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Good bye PalmOS

Palm OS: Dead, forever

Software

By Samantha Rose Hunt

Thursday, February 12, 2009 17:03

vote nowBuzz up Chicago (IL) - There never will be another smartphone to utilize the Palm OS. The company announced today it will begin a transition to webOS while also supporting Microsoft Windows products. The current Centro smartphone will be the last phone to utilize the Palm OS. The day has arrived for my beloved PalmOS decided to cease to exist in future Palm products.My last PalmOS PDA was Treo680,which I sold last month and bought Nokia E71 on 23/1/09.Palm Inc has done very well in taking PDA to a new height when Apple dropped Newton.As they say, the rest is history. My love affairs with PalmOS began way back in 1998.It has been a long time.With a few friends we formed usergroup called Palmx.Through our mailinglist,we discussed on howto and our experience in making the best use of it as our PIM tool as well as our communication tool.It was a great and enjoyable experience for my friends and me. The PalmOS may be dead by the above official annoucement, but our community of gadgets/technology  lovers are alive-online and offline.Technology changed and being upgraded/superseeded but the human spirit and friendships live on... C'est la vie.. More photos of our previous activities from my flickr. My blog about palmx usergroup. The photo on the right shows our members and their family during our annual get together.Sweet memory lingers on..

Another Ride at Taman Melawati today..

Below is the cycling route at Taman Melawati as recommended by my friend Pak Wan Sabri,the Chief of GEDEBE Group.InsyaAllah,my friends and me will try it today.Recommeded RV at carpark behind Caltex Station and 'makan' at a mamak shop,Jalan Melawati 6.

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On happiness..

"Are you happy?".Most will say yes,some may tell the truth that they are not happy.Some are still looking for happiness and yet to find one.A few just tell themselves,"Be happy"-so they think they are happy.All of us want to be happy especially when we are sad.What is being happy?

Below is an excerpt from a report of Prof Syed Naquib al-Attas introduction of his book Prologomena to the Metaphysic of Islam .This report was written by Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad,taken  from page 9 of Al-Hikmah,Bil 1,Tahun 5,1999

"....Then in the next chapter,I talked the problem of happiness,a definition of happiness,what we understand by happiness,because this happiness has not been,according to Western philosophy,until now it is continually slipping from the grasp of attainment.They said it is undefinable.Of course we cannot agree with that beause we understand something differently.We donot define happiness simply as a physical thing,as emotions and feelings.It is [actually] a conciousness of certainty,of the truth.This is what the Qu'an says about the nafs al-mutma'innah.To the muslims,that is the highest level of hapiness is.Of course to the Western people,it is not like that,but why should we be following[them]..."

As muslims/muslimahs, we should not use Western understanding of happiness.If we do, we may engage ourselves in the similar non-Islamic ativities like them in our quest for the so-called happiness.

My notes:

The 'next hapter' referred in the exerpt is chapter 2 and below are the ayats(Surah al-Fajr) relating to al-mutma'innah:

[27] (To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!

[28] "Come back thou to thy Lord, well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him!

[29] "Enter thou, then, among My Devotees!

[30] "Yea, enter thou My Heaven!"

Links to my earlier postings relating to "happiness":

Seeking the pleasures of Allah

Wealth of Unhappiness

Benefits from attending a seminar..

During the feedback session at the PMI Global Seminar yesterday,someone came to the microphone stand and asked the representative of the organiser on the stage,"I have bad news for you!".It caught my attention immediately.Then the gentleman continued,"I paid USD$ 550 to attend this seminar and discovered that what I think I know of PM knowledge,actually I knew only 50%!".That is a big relief and then  I saw smile on the PMI's representative.By the way, no seminar is perfect, but being  project managers attending a seminar organised/managed by PMI,our expectations are much higher than from ordinary organiser.By PMBOK definition, this seminar is a project and we the participants are all the stakeholders.Next time,I expect something better from PMI.

Going back to the topic,it is all up to us.From my three days spent at PMI Global Congress,I have learned something new from the speakers as well from interactions with fellow partipants from all over the world.On a few ocasions, the speakers confirmed my empirical knowledge that I have personally acquired during the course of my practice as project manager/consultant/teacher.On the other hand,like a few I have seen,they were told to come to the seminar(paid for by their companies) but their minds and their hearts were some where else.They kept themselves busy with sending and replying text messages via their mobile phones and also went out a few times to answer their phone calls.In fact, after each session of 1 hr 15 minutes,we all can do that and 99% of the time,it is not a matter of life and death.During our coffee breaks,I moved around to meet people from other countries but as usual, we preferred to be around with our kind.On the first day,I sat around with a Malaysian,an Indian,three Australians and one Kiwi.On Tuesday night,I took one of the Australian participants to see Putrajaya because he heard about it but he did not have the opportunity to see our new federal capital of Malaysia.On the third day of the seminar, I sat with four Malaysian,one Thai,one Japanese and one German.I just love the conversations in different 'styles' of English talking on subjects that I seldom hear among my fraternity of fellow projet managers.

