Wisetechie Blog : Ctrl your Tech Life

  Well if you have a Windows Mobile based Bluetooth phone and love exchanging files among your friends , then there are 2 questions you must have asked yourself or a friend.

1. How to receive incoming files via bluetooth , most windows mobile users find that by default the incoming file feature is disabled in Windows Mobile phones.

2. How to ensure that files received via bluetooth are saved directly onto your memory card. Most smartphones and Pocket PCs have limited internal memory, often just enough to support the default Windows Mobile installation.

The straight answer is a software called Obex Inbox (3rd party software, research before use). Install the software and reboot your Windows Mobile phone.

Now goto settings on your Windows Mobile phone and Just give the path as Storage Card/folder in your Obex settings and all incoming bluetooth beams will be stored in your storage card.

For more Windows Mobile tips and tricks keep watching the blog . The screenshots are taken on the Asus P320 smartphone with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional.

Well these are general facts about using bluetooth on your windows mobile mobile phones, most people complain that that they are able to send files and images via bluetooth but when receiving they receive errors like “Unable to Connect” or unable to send files. Most think that this error is caused due to their Windows Mobile Phones, but it isnt so (technically), Imate, HTC, Asus etc. wont make phones with bluetooth not able to receive files.  The trick is basically the same for windows mobile 5 and windows mobile 6, i have taken the screenshots from windows mobile 6.1 on my Asus p320 phone, but i remember it was more or less the same on my Imate and its windows mobile 5.

These are the steps needed to setup your windows mobile device to receive photos/music/data files:

Step 1: In Settings click on Bluetooth, select the mode tab and switch on bluetooth and make this device visible to other devices.

Step 2: In Settings , click on Beam and check receive all incoming beams.

After you complete these 2 steps all of your bluetooth incoming beams should reach your mobile phone and you should be able to share photos, files and music with your friends and receive it from them.

But another problem, all incoming files are stored in my documents, how do you ensure that these are stored in storage card ? Answer to that next week

Well, we had made these videos a few months ago telling people how to secure their Wifi connections quite frankly because many people use other people’s internet without their knowledge. We had made the videos to prevent pranks where kids use other people’s networks to save some money.

But the recent blasts in India opened a new picture. Terrorists used the Wifi connection of an American citizen living in Navi Mumbai to send threatening emails and emails taking responsibility for blasts. As an Internet user, its your responsibility to secure your connection and make sure criminals are not using it. The following 2 videos will help you secure your Wifi connection. I will also make another video, showing you how to implement MAC address filtering to further strengthen your Internet security.

These videos are for Linksys WRT54G series, if you have some other router, refer to your user manual to see how this is done or search youtube, someone might have made a video for your model too.

Securing your Wifi connection (WPA security , only people will passphrase will be able to logon to it wirelessly)

Password protect your Router also

This post is issued in public interest

Well it is an important question in the world of today, more and more Indians are purchasing stuff online and importing it into India. But the question most people ask is the same. What about the customs duty?

Well to be frank with you, anything you have bought abroad and are bringing into India is chargeable as far as custom duties go except some duty free items like IT Products (Digital Camera, LCD Monitors,RAM,Processors etc., confirm the list though).

Seasoned ebay sellers and other online stores try to ensure that loyal Indian customers aren’t forced to shed customs at all. Remember you don’t need an IEC number to import stuff for personal use.

Here is what most companies do so that you don’t have to pay customs for importing stuff into India :

1. They mark the product as a gift on the customs declaration form of the package. This is illegal by the way , but there is no way to detect whether the thing is a gift or not. Unless the other person leaves an invoice inside the so called gift

2. Even after declaring the commodity as a gift, Indian customs will still charge it if the price is above Rs.10000 , so these ebay sellers under-declare the value of goods. This is a double edged sword, as if the product is stolen it would mean that you would not get the right price from insurance, so this can lead to losses.

Now both these steps do save duty to the importer, but you should realise they are probably illegal and be ready for consequences. Also keep in mind the more expensive the courier, the more closely the customs will examine your package. They know that EMS and DHL aren’t used for low value items, hence these packages are scrutinised more than others. On the same time Airmail and Registered Airmail is more prone to theft especially in India.

Now the fact is most genuine importers don’t mind paying a little duty on the products they are importing into India, but the customs are so notorious that most try to circumvent them, because they know if their package is caught by Indian customs, there will be a lot more paying up to do! Also if you are importing in bulk and you don’t have an IEC, you are in big trouble.

Another question people have is what happens if the customs find your item chargeable, dont worry no one will send you to jail unless you are importing prohibited stuff. If your item is found chargeable, your package will be seized by customs and you will be sent a letter usually asking you for purpose of import etc. Be truthful while replying. If customs are satisfied with your reply, then they will calculate the appropriate customs duty and send the postman to your home who collects the duty and delivers your shipment. As easy as that. There is a small fine too for mis-declarations. Frequent mis-declarations will get you in trouble though. So be on the right side of the law. In case you have questions, feel free to ask via comments. Also this is not legal advice, hire a lawyer if you need legal advice.

Nokia is a funny company, after it recalled the faulty batteries, it literally saved its reputation, but the interesting thing is who lost ?

Matsushita did for one, they will bear all the costs of battery replacement. But did Nokia gain in monetary terms ?

It might shock you , but it did. With all the hue and cry over the batteries, one could contact Nokia by 3 routes ::

1. Web
2. Outlet
3. SMS-es to 5555

The third option is the jackpot, gullible and non-techie users found SMS the most convenient way to find if their battery was indeed defective. But most of them weren’t aware that Nokia earns from short code SMSes sent to 5555. 5555 is a premium number for sending SMS. So in a way ,bad batteries made money for Nokia in India atleast. All said and done, its really bad business ethics on Nokia’s part to earn from their customer’s misfortunes.

Of course i am waiting for someone to sue Nokia over this.

Employers all around the world are keeping a closer watch on their employees, whether its sneaking on their web browsing habits or reading their personal and corporate email. While there is little you can know about how they are tracking and using your web browsing habits. Your IT Hub system administrator knows about your browsing habits. He knows how much time you spend on Orkut or Facebook. Perhaps he is the one who told the company about the man hours wasted on Orkut and Facebook, which led to the sites being banned.

There is an easy way to track your email and to see if its being read by someone else. The easiest way is to send an email to yourself with a picture hosted on your server.Include words like secret and classified documents in the email. Dont post actual company secrets. Dont read the email yourself, and see in stats if that particular image was requested. You will also be able to see the IP address of the person reading your email. Doing a WHOIS on it, you will be able to tell whether its someone in the office who is reading your email or whether its a friend who has been able to guess your password. I am saying this from personal experience , guessing passwords isnt so tuff.