Nafcom's Personal Site

I have been using PC to watch DVD from the PC connected to a TV and now I moved to BluRay and HD-DVD (cheaper than blueray thanks to the death of the format but with equal quality!).

In past I used ordinary wireless keyboard (until I switched to bluetooth).

But recently I got my hands on the new CyberLink Infrared Remote Control now with Interactive Navigation of Blu-ray Discs. Unfortunately they have no good product description on their site but I found a better one here. (CyberLink only has a Version Comparison table for the old remote control comared to the new one).

I have to admit its really worth the money! At first I thought it’s a bit cheesy to spend money for it but it’s really be controlled well with the remote ccontrol so it is very much worth the money! I can only recommend it, especially that you no longer have to stand infront te tv so you click on the right buttons in the software using your mouse! Also for BDLive content it is superb!

Technorati Tags: PowerDVD, remote control
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Skype has been recently released on the iPhone. After T-Mobile Germany’s statement that they will blog Skype within their network,Skype now urges the European Union to help them allowing VoiP on the iPhone.

A bit about the reasons (from the Share Skype Blog written by Robert Miller who is Skype’s General Counsel.):

“I find it quite telling that Deutsche Telekom would be so bold as to announce this arbitrary blocking of Skype. They pretend that their action has to do with technical concerns: this is baseless. Skype works perfectly well on iPhone, as hundreds of thousands of people globally can already readily attest. But their announcement also demonstrates that some operators do not fear the customer or regulatory consequences of their bad behaviour. It’s worth noting that even if German consumers wanted to change mobile providers, they could not: like Deutsche Telekom, every other German mobile operator contractually forbids consumers from using VoIP applications. (this is the same in France, actually).”

Sure, he also says that we have got internet on the iPhone because we wanna use it without limitation on the iPhone. This is true on one side, but it’s also understandable if you can do calls on a flatrate base over Skype from anywhere, why would you call using the phone’s native call function which will bill you consideraly more?

for sure I hope Skype’s plan will be successful but I fear it might make the internet flatrate price on mobiles even higher!

Technorati Tags: Skype, iPhone
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There are a few things probably many European C64 game fans do not know. One of those things is, that there are 2 versions of the game “Arkanoid”. One made for PAL and one made for NTSC. Obviously the PAL version is the original here since the musics play too fast on NTSC and has been cut some levels from.

Thanks to Pete Rittwage for supplying most of the information, the NTSC version playing on NTSC video and for his permission to upload it and use it in this blog post.

As you can see, the NTSC vesion of the game has been sold at many places in German C64 shops probably because apart from the flicker in the intro pictures scroller it plays well:

And here is how the NTSC version plays on NTSC:

As you can see no flicker at the intro pic scroller! Unfortuantely however they didn’t NTSC fix the tunes playing routine means all sound effects and musics play way too fast 🙁

Conclusion: The NTSC versions looks better on PAL than on NTSC 🙁 Best of course is to get the PAL version!

Technorati Tags: Arkanoid, old computer games
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Finally found it! Hard Gay Kiki Ippatsu (Pop-Up Pirate).

Mr Dew offfers a description of Hard Gay and the youtube videos of the whole story.

Mr Dew wrote:

“Hard Gay is just an entertainer in Japan in this variety show Bakuten. He likes to go around and say “Whoooo” and “Ohhhh” and vibrate his hips and scream “Haddo Gei”. His favorite music would probably be Livin’ Da Vida Loca. He goes around helping people with his black leather shirt and shorts. He is popular among the young people.”

In the comment and on his homepage you can that he has a lot offans everywhere around the world!

There is also a BCC feature video on YouTube here.

I also want to thank Timothy Takemoto for his permission to use his pic on my wishlist and supplying me with some info regarding the current state of the comedian “Hard Gay”!

As I bought it myself now we can see that the “preserved” status on my wishlist back then was not the truth! What a pity!

Want to have your own? it’s still for sale on ebay now titled as Hard Gay Narrow Squeak Game while it’s usually sold out anywhere else!

I now have just wait for it to arrive! I will post a review of it once it arrived!

Technorati Tags: Hard Gay, Pop-Up Pirate

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I’m selling my SennheiserMM30 since it isn’t compatible with the Ipevo SO-20.

It’s for sale here.

I ship worldwide. If you need English help ordering See Amazon.de English Help pages.

It has been used with the Netgear SPH101 and the Belkin Skype wi-fi phone and worked perfectly

Technorati Tags: Skype, headset
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After the bad luck with the Netgear SPH101 I had gone for the Belkin F1PP000GN-SK I decided to go for the just recently released S0-20 but not to take any chances this time…. Therefore I decided to ask Howard Chang of AmprerorDirect.com as he is one of the Skype wi-fi hardware gurus I know.

It’s a 139 bucks Skype wi-fi phone and to my pleasure and surprise, they’ve decided to send the unit as a gift for reviewing on my blog! So thanks guys!

I know that Howard did his own review, but I want to be independent, so I didn’t read it yet. I want to thank Howard Chang and amperordirect for the gift and making a live test before sending it to me to assure me having much fun with it!

