It has been a few months since I purchased Bruce, my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone, and after a few software upgrades, I notice that performance and usability has been improved. That, or I simply got used to the user interface. So far, I’m happy with it. With the launch of the Ovi Store, Nokia’s application site, I can now further enhance and extend Bruce’s usability.

One of the apps I installed was Nokia Messaging, a free application that lets you “send and receive email automatically from up to 10 personal email accounts, each in its own easy-to-use mailbox.” When I launched it, it asked me if I wanted to connect to the network. I said Yes, and it connected via 3G. I have a WiFi network at home, and was puzzled by it not asking me how I want to connect to the network. I cancelled the configuration and put it in the back burner for a while. Until today.

So I recently configured my Ovi Mail account with Nokia Messaging. Take note that the two are entirely different services. After a few minutes, it was up and running. I was confused with the email I received when I decided to activate my Nokia Messaging account, something I wasn’t expecting to do for an app. I mean, why should I need to activate an app that is basically a simple email client? The email also mentioned that I’m currently using Nokia Messaging on a trial basis. This confused me further. An app that was listed as free in the Ovi Store now says I’m using it in a trial basis.

However, after some research, I found out that what I installed on Bruce, the Nokia Messaging App, is free, while the account that was activated was the Nokia Messaging Service, in which the latter will be offered by the Operator in the future. Here’s where my speculation starts: the Operator will handle data transfers of emails, checking the 10 personal email accounts that was set up in the Nokia Messaging site, and then pushed to the App. So essentially, this app is free, while the service of checking those emails and letting you know if there’s new email by connecting to the app, is still on trial basis and will eventually be bundled with an Operator’s subscription plan.

In my humble opinion (and know that only my opinion is humble), the Nokia Messaging service shouldn’t be bundled with subscription plans as I assume it will use push email, and a lot of S60-based Nokia phones still aren’t capable of handling this. At least, that’s how I think it works.

All in all, I’ll just enjoy this ride while it lasts.

Source: Nokia Messaging FAQ

I am not really a big fan of Outlook. I practically loathe Microsoft products, and if only I can liberate myself from Microsoft’s stranglehold of the Enterprise Application industry, I would. And for me to do that, I would have to resign from a job that pays the bills. If I can blog full time, and earn a decent living out of it, I would have done that a long time ago, but alas, it was not meant to be. At least, not yet. Anyway, Xobni has just released an invite-only beta software that adds on Outlook’s features, making it better. This new add-on, called Xobni Insight, is touted the social networking software for email. The following is my take on their features.

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1. Clean your room. If it’s already clean, thrash it. Then clean it.
2. Light up a cig. It helps you think about what to do next after smoking.
3. Counting sheep will only make you sleepy. Count the number of times they poop in a day instead.
4. Read a book. No, wait. Read a “dirty” book.
5. Watch a movie on cable or rent a dvd. Movies by film companies like Vivid are a good choice.
6. Blog-surf. Check out what other people do when they’re bored.
7. Post something in your blog. If you don’t have one, get one.
8. Chat with someone. Anyone.
9. Read past email messages and correct those that have wrong grammar. Even if you are the one at fault.
10. Start a new hobby, like, collecting lint from your belly-button, or make a collage of toenail clippings.
11. Take a shower. Take a LONG shower. Make sure to clean behind your ears.
12. Google search the keywords “bored,” “impair productivity,” and “websites.” Bookmark ALL the results.
13. Unlucky. Skip this number.
14. Organize your bookmarks into categories like “bookmark 1,” “bookmark 2,” etc.
15. Make up a list of things you want to do before you die. Put “visit will’s website” at least on number 2.
16. Donate to the poverty- and calamity-stricken. You have to do at least one good deed anyway.
17. Rant about how Dubya screwed up in helping out calamity-stricken States.
18. Wonder where those people who voted for Dubya are.
19. Wonder if those people who voted for Dubya can still sleep at night.
20. Do some more Blog-surfing. Take what you want. Leave what you don’t like. Enlighten yourself.
21. I don’t like this number. Skip this.
22. Geoff’s birthday. Oops. I thought this was a date. Greet everyone a happy birthday then. Belated or in advance, it doesn’t matter, as long as you remembered.
23. Google search the keywords “clubber,” “vaseline,” and “implants.” Visit every single hit it returns.
24. Do something risky. Make a crank call.
25. Slide down a stairs handrails. Repeat until your bum is burned.
26. Paint the town red. Make sure the cops don’t get you.
27. Be creative. Paint the town green instead. Or purple.
28. Lather, rinse, repeat. Until the sun goes down.
29. Wear your undies over your head and run through the office corridors, shouting “I’m growing my hair curly!”
30. Rub toilet paper on your balding pate. They say toilet paper helps hair grow faster. Just look at your a-hole.