The first time I got impressed was when MIT decided to put its courseware online for free. That was dubbed as MIT Open Course Ware, now its Popular Science that has done it. The magazine that has been publishing articles on science and technology, has partnered with Google to place there 137 years of data online for free!

Although there is no utility to browse through the issues but with the search facility one can find relevant stuff. Google ADs are included off course. Head on to the Popular Science Archive page and read to your heart’s content.

The easypaisa service is now getting more popular. Call n’ Speak a company that provides Phone to PC service for Pakistanis living abroad has announced that it will accept payments through easypaisa. The company offers calling services in USA, Islamabad and Lahore. Calls can be received on PC as well as mobile phone.

As of now only Telenor customers will be able to avail this facility. Other options for making payments include Western Union transfers, Google Checkout and Moneybookers. To avail the service users need to register an account first, upon which they buy a number. This is followed by a trial call and after necessary verification money transfers can be completed.

This is a really good facility for users. Actually all these services are pre-paid and this is the best part, because it can be used by virtually anywhere like a Debit Card. What I am particularly interested in is places like convenience stores, gas stations and restaurants. Let’s hope this thing catches on.

More info is available at the Call n’ speak website. Be sure to read the How it Works, FAQs and pricing details before signing up.

This is it, now we have Skype for the Symbian available for download and use. It is a full feature rich Skype and not a run down version of the popular application. The beta was launched a few months back but this version id presumably free of errors and necessary fixes have been made. Oh and off course the Ovi store is hosting it.

The app will allow users to make Skype to Skype calls on their data connections thus reducing massive phone bills, both local as well as long distance. The app also lets users share and send images  video files. The list of supported devices is rather long and you will find it at the end of the post.

Now is the tie people can really benefit from a WiFi enabled Nokia or even some other device running the Symbian. They say support for Sony Ericsson is coming shortly so hopefully the newest Vivaz might run the app. Those going out of country might find this app extremely useful in cutting down on International calls. However, the preferred medium would still be a WiFi network rather than a 3G Volume based connection. Download from the Ovi store.

The supported devices are enlisted below:

Nokia N96, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N85, Nokia N82, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8 GB, Nokia N79, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia 6210 Navigator,  Nokia 5320,  Nokia E72,  Nokia E71,  Nokia E90,  Nokia E63,  Nokia E66,  Nokia E51,  Nokia X6,  Nokia 5800,    Nokia 5530, Nokia N97 and the Nokia N97 mini

The much awaited and first of its kind service easypaisa has been launched in Pakistan. Again it is a joint venture of Telenor and Tameer Micro Finance Bank. Through this service subscribers of Telenor will be able to transfer money anywhere in Pakistan. Off course between easypaisa account holders. Since its launch the service has been used extensively by the people and more will follow the trend as they come to know about its usefulness.

This is how it works:

• A Telenor subscriber goes to easypaisa Franchise office and opens an account.
• He/she gets a call from Telenor for verifying his/her credentials.  
• After the verfication the person visits nearest easypaisa outlet and pays the required amount to be credited to his account. Upon successful transanction he/she receives a confirmation SMS.
• The user can now pay his/her utility bills, transfer money between easypaisa account holders, deposit cash, withdraw cash, get Mini account statement, schedule payments and transfer money between their Tameer Bank and Mobile account.

This is a great service which is ideally suited for the working class who live the 9 to 5 life, and is a big convenience for everyone in general. If I were to suggest these guys I would say include a service where people can even shop with their mobile phones using easy paisa and how about dinning out? If it can happen in other countries why not here? Off course this is not an impossibility, or is it?

The finer details can be read at the easypaisa website. There are other payment solutions coming soon according to the easypaisa website, which ones are these is not clear. I really hope other operators follow suit and give services to the people that are convenient and secure as well.

Choosing an Anti virus may not be the easiest thing to do but it certainly is inevitable. Panda’s Cloud Anti-virus is free and worth a try. Although introduced sometime back it lacked support for Windows 7 then. Now it has received the official Windows certification for both 32 as well as 64 bit versions. The Anti-virus itself is light and installs in a flash, occupying a mere 22 MB of  space.

The Cloud version of the Anti-virus is made for small and medium sized companies. This reduces their overall costs by obviating the need for expensive hardware, software and IT personnel. It is easy to use and maintain and provides good protection against viruses etc. Also included is E-mail spam filtering.

It has a very good detection rate and it uses online checks for enhanced protection. It does not use the PCs resources, but sends data about potential threats to the Panda’s servers for detailed analysis. This obviates the need for frequent threat signature updates. The app can be downloaded from the Cnet or Panda website. A must try!

