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Hard Reset your HTC Wizard | WIZA200 | Qtek 9100 | MDA Vario | XDA Mini S

Posted by: Rishi on: July 5, 2008

In: Electronics| Mobile Devices
10 Comments

I had to hard reset my HTC Wizard today (not for the first time). I normally use Option 1 (see below). Then I remembered that these devices do have a hard reset option by having a sequence of keys pressed at the same time. Oh… I have used an iPAQ Pocket PC previously.

So here are the two ways to hard reset your HTC wizard:

Option 1:
Start > Settings > Clear Storage (then enter in the magic number it gives you and tap ‘YES’)

Option 2: [A bit complicated]

The sequence: Press the Comm Manager button (top left) + Voice Command button (top right) + Soft Reset button (middle right, below the IR Receiver).

The tricky part: Continue to hold the two side buttons (Comm Manager + Voice Command) and don’t let go. Release the Soft Reset button only and quickly press the Down button of the navigation pad for a few seconds until you find a prompt on the screen.

That’s it: Once you get the prompt, release all buttons and press the Talk Button (send button).

Follow the instructions on the screen and you should be ready to go with a refreshed device.

Please do add a comment below to say whether this worked for you or not. Thanks!

Tags: Hard Reset, HTC, HTC Wizard, MDA Vario, Qtek 9100, WIZA200, Wizard, XDA Mini S

Chilli Fritters | Gateaux Piments

Posted by: Rishi on: June 30, 2008

In: Gastronomy| Recipes
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Serves: 8

Ingredients

300g dhal (Yellow Split Peas)
3 shallots
1tsp garlic paste
5 green/red chillies [add more or less to taste]
50g coriander leaves
50g spring onions
1tsp powdered cumin
Oil [enough for deep frying]
Salt to taste

Preparation

Soak dhal overnight [at least 5hours].
Drain and grind finely.
Dice the shallots.
Slice the chillies.
Cut green coriander and the spring onion finely.
Mix everything with the ground dhal including cumin and salt.
Make small balls from the mixture.

Cooking

Warm some oil on medium heat in a frying pan.
Dip the balls, turning them around every now and then to give them a uniform colour.
Once they turn golden brown, they are ready. NOTE: If they turn brown too quickly, it means that the oil is too hot. Reduce the heat, else, the inside will remain uncooked.
Remove and allow to cool on a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.

Serving

Eat warm on its own.
Serve with tomato chutney / salsa dips.
Crush and serve in sandwich with some butter.

Other Possibilities

During preparation at step 6, you can add chilli powered to add some extra flavour.
When they are done, you can dip in hot curry sauce for 30min and serve warm with rice.
Or you can dip them in rougail.
As ingredient, you can use ginger-garlic paste instead of ginger paste to add some tang to it.

SUGGESTIONS: Have you tried this recipe? Did you like it? Do you have any suggestions to make it better? Do you know any extra ingredient(s) which will enhance its flavour? If so… please do add a comment and tell us about it. Thanks a lot.

Tags: chilli fritters, gateau piment, gateaux piments, Recipes

Silverlit: X-Rotor R/C Picoo Z Micro Helicopter Special Edition (Desert King) Review

Posted by: Rishi on: June 24, 2008

In: Electronics| Gadgets| Reviews
1 Comment

I’ve just received a PicooZ as a birthday gift from a friend by post.

Thanks Vich!

In the past, I’ve seen many kids playing with it, but I was never tempted to buy one myself. I thought I was too old for it. I had fun back in the days, playing with RC cars, racing them and modifying them. I even won a competition for modifying one of them. I guess that these new Micro copters are taking over the RC cars in this generation. Moreover, they do bring a sparkle to any kids’ eyes.

I thought that the PicooZ was just a waste of money. But I was so wrong. It does look cheap and it is not made of solid materials, but the fun you get out of it worth every single penny.

The thing which I hate about it is that you can’t make it move forward or backward. It only goes up, down and rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise. However, some people with loads of practice did find ways to get it moving forward. If you are one of them, please let me know how! Just add a comment.

The reason why the PicooZ does not move forwards & backwards / left & right is because in the design feature does not allow either collective or user-input cyclic control, which would have allowed the user to freely fly it forwards & backwards / left & right on demand throughout the horizontal plane. The rotor blades on a fixed plane with a simple rocking hinge, and have no swash plate. Because of this limitation, the user must add left or right control inputs and rely on torque-induced precession (also known as gyroscopic precession) to transition to forward flight. I’m still struggling to master this.

The specs of the one I’ve got are:

Product Dimensions: Main Rotor Diameter 130mm (5.25″)
Length 170mm (6.5″) excluding rotors. Rear Rotor diameter 30mm (1.25″)
Product Weight: Only 10g, including Flight Battery
Rechargeable Flight Battery: High capacity integral Lithium Polymer battery
Charger: Integral Transmitter/Charger supplied with LED indicator/Auto shut off
Simply plug in and charge, with easy to use connections
Charging Time: 20-30 minutes for full charge
Flight Duration:5-10 minutes between charges
Batteries Required: 6 x 1.5v AA Alkaline Batteries for Transmitter/Charger
Control Specification: Supplied completely assembled and already charged ready-to-fly, with pre-installed 2 Channel Proportional Infra Red Control System
Take off, hover and descend, turn left and right with fixed forward movement

After half a day, I’ve already broken its tail rotor due to many critical crash landings. Luckily there was a spare one in the box.