Today,I am going to write a summary of what I have learned and also to write a TODO list about them before I forget.Not only that, I will send a few emails to my new friends I have encountered/met/talked during the seminar.

Note on photo:The photo shows the partipants during the planery session and it snapped using my mobile phone Nokia E71.

Cafe latte at KL Convention Centre

At PMI Global Congress

Yesterday was my first day at this International event where about 400 people from 32 countries congregated at KL Conventvenion Centre.I met a few Malaysians,mostly they are certified PMP's(Project Management Professional) and a few foreigners who are working in Malaysia and made friends with a few from Australia and New Zealand.

One thing I wish to share is the message from the keynote speaker.He talked about innovation in whatever work we do.We need to be creative in order to remain competitive and I wish to add, it is more fun doing thing differently and better than we did before.

If you wish to buy good books on project management,please visit the exhibition hall.It is free entrance.By the way, this Congress cost me USD550 and it is value for money.In return,it provoked my mind to be creative,learnt new knowledge and made more friends-local and international.

At peace with nature?

Yesterday I saw a lady sitting on a rock by a waterfall.I have taken a photo but it did come out that well.So,I borrow Prof Fuad's photo who was with me  during our stop along The Rover Trail.Despite our noises,she remained unperturbed and kept her virgil.May be she was in a state of meditation.

Life in the city is very stressful.I think it is good to take some time off to be alone,have our own personal conversations with ourselves and ponder about our lives...

To ponder is to think and to reflect.In our haste,many of us just flows with what we have been doing year in and year out.When I reached 50 years old,I did some serious thinking an reflecting on my life and re-set my priorities and did some re-alignment of my personal and business lives.

Our lives are made of what we think,what we do and what experience on the daily basis.The sum total becomes our lives.So, be mindful of our daily activities.

If you have some time,kindly read my note -Alone in A Madding Crowd-which was written in July 2002.

Living in fear..

Two days ago,my neighbour,living 50 metres along my street was robbed of her gold necklace when she was about to enter her car to go to work at about 6.15am.The robber,wielding a parang threatened her and she had to give in to protect herself.The robber ran to a waiting car driven by his partner in crime.

This is too close for comfort!

My wife is very upset about this event.I told her,this is nothing new.Previously, we only see in the TV or read in the newspapers.Now, it is almost on our door-step,God forbids.

Gone  were the days where women  and kids feel safe either during the day or the night.

Do take  extra care wherever you are.The robbers are very desperate and daring now.A few days ago,the robber just pretended to be a customer,entered a restaurant and took and ran away with my friend's laptop while she was surfing the Internet at 10pm.

Khushhoo' during solat

In July,2005,I blogged about the same subject and I was reminded again of it when this subject cropped up again during my discussion with someone who is very concerned with her solat.In fact,I told myself that I must be reminded of the importance being khushoo' before each of my solat,every day and not every month or year.

According to my guru,once when we commence solat with the takbir, we must leave behind our worldly matters/concerns and enter with all humility and willing submission to Allah swt into the domain of ehsan.I know it is a struggle all the way to remain 'hadhir' during solat but try we must.

During one kuliyyah,a member of the congregation asked our tasawuf teacher why he observed that people who do solat and yet they continue doing bad things?The guru replied that this type of muslims/muslimahs only do the shariat of solat but not the complete solat.

How do we achieve khusoo'? Kindly Download Thirtythreewaysofdevelopingkhushooinprayer  and the end of it, you will be infromed that there are 5 levels of khusoo'.Let's make a real effort to elevate ourselves,insyaAllah.

Sqaure root of 2 & 3

During my visit to Islamic Arts Museum today,I saw a set of drawing demonstrating how earlier building designers used and applied the value of square root of 2(Approx 1.414) and 3 (approx 1.732) in getting the correct proportions of the buildings.This is something new to me as an engineer but my fellow architect friends may have a lot of stories to tell about these irrational numbers being applied in architecture.

Another interesting number is Fibonacci constant.Somehow these numbers give beauty to forms and arragement of objects and even in the arragement of leaves.How? I don't know and beyond my my little mind even to think about it.

The exhibition is entitled Divine Inspiration(Ilham Suci).

Another exhibition below it is The Art of Intergration-Islam in Britain by Peter Sanders, a famous muslim photographer.The photos shown are really beautiful.

Note: Image taken from wikipedia.