The problems with the Netgar SPH101 was that the latest beta firmware unfortunately is faulty and despite successful updating, it died on me after restarting the phone! (It would get stuck during the booting process!)

The Belkin Skype wi-fi phone had echo issues and eventhough the latest firmware fixes them it causes disturbance sounds during calls ever since. So you cannot clearly hear each other. And it’s not a router or connectivity issue, as I have tried it at a couple of different setups!

So compared to those 2 phones (the SMC one being almost the same as the Belkin one, as even the SMC charging craddle is compatible to the Belkin one), It has the following advantages:

– No multiple presence bugs running 3 instances of Skype on: Skype for Windows, Ipevo SOLO Skype Desktop phone and the Ipevo S0-20!

All 3 instances ring on incoming skype calls (all three being online in available mode), while on short rings only the S0-20 will ring! (less than 5 seconds). So be patient a bit and the SOLO plus the SKype for Windows client will ring also!

-Very compfortable keypad!
The keypad is of very good quality! The keypad has a medium release point when pressing! Here the SPH101 needed considerably more newton to get a reaction while the Belkin one had a very wacky, cheap and crappy keypad, including almost dead number keys after intensive usage!

– The Skype on Devices on client used in the phone is rocket fast! Navigation will happen and buttons will be reacting within a blink of an eye! client performance will only slow significantly down when doing ajax searches, however Ajax is not very fast by itself already, so this can be forgiven.

On calls, the sound quality is pretty decent! It has no connectivity issues and sound gliches! While the SPH101 had now and then small gaps and the Belkin wifi the above described issues, during calls, the S0-20 always widstands such problems!
In contrast to my past experience with Skype wi-fi phones this is the first time people didn’t instantly notice that the sound quaility is worse! Neither on PSTN calls nor on Skype2Skype connections anybody said anything before I asked for quality feedback! The only tiny issue noticed is that the first seconds on PSTN calls can cause echos to the other party but those vanish after the first seconds when the echo cancellation of the Skype for Devices client kicks in!

The voice sampling rate is 8KHz compared to Skype’s computer clients which have 16 KHz, this is however a limit of the Skype on Devices software so again not Ipevo’s fault.

In contrast to the limit of 250 contacts of the Netgear SPH101 and the limit of 500 contacts on the Ipevo SOLO there is nowhere a hardcoded contact amount limited mentioned. (At least not on the places I looked), so here, it is a full replacement of the Belkin wi-fi phone which also – according to statements made by Belkin – has no contact amount limit!

I cannot say much about the battery life span yet since I just recently received it and yes, the battery indicator is not working at all! I will always indicate a fully loaded battery! It’s powered by a 3.7 V 900mAh Lithium-Ion battery pack and can be loaded by USB connection or the charging craddle which also can be powered over mini USB.
According to previous statements of Netgear’s management the most battery consuming part of the wi-fi phones is the Skype on Devices JAVA client used.

Ipevo products I reviewed in past usually showed a minimum amount of bugs and the S0-20 is no exception. Unfortunately I have however found a second bug: The voicemail welcome message is not played correctly, there are gaps in between when playing.

The charging cradle teaches the user that you have to place the phone into the craddle after you made your calls. The general handling of the phone is identical to your home PSTN phone!

A few notes about the Skype on Devices client used:

The client appears to be the same like in any other Skype built-in phone device, it’s copyrighted 2007 by Skype.

The software in the S0-20 differs in the following points:

Compared to the Belkin Wifi/Netgear SPH101 and the Ipevo SOLO:

Pros:

+The display gets lit after a while before going off totally!
+The phone allows you to set your country code.
+It works in enviroments with multple clients logged into your account at the same time.
+Connectivity to the WLAN router (I used a LinkSYS WRT54GL with latest DD-WRT firmware!) is rock-stable!
+GUI speed is faster than Speedy Gonzales.
+Charging craddle included – extra value for your money!
+Perfect functional keypad
+No contact list limit known

Cons:
-No speakerphone functionality! (Possible to include in a later firmware update as the speaker is placed on the back of the phone)
-No full UNICODE char support – Czech chars are not displayed (SPH101 could)
-Headset jack specifications not documented. Not compatible with the headsets for SPH101/Belkin’s wifi phone
-No possibility to enter local city code (SOLO could) – kills the “even your grandma can use it” usability
-Battery indicator doesn’t work and voicemail welcome message doesn’t play correctly

Summary: It’s for sure the best Skype wi-fi phone around! This phone again shows the strengths of Ipevo: Delivering bugfree, hassle free and perfectly developed products with perfect value for your money!

What makes me concerned however is the problems Ipevo has regarding product marketing and end-user support.
At least in the end Ipevo seems to have finally fixed the SOLO firware download and offers a firmware upgrade manual. The S0-20 is the 2nd product for which no such manual is available! Windows Vista X64 detects it as unknown USB device means the functionality is there.

Only available to date is a quick manual

The product will stand and fall with the end-user support and the product management!

A bad sign is, that I received an email from Ipevo telling me there is no more SOLO firmware development as of Q4 / 2008.

