Sorry for the slow posting this week. I have been resting a lot this week and looks like for another week to come. In spite of the free time I have had in the past few days, I couldn’t bring myself to get on my laptop. I have been catching up on some movies and lots of popcorn!

I did come across a few interesting posts today to share with you:

• When you want an old version: Brown wrote about a very useful site OldVersion.com where you can find old versions of your programs. Very useful when you are facing problems with the shiny new version.
• Convert to PDF with KoolWire: KoolWire is a simple service to convert your documents to PDF with nothing but your email. Simply email your document to PDF@koolwire.com and shortly receive and email in PDF format.
• Have old cell phones?: Mark of MeAndMyDrum tells you about how you can cash your old cell phones. If you are just looking to dispose it off in an environmentally friendly way, you can at least recycle it for free here.
• Everything you need to know about Favicons: Kyle has written a great article to know everything there is to know about a Favicon. I have to get one soon but I can’t make up my mind on the logo!
• Virtual Surfing with ZoneAlarm ForceField: Ryan of CyberNet News has reviewed the new ZoneAlarm ForceField that creates a safe and secure browsing environment. Even though its is free for beta testers, it is supposed to retail around $29.95.
• Publish Blog Posts with Word 2007: Vaibhav of Techie’s Den shows you how you can use your Microsoft Word 2007 to publish blog posts to your blog.
• Learn a Foreign Language for Free Online: TD of Make You Go Hmm has reviewed a free online service Mango that helps you with learning a new language. It even has voice that helps with correct pronunciation when you hover over a word.

Hope you enjoyed these links and found some useful and fun stuff in the internet. I have introduced a couple of new blogs in my feed reader here. If you drop by, give them some comment love.

I am going to attempt an upgrade to WordPress 2.3 tonight as I am excited about all the new features in it. So, if you see a few things go awry around here in the next couple of days please let me know.

Hello newcomer, did I say welcome to ShanKri-la yet? Before you move on, just wanted to thank you for visiting and we hope you come back and see us again!

Unlocking Apple’s iPhone has been an obsession for a lot of hackers since it’s release. Engadget reported that the race between various groups of open source hackers may be over with the release of the first free, open source iPhone SIM unlock app.

More recent reports from Engadget says that the iPhoneDev team has released a new version of the unlocking software is automatic and free.

All you would need to do is to copy the unlocking software to your iPhone and execute it. Of course, there is no guarantee against you totally screwing up your iPhone beyond repair. Here is the instruction set from the iPhoneDev team.

It works like this:

• upload all 3 files to your phone in some location you prefer
• ssh in
• run iUnlock_Reloaded (./iUnlock_reloaded)
• be happy if its done

The push the button iCandy gui version is not yet released [because] of troubles [with] the new toolchain. Will be out in a few once toolchain is fixed up.

I would love to hear from a brave soul who has managed to unlock an iPhone with this free tool.

Download iUnlock [US mirror]

Without a doubt, iPhone is a great piece of work. I love its revolutionary touch interface, the wi-fi capability and the large widescreen display. You can read more about my views on it here.

I love the iPod nano and used it a lot before I got my SonyEricsson w810i. It is from the Sony Walkman series and with a 2GB Memory Stick Duo, I am a happy camper when it comes to listening to music. The music quality is awesome but the music player interface itself could use some improvements.

Now, iPod Touch has been unveiled by Apple. It is a lot like Apple iPhone without the phone features. Some of the killer features in iPod Touch that made the iPhone so popular are:

• 3.5 inch widescreen display
• the incredible multi-touch screen
• Wi-fi enabled
• Safari browser with iTunes, YouTube access
• 8GB iPod Touch - $299
• 16GB iPod Touch - $399

As I was thinking that I would absolutely get an iPod Touch before I’d dream of getting an iPhone, Kyle reports that Apple has dropped their prices on iPhones (and on new iPod Nano iPod Classic)! It looks like they are dropping the ball on their 4GB iPhones and hence the price adjustments.

And a huge one at it in just 2 months after its launch. They have dropped a whopping $200 on the 4GB and 8GB iPhones to $299 ($499 earlier) and $399 ($599 earlier) respectively! Talk about paying a premium for the new gadget addiction. I wouldn’t be happy now if I had bought an iPhone when it launched.

Although, this puts the whole thing in a different light for me when it comes to purchasing my next gadget (as if I need one). I might as well get the 8Gb iPhone for the price of a 16GB iPod Touch. But, I have a feeling the price of iPod Touch is in for a quick revision as well right after the holiday season is over. And I might just have to wait until my birthday in January to decide what I want for a gift from you.

Update: Apple is responding to its angry customers and offering $100 Apple store credit to the early iPhone adopters. Read more here..

Wow. I can’t remember when a cell phone launch has created such a buzz like Apple’s iPhone has! It sure is set to turn out to be a huge moneymaker for Apple, a $10 Billion business by a Business Week estimate!

If you haven’t seen an iPhone ad yet, here are some TV ads at Apple. Here are some of the features that everyone is excited about..