It has been a little over a week since Nokia’s Ovi maps (free) was launched. The word “free” is enticing in many ways, it is attractive, inviting and conjures up curiosity in almost everyone. So now there have been over 1.4 million downloads of this application in this small period. By the way Ovi Maps offers free walk as well as drive navigation.

From next month onwards all Nokia devices with GPS will come with Ovi Maps pre-installed sparing users the trouble of downloading and installing the app themselves. Also included will be local country maps, drive and walk navigation, access to Lonely Planet and  Michelion Travel guide.

Supported devices include Nokia X6, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, E72, E55, E52, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia 5230. Support for other devices can be found at the Nokia website. The app can be downloaded from the same page and is available in over 70 countries.

It’s a busy world we are living in. Technology was supposed to make it more easy for us, but now its getting more complicated, we spend more time with gadgets just to make our lives easier and end up wasting more time. But there’s nor escaping it now, either go to the stone ages or do the techie thing. All right enough of this rambling, lets get to the point. Today we talk about online reminders, how do they work, are they useful and finally which ones to use?

Ok first things first, What is an online reminder?. An online reminder is simply an utility that is available via the web for reminding oneself about any upcoming event like a birthday, meeting, anniversary or whatever.

How does it work? Quite simple, you register via web, you are sent an email for verification purposes and you verify it, finally you start getting reminders in your mail box. (Some services also offer reminders via SMS)

Are they useful?  Obviously, that’s why there are so many of them. In order to use them you have to check your mail on daily basis at least, because otherwise it won’t make much sense. Given that most of us have an E-mail address and we check our mails more than once a day so an online reminder is a very useful service and more importantly because it comes for free. Check out some of these, they will do you good.

If you are going abroad there exist a number of options for getting mobile access in the intended country. You can either get roaming activated on your existing GSM number (only if your operator has a roaming agreement with an operator in the visiting country) or you can get a new (temporary) connection on reaching that country. There still exists a third option of having a SIM that works in over 170 countries! Welcome to TravelSIM.

This is indeed a new and innovative concept. This is basically an international SIM card, that comes in prepaid and postpaid versions both. The company claims that its services are cheaper as compared to other operators.

Some important features are:

• Savings up to 85 % on international calls.
• Free incoming calls for most of Europe.
• Coverage in over 170 countries.
• Calls and SMS to and from all over the world.
• Ability to add airtime as and when required.
• GPRS

What more can I say? Just check out the TravelSIM website for more info.

Not a day passes by when I am not amazed and dazed at how technology is evolving and innovation is shaping things. I blogged about the Airnergy Wi-Fi signals harvesting device a couple of days back, and just now happened to chance upon some very impressive gadgets that are totally out of this world, they really are impressive. I won’t bore you with more adjectives just read on…

SLIMDATA is a USB 2.0 storage device that is easy to carry around. It is not fat and ugly, in fact it is the size of a Credit card and can therefore sit in one’s wallet. To use it simply fold one side to reveal the USB port and insert in your laptop/PC. Currently it is available in 4 GB capacity and comes in five colors. Works with Windows, Linux and Mac. If you place a big order the company will print a customized message or logo. Check out the website for more info.

Washable Mice, Keyboards and TV Remotes. Now eat this, keyboards, mice and remotes that are washable! But why, I mean why not just use a vacuum cleaner instead or may be use a lint free cloth with some liquid? Well the developers of these smart products say that it is good for the health since the product they are made of repels bacteria. Moreover, since these things can be washed just like clothes in a dishwasher, kitchen sink or whatever so there are lesser chances of people infecting each other. This brings us to another problem, when can we see a keyboard, mouse or TV remote washing machine? Just kidding, check out the company’s website.

Mobile TV. This is a portable device that lets users view TV via a Notebook, Netbook and  smart-phone. It can be charged from Mini USB port, has WLAN and weighs just 71 grams. It will work with Symbian, Android and Windows Mobile based devices. Check out the website for more in depth information.

I guess this has to be the gadget of the year. No matter how much I surf for new gizmos this one gets the cake, I mean we have heard about wireless charging but this one beats them all. The device I am talking about is an RCA charger from Airnergy that harvests electricity form Wi-Fi signals to charge batteries. Now that is certainly cool, but wait there is more to it.

It was unveiled at CES 2010, and charged a BlackBerry from 30% to 100 % in about 90 minutes. All it needs is a Wi-Fi router or AP in the vicinity, if there are more than one off course the performance will increase. It also has a battery inside it so one can charge it and carry anywhere. It also has a USB for attaching to various mobile devices. Coming in summer it will cost around $40.

Watch the video here.