Black themes for Windows XP

I had wanted to use a black theme for my PC for a long time now. A Zune styled black theme is available for download here. It does not has any Zune branding, though. MystiqueWavefront provides a link to a theme with a black color scheme available here.

If you like to customize the appearance of your Windows XP then you might like to try some wonderful themes provided by Microsoft. Click here to get the themes available at Microsoft site. The returned results include theme generators, web templates for Frontpage etc. If you find it too fussy then click here for more filtered results. But this might skip some useful stuff.

More mods for Pocketmod

I have created/mentioned a ‘fill-in-your-lists-and print-it-out‘ kind of template in .doc format for Pocketmod.

I discovered a list of more mods for Pocketmod on a chance visit to the Pocketmod Forums by a guy called Solutioneer. All the mods are in .swf format and can be used with the Pocketmod Generator offline application. You need to put the mods in the correct directory and modify the mods.xml file of the app to point towards the new mods. Nothing much difficult, I guess. The following is the list from the forum post along with what is to found at these links -

http://appsbyaaron.tripod.com/PocketMods.htm

• Provides a complete Pocketmod installer including the authors mods in a zipped file
• Provides Lines, Tables, Music staff and ToDo lists in landscape mode
• Also check his other apps for Palm Pilot

http://www.wedothat.com/pocketmods/

• Provides games generators (maze, circuits, word, battleship)
• Provides daily content (quotes, cartoon, horoscope, weather etc.)
• Miscellaneous daigrams, TaDa list updater, convertors and loggers
• Also provides the XML code to include in the mod.xml file. Helpful!
• More details on his blog

http://www.wufflebunny.com/pocketmod/

• Language reference sheets
• World/US maps
• Games (Slitherlink, Dots, Sudoku etc.)
• Sign Language, Palmistry and Cloud formation reference
• Miscellaneous material

http://leewm.freeshell.org/pocketmod/

• HP 6515 images as front and back covers of Pocketmod
• Slideruler

Let me know if you find other such links and I will add to this list.

How to read Da Vinci Code on K750i

I have finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. On my K750i !! So you like to read but can’t always carry your favorite book? Well, why not catch up on you reading on your K750i !

Small files: The web-browser in K750i can be used to read *.txt and *.html files (not .pdf or .doc). Just put any text or HTML file in your ‘Other’ folder using bluetooth or data-cable. Now go to the Other folder in your phone. You will see a list of existing files. The text or html files will have a different icon and will show a ‘View’ option above the top-left button. (Other files like *.jar files show a ‘Install’ option instead.) Select the file you want to read and click on ‘View’. You should be able to read your document now. K750i has a decent enough font size. Normal *.txt files will show around 9 lines. The HTML documents will show around 9-11 lines on the screen at a time depending on the <FONT SIZE> tag in the document.

Large files: The above method is good enough to read small text files but not recommended for large files. The phone becomes too sluggish while opening files larger that a few KBs. For reading large text documents like novels etc. use an application that produces phone readable files. I have been using the free Book Reader by Tequila Cat. I’m using the 2.2.6 version without any stability issues. You will need to install the software on your PC. The reading material in .txt format can be found online from many websites (a brief list is given below). The Book Reader takes a text file of your novel and you can change a few settings like the screen resolution, background color, font size etc according to your phone model. It will produce a .jar file which can be transferred to your K750i or ANY java enabled phone for that matter. Open this .jar file in your phone and voila, you have your novel in front of you! Another advantage is that this .jar application will also allow you to open other text files which you might already have on your phone.

I have the .jar for the Angels&Demons (412 KB) but can’t upload that here on WordPress due to file type restrictions. Some of you readers might want to have a copy of this .jar to try out on your K750i (or any other Java enabled phone). That will help you decide if you really want to install a new application on your PC or even do all that reading on your phone! Please suggest a convenient method using the comments section to share that .jar file. I have not found the text file for the Da Vinci Code. If any body finds it then I would be glad to convert that to .jar file format for you and send it back. Thanks to Michael Whalen who has provided this link for the jar file of Da Vinci Code.

Besides these, don’t forget the audiobooks and podcast that you can enjoy on your K750i too!!

List of some websites to get reading material for K750i (.txt):

• Project Gutenberg (classic or copyright free literature in .txt format)
• Esnips (vast source of fiction books in digital format + much more stuff)
• TuxMobil (mostly for technical ebooks and mobile software for reading)
• EBookLobby (computer, art, business, biograpies etc)
• Michael Whalen (for Da Vinci Code and other fiction titles in jar format)

Themes for K750i

These are some of the the themes which I’ve used for my K750i. Do you recognize the top-left one? It is the theme used by Sony Ericsson for the promos of K750i. Has it ever occured to you to ‘actually’ use this theme?! You can get this classic theme by clicking here. Any way, some of my favourite web-sites for K750i related themes or other software are lasyk.net, eseth.net, mobile9.com and k750i.net. Do leave a comment if you know of any other nice links.

Editable MS-Word Template for Pocketmod

Preview image.
Download MS Word Doc. No macros are used in the document.
Folding instructions for reference.

 

Ever since I discovered GTD (Getting Things Done), a technique advocated by David Allen to increase personal productivity and time management, I had tried putting it to use in many forms. I even tried using my Sony Ericsson K750i with its 1.8″ screen but that required too many buttons to push and didn’t provide a uniform view. As I don’t have a PDA, so I was looking for alternatives which suit my lifestyle and requirements. Moleskins, Hipster PDA etc are too bulky for me. I needed something affordable and handy to take my notes and Next Actions.

Then I came across Pocketmod.com and have been a fan ever since. Pocketmod is a small 8-page booklet made by folding paper, usually A4 size. The booklet can be customized to have ToDo lists, calendar, notes, story boards, sheet music, paper based games etc on each page. The Pocketmod website provides a Flash utility (online and stand-alone versions are available) which offers some nicely designed templates. Some people have come up with some more page ideas to further compliment the existing collection of templates. Pocketmod is virtually free (just the cost of paper and toner), looks cool and is very handy.

But there was one thing about the Pocketmod that I wanted to change. Each time I printed a fresh one from the Pocketmod website, I had to copy all my old stuff to the new one by hand. I wanted the ability to save my lists to avoid writing them all over again with every fresh print. A printed list looks better too. I searched on the Internet but nothing for me. So I’ve decided to design my own and share it with Pocketmod fans. You can edit your lists/appointments/stuff, save it on your computer and then print it.

This template has the following pages -

1. Front page for brief contact info or a favorite image
2. To-Do lists for home and office
3. Reminders for phone calls, emails and ideas for blog
4. Wishlist/Shopping List
5. Two single lined pages for taking notes etc
6. Weekly calendar (the dates need to be changed manually, though)

I designed this for myself and your needs might be different so you can edit the template as you wish and maybe forward it to me too. Or drop me a mail about what you think about it. Till then, Enjoy!

Post edit: If you find my template too “complex” then there is a simple one available too here.