• Multi-touch screen display touted as the next best innovation afterthe mouse.
• Widescreen iPod
• A phone with a lot of new features
• Wifi & EDGE enabled internet capabilities

Apple has set the bar for high for any cell phone manufacturer and if iPhone really takes off as it is expected to, I can only imgine the ushering of a new era of cell phones by other followers. It will be just like when iPod was introduced, the market got flooded with iPod alikes, in fact some that were really comparable to an iPod like the Sansa line of mp3 players. Wi-fi enabled handheld devices would probably be available in a couple of years for cheap with a cell phone contract.

In fact, if you think Apple is the first one to make this revolutionary touch screen interface in a phone, you would be surprised to see some others in the wild already and some in concept. Atleast I was. Samsung’s F700 is creating a lot of buzz these days.

iPhone is set to launch with AT&T (formerly Cingular) as the network provider on June 29. Although I am with Cingular (or AT&T ) right now, I am happy with my Sony Ericsson W810i as a phone/multimedia device and not ready to shell out the roughly $500 with a 2-year contract with Cingular.

Would I buy it if it was affordable? Yes. But, the current pricing is targeted at the early adopters and Apple fans like any other major launch. By the time I wear out my Sony Ericsson, may be the iPhone will be at a more reasonable price and will have the bugs worked out. Heck, there may even be a better competitor by then when the touchscreen displays become the norm for cell phones.

So, are you buying an iPhone when it launches on June 29? What do you think about the price?

While you are browsing through a bookshop or favorite game store, ever wondered if you should ask your friend to get online and see if there is a better deal online? Not anymore..

You can call Frucall (1-888-DO-FRUCALL) on your cellphone or from a pay phone and get the prices from online store! It’s time for some quick facts about the service!

Frucall - Be a Smart Shopper

• It’s FREE.
• Frucall is a phone based price-comparison shopping service.
• You are able to compare the prices, user ratings, etc. for the item you are looking right when you are looking at a product in a brick-and-mortar store.
• You can bookmark the items you like with Frucall to check them out later when you at your computer.
• You can use any phone but if you used your cell phone, your bookmarks, voicenotes, search history will be saved in your Frucall account in the web. Your caller id identifies you to Frucall so you may want to unblock it with *82, if you normally block it.
• You can even purchase using your phone, if you wanted to order the product from one the online stores Frucall found. They don’t charge us anything but make their money through sponsored ads.
• Check out their Help and FAQ section to get more details about this excellent service!
• Also, Download Squad has a short review about this service.

You might have impressed your friends with Google SMS product search before in a party while discussing the price of Johnny Walker Green Label. Now, its time to show-off while you are shopping with them! If they already have a wi-fi enabled phone, you are not gonna beat that!

For the rest of us, this could really come in handy! Excuse the sorry title.. my creativity has hit a new low tonight!

We wrote about GrandCentral a while back and it has been one of our most popular articles as you might have noticed in the sidebar!

If you haven’t read our earlier article, Grand Central is a free service that offers you one phone number for life!  Here is a glimpse of my post before you head over there..

•  How would you like one phone number for life?
• When someone calls you, all your phones would ring. So no matter where you are, you are always available! (I wouldn’t actually like that but wait there’s more..)
• It’s free for 2 numbers and your voicemails would be stored for 30 days.

I have used that service now for about a month and really like it. Now, I found out through TechCrunch that they have released a mobile version of their site which is pretty cool. Here’s what they say about the new addition to their offering..

Like Gmail’s mobile site, GrandCentral Mobile is a lightweight version of your normal account and the primary use of it will be to review and administer voicemails. All of the normal functionality is included (view and play messages, reply, forward, flag, delete, etc.) You can also access your address book and make basic ringing and greeting account changes. Voicemails are in MP3 format, so your phone will need to be able to play MP3s if you want to listen to them.

I tried this interface out in my cellphone and really liked it. My commute to work is about 12 minutes and I have access to a computer pretty much rest of the time except when I am travelling. So, this feature is not going to be useful on a day to day basis but defintely a great add-on for people on the road.

I play games on my phone when I am bored or if I am travelling or if I am killing time between aisles while my wife is shopping! But, the little keys in the little keypad aren’t kind to my digits. I can feel its impact on my poor fingers for hours later and most of those cell phone games are mindless anyways! But, I don’t have to anymore!

I just came across Wattpad.com on Lifehacker! They provide an app to read books on your cell phone. Well, here are the quick facts!

• It’s FREE.
• Install the jar file on your phone either through your phone’s browser or you can transfer to your phone from your pc. I prefer the pc transfer as I don’t have the data plan on my phone.
• Now, download the jar files from Wattpad and install them on phone.
• Open the application and voila! you have a book to read!!
• If you have a data plan on your phone, you could get books easily through your phone browser.
• Or you could send an sms/email to your phone with a link to download the book from Wattpad.com.
• How about the books collection? It is a community-built library of whatever you can think of.. novels, jokes, essays, poems, etc. If you have some, you can upload it too..
• At present I am reading my favorite, Godfather by Mario Puzo and I like the way it scrolls at a reading speed.
• Wattpad.com offers an intuitive web 2.0 styled interface and I like the tag cloud to look for books.
• I don’t think this is going to alter my book reading habits, but it will be a nice way to kill time if you are stuck at some place with nothing but your cell phone.

I am yet to look closely at the selection the community has to offer. But, I see a few titles i like to start using it right away.