Verdict: It is a good toy. I wish its battery lasts longer (about 30min).

Hey, if you mange to destroy it accidentally, you can use it as a table fan. Its main rotor is quite powerful. More powerful than a CPU fan.

Tags: helicopter, picoo z, picooz, review

Achard de légumes | Vegetable Pickle

Posted by: Rishi on: June 22, 2008

In: Gastronomy| Recipes
1 Comment

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

200 g carrots
200g cabbage
200g French beans (haricot)
1 big onion
4 cloves garlic or 1tbsp garlic paste
50g ginger or 1tbsp ginger paste
5 green chillies
1tsp black mustard seeds
1tsp turmeric powder (saffron)
10tbsp Vegetable Oil [ preferably mustard oil ]
2tbsp Vinegar
Salt

Preparation

Peel and then cut carrots into matchsticks.
Finely slice the cabbage.
Cut the French beans lengthwise.
Finely chop the onion.
Crush/dice the garlic cloves and the ginger.
De-seed and cut the chillies lengthwise.

Cooking

Blanch the carrots, cabbage, French beans. Then allow to dry.
Blend mustard seeds, turmeric powder and ginger with garlic and a little water to make a thick paste.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 30seconds or until it become translucent.
Then, add the mustard/turmeric/ginger/garlic paste and some salt. Stir fry for one minute until cooked.
Add the blanched vegetables (carrots, cabbage, French beans) and stir fry them for 2 minutes without breaking them ensuring that they are well coated with the paste.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
When it reaches room temperature, add the vinegar and stir.
Store in refrigerator.

Serving

Enjoy as appetizer.
Serve with rice.
In white bread rolls.
As accompaniment in a dish.

Other Possibilities

Some people like to add these some extra vegetables which are:

200g cauliflower separated into small flowerets.

While cooking add them at step 1.

Note

This recipe taste better when it is prepared and kept in the fridge for one whole day.
Some people allow the vegetable to dry in the sun for half a day after blanching. This extracts maximum water from the vegetables, making it tastes better and lasts longer. (up to three weeks in the refrigerator)

Tags: achar, Achard, Achard de légumes, legumes, pickle, recipie, vegetable, zachar, zachard

Enable Remote Desktop Connection on Vista Home Premium

Posted by: Rishi on: June 21, 2008

I’ve been using Windows Vista Home Premium for quite a while as it was shipped with my new laptop. At first look I didn’t like it. It was different from Windows XP; very different indeed. Then gradually, I started getting used to it and now I like it. I’d rather not comment on XP vs. Vista. They are both different and are both good at what they’ve been built for.

I have got a LAN at home and I like to use remote desktop to other computers (XP Pro & Linux).

What I have noticed with Vista Home Premium is that the Remote Desktop feature has been disabled just like in Window XP Home Edition. That is, you can remote desktop to another computer from Vista Home Premium but cannot remote desktop to it.

I searched Google and found something called “Termsrv.zip“. It contains three .bat files. You need to run the one which describes your version of Vista as Administrator, and BINGO! Remote desktop will be enabled.

You can Google for “Termsvr.zip” or download it from TonyChan.org

It works fine on my laptop. So one more problem solve.

Please do add a comment below to say whether this worked for you or not. Thanks!

Tags: Home Premium, Remote Desktop, Termsvr.zip, Vista, Windows

Rougail

Posted by: Rishi on: June 6, 2008

In: Gastronomy| Recipes
1 Comment

Rougail with Fish

Background:
‘Rougail’ is a West Indies dish ,which has its roots in Tamil Naidu. The word ‘rougail’is derived from the tamil word ‘urugai’. In fact this dish is a blend of both the West Indies & Tamil cuisine!

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 can Tomato in sauce [Plum or Diced] or 6 medium Tomatoes.
1 medium Onion.
1 clove Garlic or 1 tsp Garlic paste.
5g Ginger [approx 1cm] or 1 tps Ginger paste.
2 Chillies cut lengthwise. [Add more/less to taste]
10 stalks of fresh Coriander.
3 stalks of Thyme.
Oil
Salt

Preparation:

Dice the tomatoes.
Chop the onion into fine even pieces.
Dice the garlic and the ginger.
Cut the chillies length-wise.
Break the coriander stalks broadly.
Remove as much the leaves of the thyme as possible from the stalks. Keep the leaves, discard the stalks.

Cooking:

Heat the oil on medium heat in a frying pan.
Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chillies for 2-3minutes until the diced onions become translucent.
Add the tomatoes, thyme and salt.
Increase heat level from medium to medium-hot.
Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring every 1 minute.

Serving: