Thursday 24 November 2011

Nokia N8 as FM transmitter

Nokia N8 is touted as multimedia smartphone with multimedia capabilities that is not found even on other higher end smartphone like HDMI connectivity. And I am one of the proud owner of this phone with the sturdy built quality of aluminum casing.

One of the 'must have' features of smartphone is the ability to play audio files such as MP3 that enables its user to listen to the song. Imagine this situation: You are driving and wishing to listen your MP3 collections via your car audio system. But unfortunately, your car's crappy stock standard audio system does not have any auxiliary input nor USB port. So how you are going to channel the audio from your phone to your car's head unit? Fret not, it has built-in FM transmitter. Yes, you read me right, it can be an FM transmitter.
 
I doubt many of us will flip through the phone's manual to discover what this phone can do. Here's how to activate FM transmitter functionality (Nokia calls it 'Play via Radio) for this N8:

1) Access your music player as usual



 2) Play your favourite song found in your collections



3) Select 'Options'

4) From the menu, select 'Play Via Radio'



5) Set your desired transmitting frequency (in my case it would be 101.1 MHz)




6) Switch on the feature by tapping on 'Play Via Radio' and pop-up will appear



7) You will notice the Play Via Radio icon appears on the top-right corner of the phone's screen



8) Tune your radio to the selected frequency (in my case it would be 101.1 MHz)
 
9) Enjoy the song from the radio. Volume control is dependent to the radio, so you can use the steering audio control if your car have it.

If the radio is equipped with RDS, the word 'NOKIA' will appear when it is tuned to the phone's frequency

Tips:

1) Always choose the free frequency so it would not cause interference with the local radio station's frequency (eg. if Sinar FM is 96.7 MHz in the area, do not set the transmitting frequency to 96.7 MHz)

2) Do not choose transmitting frequency that is close to the local radio station's frequency, make sure to have around 3-5 MHz frequency spacing from the closest local radio station's frequency  (eg. if Sinar FM is 96.7 MHz in the area, do not set the transmitting frequency to 96.9 MHz, choose 100.0 MHz if the frequency is not occupied)

3) Using this feature will drain the phone's battery faster, make sure the phone is connected to the car's charger.


p/s: My phone has been updated with official Symbian Anna from Nokia, however the procedure is just the same with N8 that is running on stock Symbian ^6.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Wetnessday

Monsoon season is hitting Terengganu again for this year! Indeed, today is the wettest day throughout the week. It is raining heavily today since morning and have a short pause at noon before torrential rain hit again in the afternoon. To some, the rain symbolizes blessings from the god. However, the rain could also means sadness to some.

Congratulations to our national football team Harimau Muda for defeating Garuda of Indonesia during final match of SEA games yesterday. The weather was also kinder here in Terengganu, probably supporting the loyal supporters of Harimau Muda to go out and cheer for their beloved team via live match telecast provided by most restaurants here. There was no rain and the patrons cheering with full enthusiasm without fear of getting wet.
 
However, heavy rain today is probably signifies the sorrow of my friend and his family. The mother  nature is like mourning the death of his 6 days old daughter. I was at the funeral, solat jenazah was performed after Asar prayer and the deceased was buried in cemetery at Dungun at 5:00 p.m. I hope you and your family is strong to face this unfortunate events. Al-fatihah.

All in all, I can avoid myself from being drenched in wetness. :)

Friday 11 November 2011

11/11/11 - Royal Breakfast

Adelle Davis once quoted, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper". But that quote does not really reflect my eating habit here in Kerteh. My diet is quite improper and I eat whenever I feel like due to no cook available here.

Kerteh Morning Market

Most probably I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner like a pauper. But on this 'special' day (what is so special about this day, it is merely a date in a year!), I decided to get up early and ate breakfast like a king. After getting a shower (which I rarely do in the morning of a weekend), I fired up the car and went to Kerteh morning market. The morning market is held every Friday from 0800H to 1100H.

 
 The food section, heaven!



