Shoutbox provider: migration from Doneeh to Oggix

So far, I only found two good reply-able shoutbox providers. One is Doneeh, which I used previously, and the other one is Oggix, which I'm currently using right now. Doneeh is the first shoutbox provider I used. It's quite easy to manage, the control panel is also user friendly, make it easy for me to manage the comments coming in and to reply to them. The downside: for some reason, the customisation is not working. Even though I have customised the shoutbox to have smaller fonts and nice colours, after saving and republishing, I still see the same default font and colour on the shoutbox. Have tried many many times, and the result is the same.

I asked my friend JefRi, who also uses Doneeh but he doesn't seem to have the same problem (I can see his Doneeh shoutbox is customised). He said that he has had the account for quite some time, and the problem seems to only affecting later/newer accounts. :( He suggested me to try Oggix, which I also has considered since I saw Teh Inong uses Oggix as well on her blog, and it looks indeed nice.

But when I tried to register an account on Oggix, I also had some problems initially! For some reason, I never received any confirmation e-mail from the Oggix server after I register. I have tried to use different e-mail accounts, but the same problem persisted! I even asked my friend JefRi whether he has an unused Oggix account for me to use. :P

However, fortunately, on a lucky day, I tried to register again using my Gmail e-mail account, and for some reason, it's working. I also found the Oggix control panel is even nicer and easier to use compared to Doneeh. Moreover, it supports Avatar. :)

And voila, the outcome is what you can see on the left side, a nice and colourful shoutbox for you to leave any comments. Feel free to try it! :)

Read the Indonesian version of this post.

Which PDA phone should I choose?

OK, it's now time for me to bite the bullet. I need to have an Internet-enabled PDA phone! Right now I have a Nokia 6610 mobile phone and a very old IBM Workpad c3, which I hardly use, due to its bulk size and no Internet connectivity. I need to have a PDA phone which can also be used to browse the Internet and check my e-mails.

Imagine this situation. I am at a busy Orchard shopping mall with my wife and kids, while my boss called me to check on something (he could be asking me to check network connectivity to certain network/server, or asking me to check some e-mails). Nothing much I could do since I'm outside, and I can only have access to Internet after I reach home.

What I dream is a PDA phone which I can use to:

• make and receive calls, of course;
• access the Internet to browse websites or check e-mails; using either Wi-Fi (preferred) or GPRS;
• have basic Office capabilities (word processing, spreadsheet, power point); and
• have organiser function (similar to Outlook) to remind me of my appointments and to-do lists.

I stumbled upon this good website from CNET Asia, which gives good reviews about new PDA phones in the market. It says that the two most popular PDA phone in the market is O2 Xda Atom and Dopod 818 Pro. Now, the good question is, which one should I choose?

O2 Xda Atom is slightly more expensive, from a well-established brand in PDA phone market, slightly lighter, got Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, FM radio, but using miniSD card which is quite expensive and not the standard. On the other hand, Dopod 818 Pro is slightly cheaper, from a "new kid" on the PDA-phone market, slightly heavier, also got Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, but without FM radio, however, it uses normal SD card, which is the standard.

CNET Asia gave rating 8 to Dopod 818 Pro and 7.7 to O2 Xda Atom. However, the users only gave 5.6 rating to O2, while they gave 7.4 rating to Dopod. A lot of complaints from the users with regards to the O2 product, and some even switched from O2 Xda Atom to Dopod 818 Pro and they become happy customers. For those who have used both, they seem to prefer that Dopod 818 Pro is better than its competitor.

So, which one should I choose? I'm still considering and gathering more information about the reviews of the two products, so will let you know again later, which one I am going to choose. In the meantime, if you would like to give feedback to help me make my decision, just press the "add comments" button. :)

Update on 21 February 2006: I have made up my mind and have chosen Dopod over the Atom. Thanks. :)

Rumah Indra

As I have promised :) , I have created a new blog, which will be my diary in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language). If you don't understand Bahasa, you might not want to visit it. The blog is titled "Rumah Indra" (which means "Indra's House" or "Indra's Home", depends on your interpretation), and is located at this URL: http://rumahindra.blogspot.com/ .

Why I kept on using blogspot.com and not using any other blog services available on the Internet?

Simple. I'm new to blog, even though I might have created a blogger account couple of years ago, but I was only actively blogging only in the past couple of weeks :) , so I'm still new to all the features a blog service might provide. I'm still trying to get used to the features on blogger.com/blogspot.com now, so will concentrate on here first.

So, how many blogs do I have? Why do I need to have so many blogs?

So far, these are the blogs that I have:

New Information: It's this blog. Previously it was just another section on my website containing all the new information related to me. I converted it to a blog and this becomes my main blog in English.

The Journey of Inka and Irza: This blog becomes my personal and family's "diary", containing all personal matters with regards to myself, my wife and my children. No "serious" or "formal" announcement will be posted here.

Rumah Indra: This blog is meant for my Indonesian friends (no matter where they are), since this blog will be in bahasa Indonesia. This will be a blog with mixed "more formal" and "personal" postings, in Indonesian language.

On top of that, I also maintain the gd508 blog, which is dedicated to my friends at Gunadarma University, year 1991, class 5-08. I'm also part of the maintainer team of the Bemo Live blog, which is dedicated to the BemoNet BBS community, and suka suka gue! blog, which I personally don't know what it is for, who created it and why someone put me on the maintainer team, hehehehe... :)

Change of website address and personal e-mail

Please kindly informed that my website address has been changed to:

http://indra.sg.or.id/

Even though, at the moment, you can still also access the same site from its old address:

http://indra.webvis.net/

Both domains are pointed to the same IP address, anyway. :)

I also have changed my personal e-mail address from indra@indra.webvis.net (old) to indra@sg.or.id (new).

Why the change? Simple! After the ccTLD-ID management is being handled by Depkominfo, registering an or.id domain is much easier. You can just apply any available domains under or.id, and upload your scanned Indonesian IC (both front and back) on JPG format during registration. Viola, your or.id domain application is approved. And the best part, it's free of charge. Of course, you will have to be an Indonesian and holding a valid Indonesian IC (identity card, or KTP - kartu tanda penduduk) to be eligible for an or.id domain.

The Journey of Inka and Irza

I have created a new blog, which will be used more for my personal and family's diary rather than this "more formal" one. Feel free to visit "The Journey of Inka and Irza" at this URL: http://inkairza.blogspot.com . With the existence of this new blog, I will no longer write about my personal and family's matter here. Feel free to visit the new blog should you like to find out more about my personal life and my family.

I also have a plan to create another blog, which will be in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language). Stay tuned! :)