Please Ipevo, be so kind and improve in those areas, your products are awesome, please start taking care of them in the same manner!

If any user reading this has a S0-20 too, please get in touch with me for experience exchange, thank you 🙂

Technorati Tags: ICQ, S0-20
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There are some interesting issues with the Creative Labs surround sound tests of my SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer (connected on a Logitech Z-5500 Digital sound system.

Interesting to know: The device is connected to my soundblaster via it’s optical digital input (S/PDIF). The speaker system is supposed to automatically detect the kind of sound input received. Means Dolby Surround or Stereo of different kinds.

I noticed that in the speaker tests (including the ones in the THX panel) in the creative sound console always seem to send a stereo signal. I found in the changelog of the latest drivers of February that there is a problem with the optical connector that is fixed in this updated driver release. Still the same situation however: In Vista X64’s own speaker/sound tests, the front and rear speakers are detected correctly, in the speaker tests of creative’s sound panel all rear channels are played in the front speakers, too! However this time the logitech system detected a dolby surround signal and played it. However the speaker tests strangely still failed (I have the latest version of the sound console of creative labs!). Even re-assigning them did not fix it.

In the end I decided to use Creative’s 3D Midi Player! And guess what, it plays perfectly well in the right speakers! So forget about the speaker tests, use instead the 3D Midi Player they offer for making your tests!

PS: I found out to make it work in all situations you actually need the Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect Pack.

Well, at least it’s not pricey!

Technorati Tags: Surround, Vista
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Vivatel sent me a reply letter recently regarding my experience with them in November last year.

I was even sent as a registered letter!

They also enclosed a 2nd sheet of paper featuring a Bulgarian version of their reply (no use for me, not a language I speak =) ).

“Thank you for your letter regarding your vivate! services.

vivatel is a company that values its customers and aims to provide the highest standard of Customer Service.

frst, let me personally apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced calling vivatel Customer Service i can assure you that vivatel employees a highly competent and professional team of service experts, many of whorr speak excellent English, vivatel recognizes the diversity of its customer base and as such offers an English option or the IVR and routes calls to English speaking representatives.

I would like to inform you that vivatel doesn’t charge it’s customers for incoming calls when they are in Bulgaria.

When a vivatel customer is abroad, he will have to pay for the incoming calls according to the roaming agreements and the price list of the specified roaming service provider.

Full information concerning prices and charge of calls of our roaming partners is available on our official website:

www.vivatel.bg.

If you need additional information please, call vivatel Customer Service at 087 123, at any time, by choosing option 1 for English.
Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.
Sincerely,
Elitsa Shopova
Head of Customer Service”

Very nice of them! Apology accepted! I actually didn’t even think they would bother to answer at all. At first I thought it was some letter made of standard text blocks.
Instead it even is very detailed and they took the time to offer it in 2 languages.

Technorati Tags: support, Vivatel
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Okay, the Re-Release of Mayhem in Monsterland is nothing new. They already did so in December last year but Creatures 1 also got re-released now, which is new.

Mayhem in Monsterland is together with Lemmings the latest commercially released C64 game in the commercial mainstream time of this machine (1982-1994).

Quoting Wikipedia:

“Mayhem in Monsterland featured both high-quality graphics and high speeds, a combination that had never before been seen on the C64. This was made possible by taking advantage of a bug in the computer’s graphics chip, the VIC-II, that allowed scrolling the entire screen up to the width of one screen — 320 pixels — in hardware. Normally the C64 can only scroll the screen 7 pixels in hardware. This technique had been used in demos before, but it is believed that Mayhem in Monsterland was the first commercial game to do this.

The game was chronicled during production in Commodore Format magazine, which later awarded it a controversial 100% approval score in its final review.”

My personal hint is, get the deluxe deluxe disks versions, the packing etc is awesome, it’s really worth it!

So order 🙂

Technorati Tags: Creatures, Mayhem in Monsterland, old computer games
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Recently I stood infront of a problem: All my emails from September 2007 – recently where no longer found by Opera Mail.

The solution was given by an Opera Team member to me: mbs2mbx,

Quoting the product page:

“MBS2MBX – What is it good for?

MBS2MBX is a conversion tool that reads e-mails from Opera’s e-mail client M2 and saves them as mbox files. Mbox is a quite wide-spread file format and can be imported by different e-mail clients

.”

It works indeed problem free and in Vista X64, too!

Here is a little help for your emails SENT folder:

“import them all to inbox and then re-export them and reimport them to sent folder”. It’s a bit a fiddling but afterwards you just have to remove the mails from the imported filters by right click “remove from view”! then you can remove the filters.

Only sideeffect of the fact that Opera handles Newsfeeds like emails is that they are imported in the email inbox too but you can easily pick them and delete them individually from your inbox.

If you switch from another tool or online email service that allows exporting the email address book then Dawn which is an address converter that convers them into Opera Mail address book’s ADR format! The latest version of Dawn 5.4 beta (build 5402) September 3 2006 supports Vista, too! (works on my 64bit installation).

Technorati Tags: Opera, rescue
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