Fruits sold here


You can buy anything from clothings, sundry items to fresh vegetables, seafood, poultry and meat. My target for today is to hunt for breakfast to fit the 'king' status. After browsing around the market for 30 minutes, I decided to have nasi kerabu, satay and sugar cane drinks for breakfast. It was a filling breakfast and I was full till dinner. Enjoy the pictures! :)

 Solok, stuffed chilli for Nasi Kerabu


 Clothings


 Jumbo jackfruit


Refreshing sugarcane


Thursday 10 November 2011

Sambutan Aidil Adha di Tanah Adat

Pada 6 November 2011 yang lepas, seluruh umat Islam di atas muka bumi ini menyambut Hari Raya Aidil Adha atau pun dikenali sebagai Hari Raya Qurban. Kebiasaannya, umat Islam menyambutnya dengan ibadah qurban atau pun menyembelih haiwan-haiwan ternakan sebagai memperingati kisah Nabi Ismail dan bapanya Nabi Ibrahim. Daging-daging korban ini akan diagih-agihkan kepada orang ramai dan golongan-golongan yang memerlukan.

Tetapi itu tidak berlaku dalam keluarga aku untuk sambutan tahun ini. Selepas menunaikan solat Hari Raya Aidil Adha, kami mengambil kesempatan untuk berjalan-jalan di sekitar Gemas dan Melaka. Kami sekeluarga menaiki dua buah kereta dalam penjelajahan ini. Destinasi pertama adalah Stesen Keretapi Gemas yang terletak kira-kira 12 kilometer dari FELDA Sungai Kelamah, kampung halamanku.



Di platform Stesen Keretapi Gemas
 
Kawasan sekitar stesen kereta api ini sedang giat dibangunkan semula untuk memberi ruang kepada projek kereta api elektrik dengan landasan berkembar dari Kuala Lumpur. Khabarnya, stesen lama ini akan dirobohkan bagi memberi laluan kepada pembangunan projek kereta api elektrik ini. Jika ini benar, maka hilanglah warisan sejarah sistem rangkaian kereta api di Malaysia ini. Stesen Keretapi Gemas merupakan stesen terpenting menghubungkan laluan dari Pantai Timur, Pantai Barat dan Singapura. Jadi aku sekeluarga merakamkan gambar kenang-kenangan di sini andai stesen ini akan hilang ditelan kemajuan di masa akan datang.

5 beradik di stesen kereta api


Selepas itu, kami ke Melaka pula. Seperti yang dijangka, bandar Melaka kini mengalami pembangunan yang pesat dan sudah mula mengalami kesesakan. Jika anda ingin ke Melaka, anda disarankan untuk meletak kereta di kawasan letak kereta di Kompleks Dataran Pahlawan yang menawarkan kadar letak kereta "sekali masuk" (per entry) dan tidak mengikut jam. Selepas itu, kami makan tengah hari di Mahkota Parade sebelum meneruskan sesi lawatan di Melaka.

 
Dahulunya padang, sekarang menjadi kompleks membeli-belah


Bandar Hilir, Melaka 


Sesudah makan, kami menuju ke kawasan tarikan pelancong yang terkenal di Melaka iaitu di sekitar Bandar Hilir seperti A Famosa. Kami juga melawat Memorial Perisytiharan Kemerdekaan dan berpeluang melihat kereta Chevrolet bernombor pendaftaran BE52 yang digunakan oleh Bapa Kemerdekaan Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman semasa membuat perisytiharan kemerdekaan di bandar Melaka pada tahun 1957.

 
Memorial Perisytiharan Kemerdekaan


Kereta Chevrolet bernombor pendaftaran BE52 yang bersejarah


Kami juga telah mendaki Bukit St. Paul yang menempatkan runtuhan Gereja Saint Paul. Bersempena dengan cuti umum, replika Istana Kesultanan Negeri Melaka yang terletak berdekatan ditutup dan kami hanya mampu untuk bergambar dari luar pagar sahaja.

 
 Di hadapan Kota A Famosa


 Di atas Bukit St. Paul, binaan berwarna putih di belakang kami sebenarnya adalah kubur Belanda


 Sebahagian runtuhan binaan gereja St. Paul


 Kediaman TYT Melaka


Pemandangan dari atas Bukit St. Paul
Apabila hari menjelang petang, kami bergerak meninggalkan Melaka menuju ke FELDA Sungai Kelamah melalui Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan dari Ayer Keroh. Sebagai perbandingan, masa yang diperlukan untuk sampai ke Melaka dari Gemas adalah 1 jam melalu jalan Tebong-Kuala Sungga, tetapi untuk sampai ke plaza tol Ayer Keroh dari Bandar Melaka mengambil masa 40 minit disebabkan oleh lampu isyarat yang banyak dan mengambil masa yang lama untuk berhenti di satu-satu persimpangan. Kami tiba di kampung pada pukul 9:00 malam.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

The Desperate Politician

Hiding behind religion cloak to convey political message, and spamming the subscribers' inbox!