may reduce the quality and not quite compatible with Windows applications. I have tried several export format but the best quality it came out is still reduced when upload to Youtube. I have upload a better wmv file, feel free to download it.

Making video is fun, but very time consuming, especially when it was my first time using Premiere Elements. As you can see, most of the videos were before the ceremony, partly because we were not allowed to take videos within the cathedral, but more because I wanted to enjoy the moments rather than being a cameraman. Two clips in the video were taken from the ceremony DVD, one is the hand shake with Bill Bryson, the other at the end of the video, when all of us gathered together because we were the last year DEAS students in Durham. I bought the DVD just because of that clip! Unfortunately it became blurred when compassed into the video.

Well, another video that I made. I enjoyed the process in which memorable moments flashed back. And I can choose those joyful moments to share with others.

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